Barnes & Noble in posting results for its most recent quarter late Tuesday claimed to have gained market share for e-books in the US. The company claimed to have moved from its usual fifth of the market to 25 percent. It tied the success to that of the Nook and noted that it was selling twice as many e-books as any paper books online.
The company declined to say how many Nooks or e-book downloads it had sold, making the number difficult to quantify. Amazon has previously said the Kindle had 70 to 80 percent share, but it will likely have had to lose share for the Nook to carve out its claimed stake. Internationally, the Nook was estimated to have had a third of the Kindle’s share.
Its results came as its emphasis on the Nook ate significantly into profits. The company’s profit dropped 25 percent from year to year to $60.6 million and has led it to cancel its usual shareholder dividend to roll the cash into its e-book store and devices. S
