Barnes & Noble issued two devastating warnings about Nook revenue performance over the past two months. On Sunday night, a New York Times article stated that a person familiar with Barnes & Noble’s strategy believes “the company must move away from its program to engineer and build its own devices and focus more on licensing its content to other device makers.” B&N may reveal its plans to intensify partnerships with Samsung and Microsoft as soon as next Thursday. This is a stunning development. Less than two months ago, the British publishing giant Pearson bought a stake in the Nook unit. Needless to say, the normally savvy Pearson would not have made the move had it realized the platform would be on its last legs by February. Poignantly, B&N reported 45% Nook revenue growth as recently as last summer.
About Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named LinkedIn’s “Top Voice in Technology,” he covers tech and business for Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular daily business blog. He's a bestselling author, and the creator of the popular, free online course, Generative AI for Execs. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.