Barnes & Noble Bankruptcy Index: The stock's price continues to go down

This week our B&N bankruptcy index is moving permanently to Thursday and will be published from now on on Thursdays. Just a short reminder - As Borders filed for bankruptcy, we look at Barnes & Noble, the nation's largest book chain to see if they will follow Borders and also go into bankruptcy and if so, when exactly.

To do it more analytically we launched few weeks ago a new B&N Bankruptcy Index, which is based on 10 parameters, which receive a grade between 1-10 (1 - worst grade, 10 - best grade). Hence we receive a 0-100 point index scale, which we divide into several ranges as follows:

90-100: B&N is in an excellent shape. Couldn't be better!
80-89: B&N is doing great. Bankruptcy is no longer a real threat.
70-79: B&N could do better and has to be cautious of bankruptcy.
60-69: B&N doesn't look too good and bankruptcy is becoming a more realistic threat.
50-59: Bankruptcy is a clear and present danger.
49 and less: Red alert! Bankruptcy is just around the corner and is likely to happen within a short time frame.

We will check the B&N Bankruptcy Index every Thursday, updating each one of the parameters included in the index and will analyze the trend. You can follow the weekly changes in the index from the day it was launched on the Barnes and Noble Bankruptcy Index page on our website.

So here's our update for this week (in brackets is last week's grade):

1. Confidence of the stock market in B&N
This parameter will look at the performance of the B&N stock (symbol: BKS) in the last week. The performance of B&N's stock is an indication of the confidence the market has in the ability of B&N to maintain a viable business.

So let's look at last week's figures:

2/23: $14.70
3/2: $13.20
Change: -10.2%

As you can see, B&N's stock continued to fall down last week with a decrease of 10.2% in the stock's price. Just for comparison, the S&P500 Index almost didn't change during this period (+0.1%) and Amazon fell in 2.6%. I guess this is a combination of both the discontent of the market of B&N's decision to suspend its dividend as well as further backlash from Borders' bankruptcy, as Mark Riddix explains on Benzinga.com:

The recent bankruptcy of Borders (NYSE: BGP) has caused many investors to reevaluate their thoughts on companies in the retail books sector. Borders was forced to declare bankruptcy under a large mountain of debt, and now many investors are questioning whether or not similar companies like Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) can stay afloat. Can B&N survive where others have failed?

This week's grade for this parameter is also going down to: 6.5 (7)

2. What analysts say on B&N
Mark Riddix of New Horizons Financial Management was optimistic this week:

Overall, things are looking up at Barnes & Noble especially given that its main competitor, Borders, is on its last legs. Barnes & Noble has 25% of the e-book market and has its own reader to compete against the Kindle. Its online website continues to generate more revenue for the company, and ultimately, Barnes & Noble does not have to topple Amazon to be successful in the digital publishing industry. The company can generate sizable income and make for a high-quality investment by being the number two player in the industry and an alternative to the 800 pound gorilla that is Amazon.

No other comments or analysis were found. This week's grade stays the same: 7 (7)

3. New strategy to regain sales in the brick and mortar stores
Here's what we have so far: 1. More strategic space for the Nook 2. More toys, games and educational products. Shawn Graham shares on Fast Company what he found on his last visit at his local B&N store with regards to the second point:

Upon entering the store, the thing that I was most surprised by was the significant amount of retail space they are now dedicating to hobbies, games, and childhood learning which I'm guessing takes up approximately 350-500 square feet that was once populated by books. This new assortment diversifies their retail product offerings and also serves as an extension to the reading and play area for children already housed within many Barnes & Noble stores. Based on the prominently displayed LEGO products, it appears they are hoping to attract more kids which will equal more parents which will equal more retail spending--not to mention continuing to get kinds into their customer pipeline as early as possible.

