As Barnes & Noble Nook revenues slide 50%, the company says it's launching another tablet
Barnes & Noble is cutting jobs and revenues fell again in the third-quarter earnings report released Wednesday, with the Nook segment once again taking a particularly large hit …
Context & Ripple Effects
Nook’s reversal has been building for more than a year: Barnes & Noble had reported an increasing unit loss in 2013, then said it would open the Nook brand to tablet OEMs as it searched for a broader device model. By November, the business had already recorded a more than 32% revenue decline.
The fresh 50% drop and job cuts make the decision to introduce another tablet a sharper test of whether Barnes & Noble can keep supporting a proprietary Nook device strategy while its digital unit contracts.
First-order effects
- Barnes & Noble’s job cuts immediately reduce the resources available to the Nook operation as the company prepares another tablet launch.
- Nook users and Barnes & Noble’s retail business remain tied to a device-led strategy rather than a withdrawal from tablets, despite the segment’s steep revenue decline.
Second-order effects
- Potential tablet OEM partners must assess the value of a Nook-branded arrangement against a business whose revenue decline has accelerated since Barnes & Noble floated that partnership approach.
- A new Nook tablet raises the pressure on Barnes & Noble to distinguish its own hardware plan from the OEM route it outlined in 2013.
Third-order effects
- If declining Nook revenue continues alongside new device releases, Barnes & Noble’s experience would strengthen the case that a bookseller cannot sustain a proprietary tablet ecosystem without a viable partner-led model.
- The Nook arc—from a reported 25% U.S. e-book share in 2011 to repeated losses and revenue declines—signals a shift from early e-reader market share toward the harder economics of maintaining devices, content, and retail support together.
The trend: Dedicated e-reader businesses are moving from early market-share expansion toward partnership and cost discipline as hardware economics tighten.