Britain’s biggest bookstore chain was near bankruptcy when James Daunt became CEO in 2011, and “[he] steered Waterstones out of a death spiral by rethinking every cranny of the company, from small (those shelves) to large (the business model).” Now, as he takes over B&N, which has been contracting for two decades, “his guiding assumption is that the only point of a bookstore is to provide a rich experience in contrast to a quick online transaction. And for now, the experience at Barnes & Noble isn’t good enough.” – The New York Times