Leonard Riggio, Barnes & Noble’s biggest shareholder, sold two million of his 17.7 million shares this week, cutting his stake to 26.3% from about 30%, according to Wall Street Journal.  The price was $13.81 each, raising $27.6 million for Riggio.  He took a loss of around $40 million, he told the Journal. 

Riggio made the sale to generate a loss that could be used to offset profits from other investments to reduce his taxes, he said. 

In addition to Barnes & Noble’s welll publicized problems with the Nook, the SEC is investigating the company over its accounting practices (see "SEC Investigating Barnes & Noble"), and shareholder rights attorneys are circling (see "Sharks Circle Barnes & Noble").