Is Barnes & Noble, Inc. (BKS) Getting Ready to Go Private?

On Monday, shares of Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS) fell around 5% in after-hours trading after the company announced the resignation of CEO William Lynch, effective immediately.

Of course, this doesn’t come as a complete shock considering Lynch was brought on as CEO in 2010 after running Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS)’s e-commerce unit, and was largely seen as the man who could effectively lead the company’s foray into the tablet market with Nook Media. Unfortunately, Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS) stock fell 17% after the company posted dismal quarterly results two weeks ago, largely thanks to increased losses from the Nook segment, which led to an 8.8% drop in overall comparable-store sales.

At the time, I even went on record to say I thought that drop was merited, especially when we note that core comparable-store sales — which exclude the Nook and stood alone as one of few bright spots last quarter — also fell a harrowing 5.8% last quarter.

Thanks?
That’s why I also found it curious when founding chairman Leonard Riggio went on to state in Monday’s announcement, “We thank William Lynch for helping transform Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS) into a leading digital content provider and for leading in the development of our award-winning line of NOOK products.”

In addition, while a company spokeswoman stated that Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS) is “in a transition period” and has “no immediate plans to name a CEO,” the company also announced the following organizational changes:

Michael Huseby, formerly Barnes & Noble’s CFO since March 2012, has been appointed CEO of Nook Media and president of Barnes & Noble, reporting directly to Riggio.

Max Roberts will continue to serve as CEO of Barnes & Noble’s College business, and will now report directly to Huseby.

Allen Lindstrom, VP and former corporate controller, has been promoted to CFO, and will also report to Huseby.

Kanuj Malhotra, former VP of corporate development, has been promoted to CFO of Nook Media.

After all, remember that in February, Riggio told the board he wanted to buy and take private the company’s core retail business — including the physical stores and the BN.com website — but not the Nook unit nor the college bookstores.