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Barnes & Noble Founder Leonard Riggio Dies
posted on by Anita Tai
Bookstore chain Barnes & Noble announced on X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday that the founder Leonard Riggio has died. He was 83.
Riggio opened the Student Book Exchange in 1965, before acquiring the Barnes & Noble bookstore in 1971 and using its name for his company.
The chain expanded its selection of books to include manga, graphic novels, and hobby games as it competed with Amazon for online sales in 1995. Barnes & Noble is now one of the largest global booksellers. He would serve as the CEO a number of times throughout the company's history.
He went on to found a video game sales operation in the late 1990's, which would become GameStop after a series of mergers and leadership changes.
Riggio also became the Chairman of the Board of college textbook wholesaler MBS Textbook Exchange in 1985.
Sources: Barnes & Noble's X/Twitter account, ICv2 (Milton Griepp)
