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James Daunt, chairman of both Barnes & Noble in the US and Waterstones in the UK, plans to open dozens more bookstores this year, with an eye to a possible joint flotation in London or New York in the future.
About 60 stores will be added to Barnes & Noble's U.S. footprint, which already has about 1,000 stores across the country, Daunt said. The British-born bookseller has overseen the opening of 57 stores in the US and 12 in the UK in 2024 – what it described as a “really significant expansion” – with plans to “do that or more in 2025”.
Water stones It was sold to Elliott, a private equity group, in 2018 by Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut, with Barnes & Noble, the largest US company, acquired by Paul Singer's investment management firm in 2019.
Daunt also still controls his independent UK book series that bears his name, but is not owned by Elliott.
He has run Waterstones since 2011, managing to overcome the challenge posed by Amazon, which sells books directly to consumers and also via the Kindle. Other competitors such as Foyles, Hatchards and Blackwell's have been so since Purchased by WaterstonesThis makes the combined Elliott-owned entity the largest bookseller by number of stores on both sides of the Atlantic.
Daunt said it would be “logical” to look at Initial public offering of consolidated companies in the future, although any decision will depend on Elliott's strategy. A person close to the fund manager said there are currently no plans to list the chains but it would be a possible option in the future.
For now, Daunt said he is focused on bringing together Barnes & Noble and Waterstones' IT and financial systems into one platform.
Daunt predicted another successful holiday season for the bookseller, supported by the final weekend of trading before Christmas Day.
Daunt said the holiday period was good for last-minute shoppers, given expectations that many would wait the weekend before Christmas to find their gifts.
“If you're in the 'last minute' game – and we are to some extent – then (…) Christmas was strong and came late due to the fall of the calendar,” he said. “Last weekend and (December 23-24) were exceptional on both sides of the Atlantic. The post-Christmas period was good too.
He said there was no clear type of bestseller this year, with sales across categories. Booksellers tend to see a decline in sales after the January sales period, but Daunt said a new book by popular fantasy author Rebecca Yaros at the end of the month is expected to drive business.
Daunt said wage inflation was “really important” for the company, but he supported the UK government's move to increase National Insurance costs, which many executives in the retail and consumer industry sectors opposed.
Instead, he said the most important issue for Waterstones in the UK is Brexit: “That remains the biggest pain, increases cost and complexity, and makes our labor situation worse.”
