Barnes and Noble's CEO was fired and its executive chairman who built the company into the country's largest bookstore chain will postpone his planned retirement to run the struggling retailer temporarily.
Barnes & Noble said its board of directors determined that Ronald D. Boire, 55, was "not a good fit" for the company and "it was in the best interest of all parties for him to leave the company."
Leonard Riggio, 75, the executive chairman, had planned on retiring at the company's Sept. 14 annual board meeting, but now Riggio, who owns a little more than a 17 percent stake in the company, will stay on while a new CEO is found, said the Wall Street Journal.
Barnes & Noble is not only fighting against Amazon.com, the country's top seller of digital books and physical books on the Internet, but also a resurgence of independent local bookstore owners.
Revenue for Barnes & Noble declined 3.7 percent to $876.7 million in its fiscal fourth quarter ended April 30, reported the Journal. The company's shares have tumbled 25 percent in the past year.
"The company will immediately begin an executive search for a new CEO," said Barnes & Noble. "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."
Boire had led Barnes & Nobel since Sept. 8, 2015, after serving a little more than five months as president and chief executive officer of Sears Canada, according to Bloomberg. He was the company's acting president and CEO for three months before that.
He also serviced president of Sears Full Line Stores & Kmart Formats, and chief merchandising officer and executive vice president of Sears Holding Corp. from 2012 to 2014.
"I'm doing just fine," Boire told the Journal in a brief interview but he declined to comment further about his departure from Barnes & Noble.
John Tinker, an analyst with Gabelli & Co., told the Journal he was surprised by the move and that Riggio must figure out a way to pump up same-store sales.
"They need to bring in more customers," Tinker told the Journal. "You can't beat Amazon on price or efficiency, so you need to focus on discovery."
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