Waterstones plans major UK expansion and mulls IPO as it rides high on BookTok trend

James Daunt, the chief executive of Waterstones, has revealed ambitions to expand the UK bookshop network with dozens more stores this year and is contemplating a potential flotation in either London or New York.

In an interview with the Financial Times, he suggested that an initial public offering (IPO) for a combined entity of Waterstones and Barnes & Noble, which he also manages, would be a "logical" step in the future, as reported by City AM.

Under Daunt's leadership, Waterstones has successfully navigated the rise of e-books and Amazon's dominance, establishing itself as the largest bookseller by stores in both the UK and the US. Since taking the helm at Waterstones in May 2011, after founding Daunt Books in 1990, he has overseen significant growth, including the launch of 12 new UK stores in 2024—a move he described to the FT as a "really significant expansion"—with plans to match or exceed that number in 2025.

Although Daunt considered an IPO for Waterstones back in 2018 before its sale to private equity firm Elliott, he had deemed the timing inappropriate. A source close to the fund manager indicated to the FT that there are currently no plans to list the chains, but it remains one of the potential options for the future.

Waterstones, which owns other prestigious bookshops such as Foyles, Hatchards, and Blackwell’s, has benefitted from a social media-driven resurgence in reading, particularly among Gen Z who are increasingly embracing physical books.

Termed BookTok, an online collective has emerged driving young adults to delve into various literary genres. It has become TikTok's biggest community, boasting more than 243 billion views on posts tagged with #booktok.

The year 2023 witnessed a record-breaking sale of 669 million physical books in the UK. Last year marked the occasion of a BookTok festival at Waterstones Piccadilly, where a sales assistant shared with the Observer: "I can’t stress how much BookTok sells books."