Barnes & Noble CEO quits following exit from e-reader market
Barnes & Noble is making major company changes following the disastrous financial results for the fiscal fourth quarter, with its Nook e-reader taking a $177m loss.
Less than two weeks after the company pulled its Nook e-reader from the shelves, William Lynch Jr, the chief executive of Barnes & Noble, has announced his resignation.
Lynch, who has been with the company since 2009, was a key driver of the Nook e-reader launch, which aimed to rival retailers including Apple, Amazon and Google.
“We thank William 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,” said Leonard Riggio, the Barnes & Noble chairman.
Lynch added: “I appreciate the opportunity to serve as CEO of this terrific company over the last three years. There is a great executive team and board in place at Barnes & Noble, and I look forward to the many innovations the company will be bringing to its millions of physical and digital media customers in the future.”
There has been no suggestion that a new chief executive will be named
“Because the company is in a transition period, we have no immediate plans to name a CEO,” Mary Ellen Keating, a spokeswoman for the company, told the New York Times.