Barnes & Noble has drawn lots of media attention about a Wall Street Journal story that focused on the company’s plans to close 15 to 20 stores annually for the next 10 years, but the segment that is likely more of a concern to B&N executives is Nook. After a disappointing holiday season when Nook device sales failed to meet expectations, B&N reported late Wednesday that Nook EBITDA for its fiscal year ending at the end of April will be greater than in fiscal 2012 when the unit had an EBITDA loss of $262 million. B&N executives had expected Nook losses to be no worse than last year. In addition, B&N said that it expects sales for the entire Nook Media segment, which includes Nook and the college stores, to be less than a projected $3 billion for the full fiscal year.
B&N will report results for the third quarter, which ended January 31, on February 28.
