Barnes & Noble released its earnings report for its fiscal 2015 second quarter today, and things don’t sound great for the company’s Nook business.
The Nook division reported $64 million in revenue for the quarter, which marks a 41.3 percent decrease from the comparable quarter last year. This includes sales of digital content, devices and accessories. Here is more from the press release:
Device and accessories sales were $18.7 million for the quarter, a decrease of 63.7% from a year ago, due to lower unit selling volume. Digital content sales were $45.2 million for the quarter, a decline of 21.2% compared to a year ago, due primarily to lower device unit sales.
On top of this deficient sales report, the book chain revealed that it is terminating its relationship with Microsoft, which had brought $300 million in investments into the Nook business. Check it out:
Barnes & Noble and Microsoft have agreed to terminate their commercial agreement including any associated obligations for international content acquisition and sale. Such termination will allow the Company to continue its rationalization of the NOOK Digital business and enhances Barnes & Noble’s operational and strategic flexibility. The termination also relieves Microsoft of any obligation to continue to fund support and other payments set forth in the commercial agreement between the partners.