Their problems aren't as bad as Borders', but Barnes & Noble just suspended its dividends. If you don't know what a dividend is, when you buy a share of stock, you can make money one of two ways: The stock can go up, and you sell at a profit; and/or you get a dividend, which is a share of the company's profits paid out every quarter. Not all stocks pay dividends, but most investors like them because it's a regular income, meaning that if you have enough stock, you can actually live off dividends and don't have to work; and because with dividends you're less dependent on the crazy ups and downs of the stock market to make money--you could actually sell a share of stock for less than you paid for it and still come out ahead, because all the while you were holding that stock you received dividend payments.

So eliminating a dividend means that a fair number of your investors will immediately sell your stock and not buy it again until you reinstate it. It's a big move made by companies that are in a lot of trouble--which is why B&N was actually borrowing money to pay dividends before now (also not a good sign). They say that they are suspending their dividend to have more money to plow into the Nook and e-books. In other words, even if this gamble pays off, it will pay off because B&N will no longer be as reliant on bookstore sales. And even B&N executives are not trying to spin the Borders bankruptcy as a positive for their company. None of this bodes well for traditional bookstores....