The chief executive officer of Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE: BKS) never really ran the company. The family that has control of the book firm did. But someone had to be the fall guy as Barnes & Noble’s Nook e-reader failed and the retailer all but admitted defeat by Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN). Barnes & Noble will follow Borders into the dust, and the world’s largest e-commerce company will have claimed another victim. Amazon has been the online retail giant for too long. Retailers much larger, like Wal-Mart Stores Inc. (NYSE: WMT), have been unable to figure a way to effectively compete.

Barnes & Noble announced:

William Lynch has resigned as Chief Executive Officer and director of the Company effective immediately. The Company also announced the following organizational changes: Michael P. Huseby has been appointed Chief Executive Officer of NOOK Media LLC and President of Barnes & Noble, Inc. Max J. Roberts, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble College will continue to lead the digital education strategy and report to Mr. Huseby, as will the Executive Management team of NOOK Media. Mr. Huseby and Mitchell Klipper, Chief Executive Officer of the Barnes & Noble Retail Group, will report directly to Leonard Riggio, Executive Chairman of Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Another owner blames a new CEO for a defeat.

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