Waterstones’ owner buys Barnes & Noble
UK high street chain’s chief James Daunt will run US giant as well after purchase by Elliott Management
THE job of Waterstones boss James Daunt just got a whole lot bigger after the company’s owner snapped up US chain Barnes & Noble and appointed him to run both businesses.
The troubled US bookseller is being bought for almost £540m by Paul Singer’s Elliott Management, which also acquired Waterstones last year.
Elliott said the two retailers would operate separately, but share “best practice” and a chief executive in the form of Mr Daunt, who will divide his time between the UK and America.
His expanded role marks the culmination of almost three decades in the bookselling business. Mr Daunt opened his first store on Marylebone High Street in London in 1990 and his eponymous chain now has six shops in some of London’s most desirable suburbs. He was appointed boss of Water- stones in 2011.
Mr Daunt said he was “up for the challenge” of turning around more than a decade of declining sales at Barnes & Noble – the last dedicated bookseller in the US. “It needs to open more stores and sell more books from the ones it already has,” he said.
The chain has more than 600 stores but has closed many poorly performing outlets or moved them to better locations in recent years. Its revenues fell 3.1pc last year to almost $3.6bn (£2.8bn). Both Waterstones and Barnes & Noble have suffered from the inexorable rise of Amazon, which started out as a bookseller.
Mr Daunt said he had “nothing but the highest respect” for the online retail giant despite its impact on bricks and mortar booksellers, but added: “We need to do our own thing better.”
Waterstones, founded in 1982, has about 280 stores and makes a point of giving individual managers considerable autonomy to better cater for local demand.
Mr Daunt said in April last year he was “very happy” when Elliott bought the UK’S last high street bookseller from Rothschild, after it vowed to back the chain’s growth plans.
Barnes & Noble shares surged on Thursday following reports that a deal was imminent. Leonard Riggio, Barnes & Noble’s executive chairman, said he had admired Waterstones and believed Elliott was “uniquely suited to improve and grow our company for many years ahead. I am also confident that James Daunt has the leadership ability and experience necessary to lead this great organisation.”
Elliott was founded in New York in 1977 and has assets worth $34bn under management. Mr Singer’s fund is known for its intervention in companies ranging from BHP to National Express, and a legal battle with Argentina over its unpaid debts in 2001.