Bottom line: Just like Borders, B&N still doesn't have yet a clear and comprehensive strategy that will transform their brick and mortar stores from a liability back to an asset. This week's grade stays the same: 4 (4)

4. What B&N is saying about itself
Silence this week.. This week's grade for this parameter stays the same: 6 (6)

5. Steps B&N is taking
Nothing much here this week. Only the litigation settling with Spring Design, which initiated legal action against Barnes & Noble in November 2009 in connection with Spring Design’s Alex eReader. Bottom line: Nothing to write home (or the investors about). This week's grade stays the same: 6 (6)

6. Competitors
This parameter will mainly look into Borders and how its problems affect B&N. This week there are no big news on this end and the grade stays the same. 5.5 (5.5)

7. Financial strength
Last week Barnes & Noble published the results for the third quarter. This week we had no updates. This week's grade stays the same: 7 (7)

8. Strength of the digital business
Last week Michael Wolf had an interesting idea on GigaOm - how about B&N extending its value proposition to digital publishing?. He explained:

But as I discuss in my weekly analysis at GigaOM Pro (subscription required), they must do more. Let’s face it, the total pie in books is going to shrink, and the long and unwieldy value-chain from writer to customer is going to collapse. Amazon knew this a long time ago, and that’s why they’ve been moving to disintermediate the publisher and the wholesaler in the e-book world by becoming, essentially, the entire value chain themselves.”

B&N should do the same, and do it quick. Sure, like Amazon, it launched its own self-pub platform in PubIt!, and it tinkered around with a few imprints on the print side for some time. But in the collapsing world of books, it’s every man for himself, and its time for B&N to accelerate its push into becoming a digital publisher.

Definitely an interesting idea. I wonder if B&N are considering it.. Other than that we didn't find any updates and this week's grade stays the same: 8 (8)

9. Sense of urgency
It looks like B&N still think they have time and are not worried at all, or at least not worried enough to begin doing something (again, we don't believe more toys and extra room for the Nook is a winning strategy) with their brick and mortar stores. If we can learn something from the Borders' case, it's how fast things go bad when your reach a certain tipping point of financial distress or distrust of your stakeholders (consumers or publishers for example). This week's grade stays the same: 5.5 (5.5)

10. General feeling
This parameter will be an indication of our impression of all the materials read and analyzed for this index. Our feeling this week, after B&N's quarterly report is not too good. This week we're still more worried as the collapsing stock's price is making the possibility of bankruptcy much more realistic to many who thought this option is not on the table. This week's grade stays the same: 6 (6)

This week's Barnes & Noble Bankruptcy Index: 61.5 points (62)

As you can see, this week's index is set at 61.5 points, which translates into the scale of 60-69: B&N doesn't look too good and bankruptcy is becoming a more realistic threat. Definitely not a good place to be at and too close to the red alert zone. Too close. Yet it looks like B&N is still not in immediate trouble. See you next Thursday.

To view the weekly changes in the index visit Barnes and Noble Bankruptcy Index on our website.

You can find more resources on the future of bookstores on our website at www.ecolibris.net/bookstores_future.asp

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Working to green the book industry!

Why plant a tree for your book? We'll give you 41 reasons in a special Earth Day Campaign

Earth Day is fast approaching (April 22) and this year we are celebrating the 41th Earth Day with a special campaign - 41 Reasons to Plant a Tree for Your Book.

With more than 180,000 trees planted so far on behalf of readers, authors and publishers working with Eco-Libris, it's no surprise that we think planting trees to green up books is a great idea..

But we also want to hear what readers think about it and why they believe planting trees for their books is a good idea, and so for 41 days, starting on March 13 and ending on April 22, Earth Day, we'll publish on our blog 41 of the best answers we'll get, one reply every day!

The campaign will begin in 11 days and if you would like to share with us your reply to our question, please send it to info@ecolibris.net.

We have great prizes to all the readers whose replies we'll publish, including a $25 gift card for Strand Bookstore, audiobooks from Simon & Schuster Audio (such as The Half Life by Jennifer Weiner, American Assassin by Vince Flynn and Essence of Happiness by the Dalai Lama) and great books, like Planet Home by Jeffrey Hollender, books from the Little Green Books series, Spit That Out! by Paige Wolf, The Story of Stuff by Annie Leonard and many more! You can see the full list of the prizes on the campaign's page.

The campaign will begin in only 12 days so stay tuned!

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Raz Godelnik is interviewed on Living on Earth on how green are ebooks

Last Friday I was interviewed on the radio show Living on Earth about the subject of how green are e-books.

You can find both the transcript and the audio file of the interview, which can be downloaded in mp3 format, on Living on Earth's website.

Here's their introduction for the interview: Last year, sales of electronic readers skyrocketed in the U.S. As Raz Godelnik, CEO of Eco-Libris, tells host Bruce Gellerman, e-readers don’t use any paper, but they still have a significant carbon footprint. For some readers, traditional books are the greener option.

