In an comprehensive article about the future of Barnes & Noble at the Wall Street Journal, publishers estimated that the bookseller may hold up 27 percent of the eBook marketplace.
Here’s more from the article: “One publisher predicted Thursday that e-books could account for as much as 40% of total revenue by the end of the year. Although Barnes & Noble was late to the game, its devices have won critical praise, and publishers estimate today that it controls as much as 27% of the digital-books market.”
Yesterday Barnes & Noble announced that “the Company has decided to pursue strategic exploratory work to separate the NOOK business.” The news came after the company significantly raised its estimated losses for 2012 as it copes with the costs of maintaining the Nook business. The WSJ article speculated that Google and Microsoft could be potential buyers.