Barnes & Noble said it is exploring a spin-off of its Nook e-reader unit so it can continue to scale the business, reports ZDNet.
In a statement, Barnes & Noble said that it is looking to “unlock” the value of the Nook unit. That’s shorthand to acknowledge that the brick and mortar retail unit overshadows Barnes & Noble’s digital content business. The move may also mean that Barnes & Noble doesn’t have the resources to scale the Nook business.
“Due to the increased significance of the NOOK business platform, the Company is evaluating its reporting segments. The evaluation is expected to be complete by the end of this fiscal year, which may result in reporting NOOK as a separate operating segment.”
The book retailer has been in publishing since the 1970s and expanded the effort in 2003, when it acquired Sterling Publishing for about $115 million. The bookseller doesn’t disclose Sterling’s sales in its public filings. Last month, December Barnes & Noble reported a loss of $6.6 million, or 17 cents a share, for the quarter ended Oct. 29, compared with a loss of $12.6 million, or 22 cents a share, a year earlier.
Barnes & Noble may put its Sterling Publishing business up for sale, reports the WSJ, signaling a likely end to its decades-long involvement in the publishing of its own books.
Paid Content notes that Barnes & Noble CEO William Lynch has not mentioned Sterling during various investor calls in recent months, focusing instead on B&N as an e-reader and e-book seller, digital newsstand, educational toy seller and community center.
Barnes & Noble is the world’s largest bookseller and a Fortune 500 company. It operates 703 bookstores in 50 states.
