A few days ago, we reported that B&N might be thinking of totally scrapping the Nook hardware division, and now we know why.
The murmurs about a private acquisition were part of it, but not the core reason.
In the end, the cause behind the rumors is much more straightforward: big financial losses.
B&N finished the third quarter of its fiscal year 2013 with a revenue decline of 8.8% on year ($2.2 billion / 1.7 billion Euro). Nook revenue fell by a whole lot more though: 26%.
Coupled with overall decline in sales, even the 6.8% increase in digital content sales didn't offset the disaster much.
All in all, the net loss was of $6.1 million / 4.64 million Euro, a steep plunge from the $52 million / 40 million Euro profit of the same period during the previous year.