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Barnes & Noble Just Fired Its CEO

Sears Canada has appointed Ronald D. Boire as its President and Chief Executive Officer (CNW Group/Sears Canada Inc.)

Thirteen months and fourteen days.

It was just over 13 months ago that B&N announced that it was hiring Ron Boire. the acting CEO of Sears Canada, to take over the CEO role at B&N.

And now they’ve fired him. It seems Boire’s experience with a failing retailer in its declining years was not what B&N needed.

B&N today announced the departure of its Chief Executive Officer, Ronald D. Boire. The Board of Directors determined that Mr. Boire was not a good fit for the organization and that it was in the best interests of all parties for him to leave the Company. The Company also said that its Executive Chairman, Leonard Riggio, who was scheduled to retire at the close of the Company’s Annual Meeting on September 14, will postpone his retirement until a later date.

The Company will immediately begin an executive search for a new CEO. Mr. Riggio, along with other members of the executive management team, will assume Mr. Boire’s duties. The Company will continue to execute on its previously announced strategic initiatives.

Any guesses as to hos replacement? I hear Edward J Smith, formerly a commodore with the White Star Line, would make a great choice.

Or how about Max Pruss?

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Comments


John Stanton August 16, 2016 um 11:36 pm

Off Topic But I need help! I use Overdrive and just bought a used IPAD 1st Generation for my wife to use as an ereader now that her Sony is no longer supported. Can anyone tell me how to find an old Overdrive ap. The new Apple Overdrive ap wants 7.1 or higher. My Ipad is 5.1.1.It cannot be updated beyond 5.1. You are all the people who would know. I want to download epubs. Thanks! Great you have kept this going Nate!!

Nate Hoffelder August 17, 2016 um 6:54 am

Other than getting the app through iTunes?

I don’t know.

Have you tried OverDrive’s web app in the Safari browser?

Chris August 20, 2016 um 4:32 am

As an aside, buying such an old iPad might have been a mistake because it is no longer receiving software updates… And almost everything newer has a retina screen which would make it even nicer to read on.

Have you tried BlueFire on the iPad instead? It looks like it supports Overdrive, and BlueFire may still support very old versions of iOS.

Other apps may also have Overdrive support. You might want to ask on the MobileRead forums: http://www.mobileread.com/forums/


Angela Korra’ti August 17, 2016 um 12:26 am

They should take the money regained from not paying their CEO and pay a better web team for their website. I was trying to spend the rest of my credit (from the ebook settlement earlier this year) on bn.com tonight, when I suddenly saw a server error crop up no matter what I tried to do on their page. As of the writing of this comment I can’t get to their site at all. 😛


Fjtorres August 17, 2016 um 12:28 am

Think the booze&nuts restaurants will get cancelled now?

Nate Hoffelder August 17, 2016 um 6:53 am

Probably. They’re not a bad idea.

And didn’t B&N start planning one of the stores back before they hired Boire?


puzzled August 17, 2016 um 5:03 am

I hear that Donald Trump is going to be looking for a job in about three months…

Nate Hoffelder August 17, 2016 um 6:51 am

They could also bring back Bill Lynch.

Thomas August 17, 2016 um 8:12 am

Yeah, but "Trump Books" is the biggest oxymoron I’ve ever heard.


ed August 17, 2016 um 8:15 am

B&N needs to clean up the freeloaders who take advantage of the free wireless sitting around for hours taking up space, burning up bandwidth and not paying a cent. Charge them. Or those people who sit around reading the magazines, throw them on the floor or on a table damaged/worn but don’t pay a cent.

This model doesn’t pay the rent, overhead, network bandwidth (which is expensive) or salaries if you don’t have a better revenue stream. Just not a profitable model…


Straker August 17, 2016 um 8:28 am

After an exhaustive search the board will hire the former CEO of Woolworth’s. His first move will be to start selling parakeets. Lunch counters serving grilled cheese sandwiches will follow shortly thereafter.


Gary August 17, 2016 um 8:50 am

To quote (more or less) a Dilbert cartoon I remember from a decade ago:

'Our new CEO will be a tall, white man, with no experience in our industry, and who can’t hold a job.'

Note: 'can’t hold a job' means has held many different jobs for 6 months each, always moving on to a bigger and better position at another company.

It may be cynical, but it happens over and over.

ed August 17, 2016 um 10:14 am

It is the same in any business or industry unfortunately…Dilbert’s stereotyping holds to minority businesses as well. The other problem is many of these CEOs bringing in their cronies–race doesn’t matter–who helped build or ruin prior companies. There are many examples across the board where the founders who built the business cashed out and bring in 'leaders' from other companies who happened to be in the right place at the right time.


Smart Debut Author August 18, 2016 um 11:21 am

For some reason, I picture Boire as Hudson from the film Aliens:

Boire: "That’s it, man. Game over, man. Game over! What are we gonna do now? Amazon’s gonna come in here and GET US! What are we gonna do?"

The Board: "Get a hold of yourself, Boire! Under old man Riggio, B&N survived worse than this with no retail strategy and no real plan."

Boire: "Why don’t you put him in charge, then?"


Ed August 19, 2016 um 9:27 pm

American companies refuse to do the right thing and they can’t figure out why their businesses are failing. Free wifi. Read a magazine treat it like trash and throw it on the floor so no one wants to buy it? Bleeding cash. Just like those morons at Cisco…60 – 80% markups on their products so the big guys can party hardy while the competition sells the same product — same chipsets etc. — for half the cost. And now Cisco’s jettisoning their router business. Idiots…and no wonder the US economy is sinking. In the meantime, the upcoming generation’s more worried about legalizing pot, pokemon and transgender bathrooms.


Smart Debut Author August 19, 2016 um 10:02 pm

That’s telling ’em, Ed — those pesky kids’ll be sure to stay off’n yer lawn from now on! 😀


Ed August 20, 2016 um 8:28 pm

Whatever…you’re probably all for relieving all college loans too…?


Some Industry News – August 2016 – The Steve Laube Agency August 22, 2016 um 6:01 am

[…] It wasn’t the CEO of the B&H (Broadman & Holman) Publishing Group…it was the CEO of B&N (Barnes & Noble), the bookstore chain. (News about B&N’s move.) […]


Barnes & Noble Plays Musical Chairs With Senior Management | The Digital Reader July 19, 2017 um 10:03 am

[…] of the VPs who had been let go had been hired by the previous B&N CEO, Ron Boire, and held his position for under a year. Other senior management have also left the company during […]


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