• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Login
  • Register

Publishers Lunch

The Publishing Industry's Daily Essential Read

  • Publishers Marketplace
  • Site Guide
  • Help

Lynch Resigns from Barnes & Noble; Is Replaced By No One In Particular

July 8, 2013
By Michael Cader

After presiding over losses of hundreds of millions of dollars with a device-focused strategy that ended in tatters the past holiday season, Barnes & Noble ceo William Lynch has resigned effective immediately. Announced after the close of market on Monday, the official remarks made it sound as if Lynch was asked to leave; he says “I appreciate the opportunity to serve as CEO of this terrific company over the last three years.” Just four months ago in early March the company had amended and extended Lynch’s employment agreement to award him a cash bonus of $1.8 million for the Microsoft and Pearson agreements with Nook Media. Lynch was also provided a stock grant of another 300,000 shares which vest immediately if he has been terminated without cause or has left for “good reason.”

Stranger is that the answer provided by the already rudderless company is an internal adjustment of responsibilities that leaves BN with no chief executive officer at all and, according to spokesperson Mary Ellen Keating, “no immediate plans to name a CEO.” That is perhaps because, as she says, “the company is in a transition period.” Chairman Len Riggio’s interest in buying the consumer bookstores remains unresolved, as do the large strategic questions of what is left of the Nook Media business, who wants to own, and what are the pieces worth. In other words, it may be hard to put in place a new ceo for a company that could be split apart or taken private. When papers were created to set up a split of Nook Media and the Barnes & Noble stores, it was clear that Lynch was intended to serve as ceo of Nook if it became independent.

For now, Michael Huseby, brought in as chief financial officer in March 2012, has been named ceo of Nook Media LLC and president of Barnes & Noble, Inc. Controller Allen Lindstrom is promoted to cfo, reporting to Huseby, and Kanuj Malhotra moves up to cfo of Nook Media. Both Huseby and Barnes & Noble stores ceo Mitchell Klipper will report directly to chairman Len Riggio.

Riggio says in the announcement what’s hard to believe: “As the bookselling industry continues to undergo significant transformation, we believe that Michael, Mitchell and Max are the right executives to lead us into the future.” Riggio “added that the company is in the process of reviewing its current strategic plan and will provide an update when appropriate.” In the statement, Riggio also thanks Lynch “for helping transform Barnes & Noble into a leading digital content provider and for leading in the development of our award-winning line of Nook products.”

Filed Under: Bookstores, Free, Personnel

sidebar

Primary Free Sidebar

Login


Forgot password
Quick Pass users click here to log in
Get Full Access
The publishing industry's essential daily read

Each Publishers Lunch Deluxe subscription includes full access to our searchable multi-year archive of industry news, a nightly email reporting 10 to 50 deal transactions, and our database of industry contacts, scripts, and posting privileges.

Learn More

RSS Automat

  • Solid State Books Workers Announce Plans to Unionize March 28, 2023 Union website
  • Following Sale, America's Test Kitchen Lays Off 23 Employees, Including All of ATK Kids Staff March 28, 2023 Union instagram post
  • Acquire and Fire: Hachette UK In Consultations to Eliminate About Half the Staff of Welbeck March 28, 2023 Bookseller
  • Jefferson, de Kretser Win Folio Prizes March 27, 2023 Prize announcement
  • Harper UK Edits Agatha Christie Novels to Remove "Offensive" Language March 27, 2023 The Guardian
  • NYU Launches Five-Day "Advanced Publishing Institute" Program for January 2024 March 25, 2023 NYU site
  • Hachette UK to Publish "Spare Us!" Parody on April 6 March 23, 2023 Publisher site
  • Netflix to Stream Series Based on Ramit Sethi's Book, "How to Get Rich" March 23, 2023 THR
  • James Patterson Signs First-Look Development Deal with Skydance Television March 22, 2023 Deadline
  • "I find it kind of stunning that the [Internet] Archive would put its entire free service at risk over such an obviously wrong stand" March 21, 2023 Dan Kennedy / Media Nation
© 2023 Publishers Lunch. All Rights Reserved.