Barnes & Noble acknowledged Monday afternoon that it has cut jobs throughout the company but insisted that a report in Business Insider that it had laid off its entire Nook hardware staff was “incorrect” with a spokesperson adding that B&N remains committed to offering Nook products.
Just how much problems with Nook have weighed down B&N was seen by the reaction of investors who drove up the stock price by nearly 9% Monday when word first circulated that it had cut the entire Nook hardware staff. Ever since Nook device sales performed well below expectations in the 2012 holiday period, B&N has said it would cut back its efforts in the reading device area and the company reiterated that Monday. “We’ve been very clear about our focus on rationalizing the Nook business and positioning it for future success and value creation. As we’ve aligned Nook’s cost structure with business realities, staffing levels in certain areas of our organization have changed, leading to some job eliminations,” the spokesperson said. A report in the New York Times said cuts in Nook were under 100.
B&N has said it will continue to produce its own E-ink devices, such as the GlowLight, and would work with other companies to develop tablets. “The new Nook management team is focused on managing the business efficiently so that it becomes financially strong while at the same time aggressively moving to drive revenue growth,” the spokesperson said.