Living on Earth is a great show and you're invited to listen to it - it is the weekly environmental news and information program distributed by Public Radio International. Every week approximately 300 Public Radio stations broadcast Living on Earth's news, features, interviews and commentary on a broad range of ecological issues.

More resources on the ebooks vs. paper books environmental debate can be found on our website at http://www.ecolibris.net/ebooks.asp.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Why HarperCollins decision to limit their ebook lending will not help their ebook sales

HarperCollins announced last week that new titles licensed from library ebook vendors will be able to circulate only 26 times before the license expires. This is the first time a publisher is restricting the use of e-books in libraries - so far, as the NYT explained yesterday, libraries that have paid for the privilege of making a publisher’s e-books available for borrowing have typically been granted the right to lend an e-book an unlimited number of times. What it means for many libraries.

HarperCollins explained in a statement they " believe this change balances the value libraries get from our titles with the need to protect our authors and ensure a presence in public libraries and the communities they serve for years to come."

HarperCollins clearly wants to limit sure ebook lending so it won't jeopardize its ebook sales, but are they taking the right step? At least from a business point of view, I believe the answer is No.

HarperCollins are definitely right that it's much easier to borrow an ebook than a paper book - you don't even have to go to the library. Many times you can just go to your library's website and get the requested ebook in a minute or two without leaving your chair for a second. This convenience is observed by HarperCollins as a threat to their ebook business - if it's so easy, wouldn't a growing number of people choose to do it instead of buying the ebook?

The answer is probably Yes, but the problem of HaperCollins is that they can't stop it by limiting the number of times libraries can loan their ebooks.

Why? Because libraries are not the only ones lending ebooks. With both the Nook and the Kindle providing the option to borrow and lend ebooks for two weeks, we see a growing number of websites that provide convenient platform for readers to exchange ebooks. Today you have websites such as BookLending.com, Books for My Kindle, Books for My Nook and eBookFling.com (not operating yet), where you can borrow and lend ebooks easily and for free.

Now, I'm not sure if HarperCollins' restrictions will apply also to individual lending, but even if this is the case, with a growing number of exchange platforms and users, these restrictions will become meaningless. You can stop tens of thousands of libraries, but you can't stop millions of ebook readers that would like to borrow and lend books to each other.

The bottom line is that HarperCollins not only made libraries rightfully angry, but to my opinion also made a poor decision from a business point of view. If they want to increase their ebook sales, they need to look for real creative marketing ideas and forget about limiting the lending options of their ebooks.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Our website is down due to a technical problem..

As you may have already noticed, our website is down at the moment. We apologize for that and are working hard to get it back up again as soon as we can.

If you have any questions please contact us at info@ecolibris.net.


Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Green book of the week - Unleash Your Full Potential by James Rick

Today we review a great book that is dealing with a common problem - wasting resources. But this time it's not about mother nature, but our own human resources. Still, just like with our relationship with mother nature, author James Rick wants us to make the most of the resources we have and in his unique book he shows us how it can be done.

Our book is:

Unleash Your Full Potential: The Secret For Revealing Your Hidden Power

Author: James Rick
At the age of 4 James had a knack for entrepreneurship, selling finger paintings in the drive way, of their small Florida home. His best (and only) customer was his mother who bought them all. His first profitable business would open up a year later in the form of a lemonade stand near their home, which raked in $5 a day.

Fast forward some years later, James Rick Stinson was awarded Young Entrepreneur of the Year by Southern Utah Chamber of Commerce in 2001, for starting his first major venture with less than $1,000 at the age of 17. By age 18 he had gotten into as much as $30,000 in credit card and personal debt but somehow managed to get out of it. Over the next 3 years he grew that business to half a million dollars in sales and expanded to build an office in Noida, India where he lived and worked for 3 months before returning to the US. James learned the hard way that you can’t do it all yourself. He had been the top sales person at his company and when he stopped selling to focus on building out the office, things took a turn for the worse. He ended up closing the business a few months later due to losses. “It crashed and burned but I was still alive”.

Undeterred and excited after getting his first taste of Asia, James started his second major enterprise a call center outsourcing business in Manila, Philippines, where he would live and work for the next five years. He was interviewed by Fox News Business for his role in outsourcing, starting his company Global Sky in the Philippines at the age of 20, and growing it to more than 200 employees, and $2 million in revenue annually.

