Barnes & Nobles Holiday Sales Drop 6.6%

Barnes & Noble's sales fell 6.6 percent at its bookstores and online during the critical holiday season compared with last year. But the bookseller said a core sales figure was essentially flat.

The results were reported a day after the company announced that it promoted the head of its Nook business, Michael Huseby, to CEO. The post has been vacant since July when CEO William Lynch left the company.

Its stock rose in Thursday premarket trading.