Barnes & Noble Fires C.E.O. Without separation but does not explain why



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Barnes & Noble fired his general manager, Demos Parneros, for violating company policies, the company said Tuesday without specifying policies. Parneros has not been fired because of "any disagreement with the company regarding its financial, political or practical reports or any potential fraud related thereto," Barnes & Noble said in a statement.

The company added that it would receive no severance pay and that it had been removed from the board.

million. Parneros is the fourth general manager of the company to leave office in five years. He had been in his position for a little over a year, having held the position of chief operating officer in place of Ronald Boire. Mr. Boire had spent less than a year as CEO before being ousted in August 2016 after board members decided that he was "not a good candidate for the company ".

Michael P. Huseby resigns in July 2015 and William Lynch resigned in July 2013.

Until a permanent replacement for Mr. Parneros is found, his role will be temporarily occupied by a group of executives including CFO, Merchandising Manager and Vice President. in charge of the stores. Mary Ellen Keating, a spokeswoman for the company, declined to comment further.

Leonard Riggio, who bought Barnes & Noble in 1971 and expanded it into a national chain, acted as director between Mr Boire's mandate and that of Mr Parneros. Mr. Riggio remains the executive chairman of the company

Barnes & Noble was beaten by digital competition, particularly from Amazon, and struggled with the decline in pedestrian traffic to its stores, the decrease in sales and the closed stores. Amazon is growing aggressively in physical retail, with more than a dozen bookstores across the country and an increasing number of ephemeral stores, as well as an expanded physical footprint through its acquisition of Whole Foods.
At the same time, there has been a surprising resurgence among independent booksellers, whose numbers have increased dramatically in recent years after decades of decline, and sales of printed books have rebounded, a trend that should have benefited Barnes & Noble. 19659002] After becoming CEO last year, Mr. Parneros hired new leaders and launched several new initiatives aimed at increasing traffic and in-store sales, including a Barnes & Noble book club.

. Parneros said the store would experiment with new store prototypes this year, with smaller and more "flexible" designs for stores. However, the company's sales have continued to decline and its share price has fallen by more than 30% since Mr. Parneros became CEO.

The company's most recent results report, for the fourth fiscal quarter of 2018, showed that sales had dropped more than 6% in April. Sales of the Nook digital business fell 23.9%.

Yet the vengeance of Barnes & Noble's announcement has left industry experts speculate on the reasons for Mr. Parneros' departure and examine the timing of this late announcement. the day just before the holidays of July 4th.

"That means that they want to bury it, because it's a week where no one is there," said Mike Shatzkin, an editing expert and founder of The Idea Logical Company. or that something appeared, an inexorable and insoluble conflict appeared and called for an immediate change that was not negotiable. "

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