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8-K - CURRENT REPORT - BARNES & NOBLE INC | form8k.htm |
Exhibit
99.1
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACTS:
Mary
Ellen Keating
Corporate
Communications
Barnes
& Noble, Inc.
(212)
633-3323
mkeating@bn.com
BARNES
& NOBLE NAMES WILLIAM LYNCH CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER
New York, NY – March 18, 2010 – Barnes &
Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS),
the world’s largest bookseller, today announced that William Lynch, 39, has been
named Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble, Inc. Mr. Lynch
succeeds Steve Riggio, 55, who will remain Vice Chairman and be actively
involved in the company. The company also announced the promotion of Chief
Operating Officer Mitchell Klipper, 52, to Chief Executive Officer of the
company’s retail group, which encompasses the Barnes & Noble retail business
and the Barnes & Noble College Booksellers business.
Since
joining Barnes & Noble in February 2009 as President of Barnes &
Noble.com (www.bn.com), Mr. Lynch has put Barnes & Noble’s core e-commerce
business on a high growth track and launched the company’s digital commerce
platform, including nook™, its highly successful eBook Reader.
“William
came to us as a skillful leader in e-commerce who, in a short period of time,
has done a superb job in quickly establishing Barnes & Noble as a major
player in e-commerce and digital content,” said Leonard Riggio, Chairman of
Barnes & Noble, Inc. “Given the dynamic nature of the book industry, William
is uniquely qualified to lead the company’s transition to multi-channel
distribution and drive the continuing expansion of our electronic commerce
platform, eBooks and other digital content and products.”
Mr. Lynch
came to Barnes & Noble from HSNi, where he was Executive Vice President of
Marketing and General Manager of HSN.com. From 2004 to 2008, he was
Chief Executive Officer of gifts.com, an IAC subsidiary he
co-founded. From 2000 to 2004, he was Vice President and General
Manager, E-Commerce, for Palm Inc., where he oversaw Palm’s Web properties,
including Palm.com, the Palm Online Store, the Palm Software Connection and the
Palm.Net wireless ISP. Earlier in his career, Mr. Lynch held senior
positions at Seagram Universal and Guinness. He graduated from the
University of Texas at Austin with a degree in Economics and received his MBA
from the Columbia University School of Business.
Mr. Lynch
said, “I am very excited and energized by the opportunity to lead Barnes &
Noble. The bookselling, publishing and media industries are quickly
evolving, and with our unique assets, strong brands and ability to reach
millions of customers every day we are well positioned to take advantage of the
big opportunities. Our commitment is to leverage our Barnes &
Noble stores and leading e-commerce channels such as bn.com, to provide
consumers convenient access to the physical and digital products they want
virtually anytime, anywhere. I look forward to working with Mitchell
Klipper and the rest of the talented team, to deliver on this promise to our
customers, and blend our digital services with our traditional retail store
operations to provide compelling in-store experiences and unmatched purchasing
options.”
Mr. Lynch
added, “I’m personally very grateful to Steve for bringing me to Barnes &
Noble and I am excited about the opportunity of leading one of the great
American retail companies.”
Mitchell
Klipper, a 23-year veteran of the company, has held increasingly senior
executive positions including Chief Financial Officer, President of Barnes &
Noble’s Development Group and Chief Operating Officer.
Leonard
Riggio added, “Mitchell is one of the most talented operators in the retail
industry. He has been largely responsible for the nationwide
expansion of our superstore concept, and we are thrilled he will be taking on
additional responsibility for our important college business.”
Mr.
Klipper said, “I am excited to work closely with William as we reposition the
retail business and create a more integrated operation that can better meet the
growing needs of our customers.”
Barnes
& Noble, Inc. will host a conference call with analysts and investors to
discuss these senior management changes. The webcast of this call will
begin at 9:00 A.M. Eastern Time on Thursday, March 18, 2010. The
webcast of this call will be accessible at
www.barnesandnobleinc.com/webcasts.
About Barnes & Noble,
Inc.
Barnes
& Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest bookseller and a Fortune 500
company, operates 723 bookstores in 50 states. Barnes & Noble College
Booksellers, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, also operates
639 college bookstores serving nearly 4 million students and over 250,000
faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States.
Barnes & Noble is the nation’s top bookseller brand for the seventh year in
a row, as determined by a combination of the brand’s performance on familiarity,
quality, and purchase intent; the top bookseller in quality for the second year
in a row and the number two retailer in trust, according to the EquiTrend® Brand
Study by Harris Interactive®. Barnes & Noble conducts its online business
through Barnes & Noble.com (www.bn.com), one of
the Web’s largest e-commerce sites, which also features hundreds of thousands of
titles in its eBookstore (www.bn.com/ebooks).
Customers can buy and read eBooks on a wide range of platforms, including
nookTM by
Barnes & Noble, the iPhone and iPod touch, BlackBerry®
smartphones, as well as most Windows® and
Mac®
laptops or full-sized desktop computers.
General
information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained via the Internet by
visiting the company’s corporate website: www.barnesandnobleinc.com.
nookTM is a
trademark of Barnes
& Noble, Inc.
Social
Media Links:
Follow
B&N on Twitter: www.bn.com/twitter
Become a
fan of our Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/barnesandnoble
Subscribe
to our channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/BNStudio
SAFE
HARBOR
This
press release contains “forward-looking statements.” Barnes &
Noble is including this statement for the express purpose of availing itself of
the protections of the safe harbor provided by the Private Securities Litigation
Reform Act of 1995 with respect to all such forward-looking statements. These
forward-looking statements are based on currently available information and
represent the beliefs of the management of the company. These
statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results to differ materially. These risks include, but are not
limited to, general economic and market conditions, decreased consumer demand
for the company’s products, possible disruptions in the company’s computer
systems, telephone systems or supply chain, possible risks associated with data
privacy and information security, possible work stoppages or increases in labor
costs, possible increases in shipping rates or interruptions in shipping
service, effects of competition, possible disruptions or delays in the opening
of new stores or the inability to obtain suitable sites for new stores, higher
than anticipated store closing or relocation costs, higher interest rates, the
performance of the company’s online, digital and other initiatives, the
performance and successful integration of acquired businesses, the success of
the company’s strategic investments, unanticipated increases in merchandise,
component or occupancy costs, unanticipated adverse litigation results or
effects, the results or effects of any governmental review of the company’s
stock option practices, product and component shortages, and other factors which
may be outside of the company’s control. Please refer to the
company’s annual, quarterly and periodic reports on file with the SEC for a more
detailed discussion of these and other risks that could cause results to differ
materially. The company assumes no obligation to update or revise any
forward-looking statements.
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