Barnes & Noble just released its 2013 first quarter financial results. The company’s Nook business continues to hold strong, accounting for 13% of its revenues last quarter. That’s at the same level from last year.
Despite what the company’s CEO says below, the Nook business was essentially stagnant last quarter. B&N stated in the financial release that Nook device sales declined over the last quarter, noting lower average selling prices and production scaling issues for the Glowlight model as the chief causes. Nook revenues are flat on the year, with the company reporting $192M versus last year’s Q1 $191M. That said, digital content sales — digital books, digital newsstand and apps — increased 46% during the last quarter.
“During the first quarter, we continued to see improvement in both our rapidly growing NOOK business, which saw digital content sales increase 46% during the quarter, and at our bookstores, which continue to benefit from market consolidation and strong sales of the Fifty Shades series,” said William Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble.
B&N also notes that the company’s strategic partnership with Microsoft should be up and running this fall. The company expects to close the $300M transaction in the coming months, giving Microsoft a 17.6% stake in the NewCo. Under this new deal announced last April, B&N will combine its College and Nook segments with the two companies setting patent litigation in relation to the Android-powered Nook tablets. The B&N Nook digital bookstore will also be bundled with Windows 8.
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