Publisher: Full Potential

Published on: February 2010

What this book is about?
"Unleash Your Full Potential" is the newest book in the "Full Potential" book series, which is the product of James Rick's quest to take thousands of hours of research and distill it into clear, concise, immediately useful information. What began as a desire to have more good days than bad days, and a curiosity about dreams and meditation, evolved into thousands of hours of research and experimentation in the areas of personal development, philosophy, biology, physics, psychology, evolution, religion and spirituality, naturally altered states of consciousness, entrepreneurship, economics, and politics. The broad scope of James' experience and study gives him a unique perspective not usually found in other forms of literature or presentation.

What we think about it?

If I thought couple of years ago when I read A Theory of Everything by Ken Wilber that Wilber is pushing the envelope as far as it can be pushed, James Rick proved me in his book that I was wrong. Just like Wilber, Rick explored, learned and experimented almost every area that could provide him with wisdom on life and this book is summarizing this journey, providing the reader with mind-opening insights in a relatively simple language on the most complicated issues we're dealing (or actually not really dealing) with as human beings.

Still, this is not your regular 'self-help' book. Far from it. It definitely doesn't provide you with fish and actually more than it teaches you how to fish, it makes you conscious of how good you can fish. To me, this book is about a journey, where instead of looking a lost tribe or exploring terra incognita, we are joining expedition searching for our lost potential.

Why is it so important? Rick explains that "power is the ability to , do, and have whatever experience we choose". This increased number of options would eventually enable us to choose "experiences that are more enjoyable than others". Wouldn't we like to have only enjoyable experiences or "navigate reality with greater ease" as Rick offers us to dob? Of course we do, which is why this journey of exploration is so important.

This exploration guided by Rick is full of theoretical as well as practical information to manage your resources (time, energy, knowledge, connections and wealth) effectively. It took me sometime to read this book as I found myself stopping many times to think and digest Rick's insights, but it definitely worth every minute. So if you're interested in unleashing your full potential maximizing your own resources, I have a feeling you will enjoy this book.

Disclosure: Rick James is the founder and CEO of Global Sky that partners with Eco-Libris. We received a copy of this book from the author.

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Promoting sustainable reading!

Barnes & Noble Bankruptcy Index: B&N's shares are going down by more than 20 percent this week

This week our B&N bankruptcy index is one day late (usually it's published on Wednesdays) due to our need to digest B&N's quarterly report that was published earlier this week, as well as its share's slide in more than 20% in just couple of days. With this hectic week, Borders' bankruptcy looks like old news already..

Just a short reminder - As Borders filed for bankruptcy, we look at Barnes & Noble, the nation's largest book chain to see if they will follow Borders and also go into bankruptcy and if so, when exactly.

To do it more analytically we launched few weeks ago a new B&N Bankruptcy Index, which is based on 10 parameters, which receive a grade between 1-10 (1 - worst grade, 10 - best grade). Hence we receive a 0-100 point index scale, which we divide into several ranges as follows:

90-100: B&N is in an excellent shape. Couldn't be better!
80-89: B&N is doing great. Bankruptcy is no longer a real threat.
70-79: B&N could do better and has to be cautious of bankruptcy.
60-69: B&N doesn't look too good and bankruptcy is becoming a more realistic threat.
50-59: Bankruptcy is a clear and present danger.
49 and less: Red alert! Bankruptcy is just around the corner and is likely to happen within a short time frame.

We will check the B&N Bankruptcy Index every Wednesday, updating each one of the parameters included in the index and will analyze the trend. You can follow the weekly changes in the index from the day it was launched on the Barnes and Noble Bankruptcy Index page on our website.

So here's our update for this week (in brackets is last week's grade):

1. Confidence of the stock market in B&N
This parameter will look at the performance of the B&N stock (symbol: BKS) in the last week. The performance of B&N's stock is an indication of the confidence the market has in the ability of B&N to maintain a viable business.

So let's look at last week's figures:

2/16: $18.77
2/23: $14.70
Change: -21.7%

As you can see, B&N's stock had a very bad week. Just for comparison, the S&P500 Index fell during this period in 2.2% and Amazon fell in 5.3%. This is a BIG change - the stock lost 20% of its value in about one week and most of it happened after B&N announced this week it suspends its dividend to preserve its shrinking cash reserves to invest in the digital side of its business.

