Just a little more than a year into the job, Barnes & Noble (B&N) CEO Demos Parneros has been fired.
A press release said Parneros was fired without severance “for violations of the Company’s policies.” The company declined to comment more specifically on its reasons for letting Parneros go, other than to say the violations were not related to fraud, nor to any disagreements over financial reporting or practices.
Parneros, who previously was an executive with office-supplies chain Staples, joined B&N in November 2016 as chief operating officer. He had little bookselling experience when he was promoted to chief executive just five months later.
It wasn’t a particularly inspired hire for the scrambling bookseller, whose Nook e-reader has crashed and burned, and whose traditional big-box model is under threat from Amazon and indie bookstores.
When Parneros joined, he was B&N’s fourth CEO in five years. An interim leadership group of existing executives will take over until B&N can find yet another CEO.