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

All of the above moves, which notably keep the businesses segregated from one another, certainly seem to mesh with the idea of a split. Considering the Nook segment resulted in losses for Barnes & Noble of around $475 million during fiscal 2013, you can’t blame the guy for only wanting to grab the better-performing brick-and-mortar and online operations.

Even so, I still think it’s surprising that Riggio, like Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE:BBY) founding chairman Richard Schulze and his failed buyout efforts a few months ago, would be willing to bet the farm on a business facing such stiff competition in the form of deep-pocketed online behemoths like Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN). Remember, as traditional retailers continued to struggle, Amazon itself managed to increase year-over-year revenue last quarter by 22%, further solidifying its status as the envied 800-pound gorilla in the space.

What’s more, Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) not only benefits from its enormous retail operations and competing Kindle Tablet offerings, but also boasts several other supplementary revenue streams to fill its coffers from: cloud computing services, a self-publishing segment, its Prime video streaming service, and the ever-growing Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) Studios business.

In the end, though, while I wouldn’t be surprised if we do eventually see a bid by Riggio to buy back the best parts of the company he founded, Amazon’s long-term threat to businesses like Barnes & Noble is one big reason I certainly wouldn’t be willing to speculate on it as a viable investment thesis.

The article Is Barnes & Noble Getting Ready to Go Private? originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Steve Symington.

Fool contributor Steve Symington has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool recommends Amazon.com. The Motley Fool owns shares of Amazon.com.

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