Barnes & Noble Inc. has announced a restructuring of its upper management tier, effective immediately. Under the realignment, Steve Riggio, B&N vice-chairman, has also been named CEO, a title that had been held by his older brother, Len Riggio, who will remain company chairman. Mitchell Klipper, president of Barnes & Noble Development, has been promoted to COO, succeeding Alan Kahn. Kahn has been named to the newly created post of president, Barnes & Noble Publishing Group.
In their new roles, Steve Riggio and Klipper will oversee the day-to-day operations of the company, including financial performance and investor relations. As part of his new role, Klipper will continue to be responsible for real estate, overseeing the company's new-store opening program. Kahn, whose background includes a stint as editor-in-chief of the Harcourt Brace trade division, will oversee the expansion of the bookseller's publishing operation. Both Klipper and Kahn will now report directly to Steve Riggio, while Len Riggio focuses on strategic initiatives.
Steve Riggio said that, with the recent appointment of Marie Toulantis as CEO of Barnes & Noble.com (News, Feb. 11), "the time was right for me to come back and for some of my colleagues to step up into new positions." The younger Riggio, who joined B&N in 1975, has been involved in virtually all aspects of the company, playing key roles in launching the chain's superstore strategy and in developing BN.com. According to Riggio, his experience "will let me push the right buttons to leverage what we have already built."
In addition to more initiatives with BN.com, high on the new CEO's agenda is the further development of B&N's publishing program. Riggio said the company "will take a couple of months to formulate our [publishing] plans," and, he added, B&N's new publishing efforts "will not be merely about doing more. We're going to approach publishing in new and innovative ways." The publishing program accounts for 3% 4% of B&N's total revenues. A company spokesperson said the publishing division could represent as much as 10% of sales over the next five to eight years.
B&N's publishing activities have long been a sore point with publishers. Although reluctant to talk for the record, no publishing house executives were happy with the prospect of B&N's own titles taking up more shelf space at its stores. Publishers were skeptical, however, that B&N would try to develop its publishing program into a major operation. "If they can't get books into their rival stores, it will remain an indigenous effort," one executive noted.
