MAIN NEWS HEADLINES
August 1-15, 2005 Edition
Barnes & Noble
Sells 105 New Potter
Copies Per Second
NEW YORK, NY/07/17/05Barnes & Noble, Inc., the world’s largest bookseller, sold a record 1.3 million copies of J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in the first 48 hours of its release at its retail stores and on Barnes & Noble.com. In the first hour, Barnes & Noble bookstores sold 378,000 copies or 105 copies per second.
First-day sales of the new Harry Potter book exceeded first-day sales of the previous volume in the series, J.K. Rowlings Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by 40%.
“This weekend was nothing short of a triumph for publishing, bookselling and reading,” said Steve Riggio, chief executive officer of Barnes & Noble, Inc. “Each J. K. Rowling book sets new sales records, and this book was no exception. First-day sales at Barnes & Noble increased 40 percent over first-day sales of Rowling’s previous book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.”
During trading July 18, the first business day after weekend sales, shares of Barnes & Noble Inc. rose Barnes & Nobles stock gained as much as 5.4%, to $42.49.
The sixth Harry Potter Book went on sale at 12:01 a.m. on Saturday, July 16.
