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

Publishers Lunch

The Publishing Industry's Daily Essential Read

  • Publishers Marketplace
  • Site Guide
  • Help

Riggio To Retire As B&N Chairman in September

April 27, 2016
By Sarah Weinman

Barnes & Noble, Inc. founder Leonard Riggio, 75, announced he will retire in September from his position as executive chairman — after the annual shareholder meeting — though he intends to remain on the company’s board of directors. Riggio still controls 17.5 percent of Barnes & Noble’s shares (with Abrams Capital Management as the company’s second-largest holder, now with almost 14 percent of the stock). Paul Guenther, a board member since 2015 and former president of Paine Webber, will serve as BN’s nonexecutive chairman after Riggio’s retirement.

“I’m no longer going to be in charge. I’m done with that. I’m done with being top banana,” Riggio told the WSJ, adding that he began pulling back in January. (Riggio actually left the position of ceo — the top banana at most companies — in 2002.) “I found peace with my decision…The whole identity crisis comes in. ‘Who am I? How do I leave here?’ All that stuff comes into your head after you spend so many years in one place.”

Separately, Riggio says to the NYT about the company’s failure to prevail in ebooks: “We’re great booksellers; we know how to do that. We weren’t constituted to be a technology company.” Riggio adds, “The company’s in a very good position. We’ll continue to be the best bookseller we can be.”

In a formal statement, Riggio comments: “I intend to remain a shareholder of Barnes & Noble for years to come. I have complete confidence in the management team and their ability to take this Company to the next level of bookselling and I have every intention of offering my help and support. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with our board of directors and I couldn’t be more pleased that Paul has stepped up to take on this new leadership role.”

Filed Under: Bookstores, Finance, Free

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

  • Barnes &. Noble Plans 15,000-Square-Foot Store At The Avenue East Cobb in Atlanta January 30, 2023 East Cobb News
  • Boris Johnson Received £510,000 As First Advance on His Memoirs January 27, 2023 Parliamentary Disclosure
  • Joan Didion and John Gregory Dunne's Literary Archives Acquired by New York Public Library January 27, 2023 NYT
  • R.F. Kuang's Next Novel Yellowface "Does deal a lot with underpaid, undervalued, entry-level employees in publishing" January 26, 2023 NYT interview
  • Daily Beast Obtains Mark Pomerantz's NDA and Contract with the Manhattan DA's Office January 26, 2023 DB
  • Murdochs Withdraw Proposal to Combine News Corp. and Fox January 25, 2023 Press Release
  • Striking HarperCollins Union Featured on NPR January 24, 2023 KMUW
  • A New Trump Attorney Threatens Mark Pomerantz Over His Forthcoming Book from S&S January 23, 2023 Letter, Via TMZ
  • Arnold Schwarzenegger Said to Have Deal for "Motivational" Book with Penguin Press January 21, 2023 Page Six
  • Judy Blume Documentary Premieres at Sundance January 20, 2023 THR
© 2023 Publishers Lunch. All Rights Reserved.