Barnes and Noble chairman Leonard Riggio stopped plans Tuesday to buy the company's stores according to The New York Times.
Despite the setback, the option may still be open.
"While I reserve the right to pursue an offer in the future, I believe it is in the company's best interests to focus on the business at hand," Riggio said in a statement The Times reported.
The news is the latest setback for the company which chose to halt creation of its Nook color tablets. Riggio gave word of his plans to purchase bookstore chain's 675 stores in February, which would have divided the company in half The Times reported.
According to The Times, Riggio did not disclose how much he was willing to fork up for the transaction, but board members didn't want anything less than $1 billion.
Aside from its defunct Nook tablet business, Barnes and Noble has dealt with lackluster earnings, and the absence of chief executive William Lynch due to his exit The Times reported. Tuesday was also the day the company had a greater-than-expected loss for the first quarter which went up to $87 million or $1.56 a share from a $39.8 million loss or 76 cents a share in last year's first quarter The Times reported.
Early trading showed Barnes and Noble with a decrease of about 12 percent The Times reported. Barnesandnoble.com carries more than 1 million titles in its warehouses throughout the United States the company said on its website. These are available for delivery immediately. Search engines allow virtual customers to search for books they are interested in by title, author, or keyword the company said on its website.
The company's website also offers books, ebooks, magazines, toys and games, music, DVDs, and Blu-ray.