Tim Beyers explained the situation on The Motley Fool:
Yesterday, Foolish colleague Matt Koppenheffer compared B&N to Ice-T racing madly through the woods in the B-movie Surviving the Game. To me, the scene feels a lot more like the Colonial fleet trying to escape the Cylons in the Scyfy Channel's excellent reimagining of Battlestar Galactica.

Now what: The competition is just as tough. Google (Nasdaq: GOOG) has created a store for any device in a move somewhat reminiscent of Amazon.com's (Nasdaq: AMZN) strategy to spread its Kindle store far and wide. Barnes & Noble was never going to have an easy time in that environment. It certainly hasn't so far. In the closing episode of Galactica (spoiler alert!), the relative handful of survivors left from the original 50,000 colonists spread across a new planet stuck in a prehistoric age. Their aim? Start over from scratch, or die trying. Barnes & Noble's fate may prove to be no better.

Bottom line: Although some analysts were satisfied with B&N's step to suspend its dividends, the market doesn't like it at all and shows very little faith in the company this week. Therefore this week's grade for this parameter is going down to: 7 (9)

2. What analysts say on B&N

As mentioned, analysts supported the suspension of the dividends. Morningstar analyst Pete Wahlstrom said that, had the company not done so, investors would be asking, "if digital is so important, why are you shipping $57 million out the door annually ... instead of investing that cash?"(New York Times)

Here's another view that was presented this week - "While Barnes & Noble has a brighter future than Borders, the chain has “a long road ahead” before it becomes highly profitable. They aren’t out of the woods either. It still remains to be seen how competitive Barnes & Noble will be with e-books.” Michael Souers, an analyst for Standard & Poor’s in New York. He recommends holding B&N shares. (Bloomberg)

Last but not least, Goldman Sachs analyst Matthew Fassler upgraded Barnes & Noble to neutral from sell ahead of the filing, though he tempered expectations as the benefits are "likely baked into the Street's thinking."

In all there are no big news from the analysts, who stay somewhat cautious and wait to see what the long road ahead will bring with it - bankruptcy or sustainable growth. This week's grade stays the same: 7 (7)

3. New strategy to regain sales in the brick and mortar stores
Morningstar analyst Peter Wahlstrom said that the Borders bankruptcy filing does little to change the fundamental challenges to Barnes & Noble’s business model. Attracting consumers by being the low-price provider in a commodity game is a strategy that the company ceded to Amazon.com years ago, so Barnes & Noble needs to have a differentiated product offering or shopping experience to stay relevant. Walhlstrom added that "the bulk of Nooks are being sold through stores where kiosks and support staff put the device front and center."

According to Forbes, B&N has also made some stride with educational toys and games, but stresses that it does not want to go out of its wheelhouse in an effort to draw in shoppers who wouldn’t normally enter its stores.

Bottom line: Just like Borders, B&N still doesn't have yet a clear and comprehensive strategy that will transform their brick and mortar stores from a liability back to an asset, even though "B&N continues to voice confidence in its own stores, describing them as critical to its digital future." (WSJ) This week showed us that B&N still thinks mainly on its digital strategy, forgetting for a minute that it's Barnes & Noble and not just bn.com. This week's grade stays the same: 4 (4)

4. What B&N is saying about itself
"We intend for Barnes & Noble to be a leader in the exploding market for digital content," CEO William Lynch said on a call with analysts, estimating that his company now commands 25% of the U.S. e-books market. As David Lazarus writes on the Los Angeles Times "that's all well and good, but it doesn't exactly bode well for the chain's brick-and-mortar stores." We couldn't say it better. This week's grade for this parameter stays the same: 6 (6)

5. Steps B&N is taking
1. Giving hints that it will look to possibly taking over locations left vacant by Borders -Thumbs down.

2. Opened its doors to authors in the PubIt! self-publishing program. eBookNewser reports that "since it launched four months ago, Barnes & Noble’s self-publishing software PubIt! has attracted more than 11,000 independent publishers and authors and published more than 65,000 eBooks … To promote this expansion, B&N is hosting in-store events teaching authors how to use PubIt! The first in-store event will take place tonight in the chain’s Santa Monica store.” - Thumbs up!

