B&N gets new CEO

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by tomsem

Amazon could buy Nook and just keep the store running. Much as great empires of the past would absorb their defeated enemies and extract tribute rather than decimating them.

I'm pretty sure the feds would have something to say about that.
At this point they would probably object to Amazon buying Borders and Borders is dead and buried.

[murg]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

I'm pretty sure the feds would have something to say about that.
At this point they would probably object to Amazon buying Borders and Borders is dead and buried.

I'm not so sure.

Technically, I don't think that Amazon can take over. They just aren't set up to handle epubs, so they'd have to keep a B&N site up, indefinitely, to serve ebooks to people that have already bought them.

From a legal point of view, Apple is now has sufficient market share that Amazon isn't the vast monopoly that it used to be. And what other American ebook company can B&N sell to? Kobo is Canadian.

And there may be a situation where no one wants B&N.

[tomsem]

Originally Posted by murg

I'm not so sure.

Technically, I don't think that Amazon can take over. They just aren't set up to handle epubs, so they'd have to keep a B&N site up, indefinitely, to serve ebooks to people that have already bought them.

From a legal point of view, Apple is now has sufficient market share that Amazon isn't the vast monopoly that it used to be. And what other American ebook company can B&N sell to? Kobo is Canadian.

And there may be a situation where no one wants B&N.

They would just keep it 'the same' and cut costs by firing Accounting and HR and moving all the back end to AWS (if it is not there already). Dump Adobe DRM and replace it with their own to save some more. Keep the remaining employees and leave them to do whatever they are doing now, except now they will have access to more resources, and a more certain future. Bring back ability to download files. Flash a Kindle with the Nook firmware, with white plastic instead of black, and call it a Nook, suddenly they have a new lineup of devices with minimal development costs. B&N online customers would need to get a new account for the new improved Nook, of course, but that could be pretty seamless. They'd get better customer service for a change.

Amazon bought Comixology, and apart from removing in-app purchasing on iOS, nothing much has changed as far as their customers and employees go.

Obviously it is not going to happen but it is fun to think about.

[SteveEisenberg]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

At this point they would probably object to Amazon buying Borders and Borders is dead and buried.

Agreed. Here's the book source DC insiders seem to, at least when in public, favor:

http://www.c-span.org/video/?316542-...rose-bookstore

And for those who think legal guidelines are all that matter, it can be seen here that one company having a 50 percent market share in a product automatically gets branded a merger and acquisitions problem, even if the other 50 percent is completely divided between very small businesses:

http://www.justice.gov/atr/public/gu...g-2010.html#5b

To see what I mean, search in the above link for "Herfindahl-Hirschman Index" and do the arithmetic. 50% times 50% gives an index of 2,500, meaning a "highly concentrated market." Border's 0% times 0% won't change this. And Amazon's eBook market share, and eInk reader market share, is more than 50%.

[SCION]

UPDATE: Barnes & Noble shares crater as loss widens

This is a week old: https://www.morningstar.com/news/mar...ens.print.html

This is painful to watch.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by SCION

UPDATE: Barnes & Noble shares crater as loss widens

This is a week old: https://www.morningstar.com/news/mar...ens.print.html

This is painful to watch.

They are actually *grossing* less than Kindle Unlimited is paying out to Indies.

http://the-digital-reader.com/2015/0...nue-generated/