Barnes and Noble CEO Steve Riggio Remains a Soulless Sack of Shit

Today at work I read another letter from Steve Riggio to the company at large. In it, Steve discussed a survey taken by the National Endowment for the Arts that found less than half the adult population of the United States reads literature, and that not only is the reading of literature on the decline, the rate of that decline is accelerating.
Having broken this news, Steve went on to pose an obvious question--

The obvious question is, "What does this mean to the future of our business?"
From a social perspective, there is much to be alarmed about. From a business perspective, however, we must recognize that there is a huge difference between the "industry of books" and the "culture of literacy."

Steve eased our minds; it turns out the decline of literature will not effect us much, since sales of the classics account for a mere 30% of our business. Furthermore, we no longer depend on books as our sole source of revenue. We also sell coffee, CDs and DVDs, and our growth in these areas should more than offset any drop in book sales. Steve told us that, rather than be sad about the death of Jane Austen and Thomas Hardy, dead now not merely physically but totally, we should feel good that we promote literacy merely by exisiting as a company, a company that will continue to sell Friends box sets when Huckleberry Finn is a faint memory.
Though the end of Shakespeare may be sad, economically it's not a big deal. So chin up, and keep promoting that Frappacino festival. Never forget that a venti size is the best value.