Barnes & Noble (BKS) on Monday announced several significant changes to its executive lineup, including the immediate resignation of William Lynch as chief executive officer and director. Lynch had been CEO for three years.
Lynch was quoted in the company press release as saying, "There is a great executive team and Board in place at Barnes & Noble, and I look forward to the many innovations the Company will be bringing to its millions of physical and digital media customers in the future."
The company expressed his gratitude to Lynch for "helping transform Barnes & Noble into a leading digital content provider" and for leading the development of the Nook products. The company said it is reviewing its strategic plan and will provide an update "when appropriate."
The company has appointed a new CEO for Nook Media LLC, Michael Huseby, and has also promoted Allen Lindstrom to chief financial officer. Huseby will also be president of Barnes & Noble. Kanuj Malhotra, vice president of corporate development, has been promoted to chief financial officer of Nook Media LLC. Barnes & Noble last month announced it would stop making its own Nook color touchscreen tablets because they failed to keep up with competitors. It will continue to make its more basic, black-and-white e-readers, but will farm out the tablet manufacturing to a third-party.
Previously, Lindstrom served as Barnes & Noble's vice president and corporate controller, while Huseby originally joined the company as its chief financial officer in March 2012.
Leonard Riggio, Barnes & Noble's executive chairman, was quoted as saying the new appointments are "the right executives to lead us ... as the bookselling industry continues to undergo significant transformation."
-- Material from The Associated Press was used in this report.