Bottom line: Nothing to write home (or the investors about). This week's grade stays the same: 6 (6)

6. Competitors
This parameter will mainly look into Borders and how its problems affect B&N. This week TheStreet.com reports that B&N said during its conference call with Wall Street that it may open some stores in the locations being vacated by Borders. "CEO William Lynch said select Borders stores set to shutter "appear attractive to us," and he is hoping landlords may be willing to cut deals on rental costs. This raised questions from analysts about why Barnes & Noble would want to invest more in brick-and-mortar locations. Lynch said Barnes & Noble stores are still profitable and that most of Nook sales occur in stores."

I also don't see the logic here and really don't understand why B&N would put money into new stores instead of investing 110% of its efforts in strengthening the existing ones, and therefore our weekly grade for this parameter is going down in half a point: 5.5 (6)

7. Financial strength
Barnes & Noble published on Tuesday the results for the third quarter. It was a mixed report with both good and bad news.

Here are the good news:
1. Revenue jumped 7% to $2.3 billion.
2. Comparable-store sales, a key retail indicator, grew 7.3% at the superstores.

Here are the bad news:
1. The company suspended its dividend to preserve its shrinking cash reserves - Barnes & Noble previously offered an annual dividend of $1 a share.
2. B&N reported disappointing holiday quarter results - For the third quarter ended Jan. 29, the bookseller posted a profit of $60.6 million, or $1 a share, down from $80.4 million, or $1.38 a share, in the year-earlier period. Total net losses in the first three quarters of the current fiscal year have totaled $14.5 million.
3. Comparable-store sales at the college bookstore division fell 2.2%, with the retailer citing inclement weather as a key reason. That business accounts for just under a quarter of the company's sales.
4. Noting the situation at Borders, Barnes & Noble said it wouldn't issue any sales or earning guidance for the remainder of fiscal 2011.
5. Barnes & Noble reported it had $26.5 million in cash and cash equivalents on hand as of January 29, down from $40.2 million a year earlier. But Chief Financial Officer Joseph Lombardi told analysts the company has "ample financial capacity" to operate and develop its e-books business.

In all, the results were rather disappointing and therefore parameter's grade goes down in half a point: 7 (7.5)

8. Strength of the ebook business
As the Wall Street Journal reported this week, B&N has staked much of its future on its Nook e-reader line, so it was no surprise to hear its CEO William Lynch saying during a conference call to discuss earnings last week that "we intend for Barnes & Noble to be a leader in the exploding market for digital content." He added that "we now represent 25% of the e-book market in the U.S., larger than our share in physical books. We sell twice as many e-books as all formats of physical books combined on BN.com."

He announced that B&N canceled its quarterly dividend to free up $60 million for its digital strategies and other potential opportunities. Good news for BN.com, but is it good news for B&N at all? I am not sure at all..

Stronger emphasis on the digital business adds half a point to this week's grade is: 8 (7.5)

9. Sense of urgency
From the reports on the announcements of B&N this week on and following its quarterly report, it looks like B&N still think they have time and are not worried at all, or at least not worried enough to begin doing something with their brick and mortar stores. We believe this is not the case of course and if we can learn something from the Borders' case, it's how fast things go bad when your reach a certain tipping point of financial distress or distrust of your stakeholders (consumers or publishers for example). Therefore this week's grade goes down in half a point: 5.5 (6)

10. General feeling
This parameter will be an indication of our impression of all the materials read and analyzed for this index. Our feeling this week, after B&N's quarterly report is not too good. I also learned we're not the only one feeling this way when I saw Barnes & Noble in the list of the Next 17 Big Companies That Are Heading Toward Bankruptcy on Business Insider, where B&N's financial distress risk was assessed as 8.23%. This week's grade is going down in half a point: 6 (6.5)

This week's Barnes & Noble Bankruptcy Index: 62 points (65)

As you can see, this week's index is set at 62 points, which translates into the scale of 60-69: B&N doesn't look too good and bankruptcy is becoming a more realistic threat. Definitely not a good place to be at and too close to the red alert zone. Too close. In the meantime, it looks like B&N is still not in immediate trouble. See you next Wednesday.

To view the weekly changes in the index visit Barnes and Noble Bankruptcy Index on our website.

You can find more resources on the future of bookstores on our website at www.ecolibris.net/bookstores_future.asp

Yours,
Raz @ Eco-Libris

Eco-Libris: Working to green the book industry!