B&N to Evaluate Strategic Alternatives-Sale of Company?

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Kali Yuga

Perhaps, but he also states that B&N buying Riggio's college bookstore business was actually "self-dealing," i.e. a way for Riggio to provide himself with a $500+ million windfall at B&N's expense.

Which it might be, but right now I'd rather be in the college bookstore business than the mainstream bookstore business. So far there is no viable academic ebook reader anywhere in sight.

[Alisa]

Originally Posted by fjtorres

Which it might be, but right now I'd rather be in the college bookstore business than the mainstream bookstore business. So far there is no viable academic ebook reader anywhere in sight.

Though a lot of students are just reading on their computers. They get scans of their textbooks of the darknets. I still think there's lots of money in textbooks for the time being, but ebooks are already encroaching in their own way.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Alisa

Though a lot of students are just reading on their computers. They get scans of their textbooks of the darknets. I still think there's lots of money in textbooks for the time being, but ebooks are already encroaching in their own way.

And the B&N app is being well-reviewed.
There's lots of efforts to do etextbooks.
But nothing significant on the academic reader horizon other what B&N themselves are doing.

College bookstores are a stable business (for now) whereas consumer bookstores are under stress now. Not to say the business was worth what they paid for it but there are hints of a plan in what B&N is doing. I could easily see B&N come out with an academic ebook reader that works over the next year or so and use the college stores to ramp it up.

Of course, that presupposes they last that long without being carved up.