James Daunt, the boss of both Barnes & Noble in the US and Waterstones in the UK, is considering a potential combined initial public offering, the Financial Times reported on Monday.

Daunt told the FT he plans to open dozens more bookshops this year, including 60 new Barnes & Noble shops in the US.

The British-born bookseller oversaw the opening of 57 stores in the US and 12 in the UK in 2024 - what he dubbed a ‘really significant expansion’ - with plans to ‘do that or more in 2025’.

Waterstones was sold to Elliott, the private equity group, in 2018 by Russian billionaire Alexander Mamut, with Barnes & Noble, the larger US business, acquired by Paul Singer‘s investment management firm in 2019. 

Daunt said it would be ‘logical’ to look at an initial public offering of the consolidated businesses in the future, although any decision would depend on Elliott’s strategy, the FT reported.

A person close to the fund manager said there were no plans at present to list the chains but that it would be one of the possible options in the future, the FT noted.

Daunt predicted another successful holiday season for the bookseller, boosted by the last weekend of trading before Christmas Day. 

The holiday period worked well for last-minute shoppers, Daunt said, given expectations that many would wait for the weekend before Christmas to find their gifts.

‘If you are in the ‘last minute‘ game - and we are to an extent - then...it was a solid Christmas that came late because of the fall of the calendar,’ he said. ‘The last weekend and [December] 23-24 were exceptional on both sides of the Atlantic. It has been a good post-Christmas as well.’

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