eNews, the online magazine subscription service jointly owned by Barnesandnoble.com and Barnes & Noble Inc., has closed. The company began liquidating its assets last month and, as a result, B&N.com no longer offers magazine subscriptions on its site. In a statement, B&N.com said that a review of its business operations "determined that the sale of magazines on the Web is not of sufficient volume to keep eNews operational."
B&N.com first began using eNews's services in early 1998 and acquired a stake in the company in April 2001 for $26.4 million in cash plus 714,754 shares, which were valued at the time of the purchase at $12.9 million. The e-tailer held a 47% stake in the company, with the remaining shares owned by B&N Inc. eNews was never profitable; it lost $31.4 million in 2000 and approximately $11 million in 2001.
In other news from B&N. com, the company said that Random House chairman and CEO Peter Olson has been elected a director of the company. Olson succeeds Joel Klein, who was recently named New York City Chancellor of Schools.
