Barnes & Noble is ditching its CEO of about a year, Ronald Boire, saying in a statement today that he “was not a good fit for the organization” and that the company would begin their search for a new CEO immediately.
Executive chairman Leonard Riggio, who began the student bookstore that later became Barnes & Noble in 1965, will delay his planned retirement, presumably until a new CEO has been hired and settled in.
Boire previously worked for Sears Canada, a company that at the time was doing better than its American cousin. Sure, that isn’t saying much, but he moved on from there to become CEO of retail at Barnes & Noble, and later CEO of the whole company after its profitable college bookstore division was spun off.
Barnes & Noble (the non-college bookstore part) has closed fewer stores than anticipated, and is working on new initiatives like full-service restaurants inside its stores and a smaller store format. The chain is expanding into items that people might be more likely to buy in person, like toys and adult coloring books, and plans to “wind down” its Nook e-reader business.
Sure, you can buy books and e-books from Amazon, but can they serve you coffee, wine, and a light supper? They cannot. Except for that whole Prime Delivery thing.
Barnes & Noble fires CEO Ronald Boire [Reuters]
by Laura Northrup via Consumerist
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