A Letter From a Barnes & Noble, Inc. (BKS) Shareholder

And that’s precisely the reason why B&N is losing share in the e-book market. Unlike in past quarters, this time B&N didn’t address its share of the U.S. e-book market. Last fall, during a presentation to investors, Mr. Lynch said the company controlled approximately 27% of the e-book market. By late February, Mr. Lynch pegged B&N’s market share at an estimated 25% during a call with analysts. And all of this is happening while Apple’s iBooks business grew by 100% last year, maintaining a 20% share of the overall market, while Amazon’s Kindle controls 27% of the market.

Some final words

I believe that B&N is stuck between a rock and a hard place. It cannot make money on brick and mortar book stores because the future book market belongs to e-books. But It also can’t make money on e-books because it was too late and too cheap to enter the e-book market aggressively. I think I will sell my shares as soon as trading rules allow.

Shmulik Karpf has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Amazon.com and Apple. The Motley Fool owns shares of Amazon.com and Apple.

The article A Letter From a Barnes & Noble Shareholder originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Shmulik Karpf.

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