Dive Brief:

• Barnes & Noble Thursday said sales have declined for the fourth straight quarter, largely on weak Nook table and e-book sales. The company said full-year 2016 same-store sales will likely grow 1% thanks to improvements to its physical stores, and announced that it will soon unveil a revamped website next week. 

• Q4 Nook sales fell 40% while same-store sales fell .5%. Still, Nook-related losses before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization dropped precipitously to $86 million for the fiscal year ended May 2, down from Nook's $480 million Ebitda loss two years prior.

• CEO Michael Huseby will shift to Barnes & Noble Education Inc. as executive chairman after the spinoff later this summer, the company also said.

Dive Insight:

The Nook, Barnes & Noble’s answer to Amazon’s Kindle, continues to be the bookseller’s albatross. Many observers thought the company would spin off Nook, but it’s branching off its well-performing education business instead.

Huseby's move to the education business is interesting, given that he helped the retail unit revamp in the two years of being CEO there. The change will leave Barnes & Noble short of a CEO for the retail unit, but the Wall Street Journal reports that Huseby said that the company plans to complete the search "shortly." 

Its physical-store business continues to be a bright spot for the company, and continued attention to its merchandise mix will only support that. And the company could see web sales grow if its online renovation, which will include improved search and checkout, can gain some traction. Still, the company must decide what to do about its Nook problems.