Barnes & Noble losses double; stock tumbles

6/26/2013

NEW YORK — Sales plummeted at Barnes & Noble bookstores in the latest quarter, and its Nook e-book devices failed to keep up with competitors, pushing the company to a net loss that more than doubled from a year ago.

The largest traditional U.S. bookseller said Tuesday that it will stop making its own Nook color touchscreen tablets, a move intended to stem the losses it’s suffering from its digital unit. It said it will continue to make its more basic, black-and-white e-readers but farm out the tablet manufacturing to an as yet unnamed third party.

The about-face troubled investors, who sent Barnes & Noble’s stock price down more than 17 percent to $15.61.