David Schick

Barnes & Noble Inc. remains committed to its money-losing Nook digital book, e-reader and tablet business even as sales in the unit continue to plunge.

"We aren't giving up on Nook by any stretch of the imagination," said Chief Executive Michael Huseby in an interview. "E-readers and tablets aren't going to be a big business for us going forward. The industry itself is declining. We are trying to sell more digital content going forward."

So far that's not happening. Digital content sales slumped 29% in the fiscal third quarter, Barnes & Noble reported Tuesday.

Barnes & Noble had a rough holiday season: Same-store sales fell compared to a year ago and revenue from sales of the Nook tablet stalled. Despite a heavy investment in the Nook business, Barnes & Noble is expected to have a three-year cumulative loss of more than $700 million, according to Barclays Capital -- an indication that the bookstore's multi-front war with online retailer Amazon.com doesn't seem to be working.

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