Waterstones

Waterstones Booksellers Limited, trading as Waterstones (formerly '''Waterstone's'''), is a British book retailer based in London, United Kingdom, owned by the American investment group Elliott Investment Management. It operates 317 shops, mainly in the United Kingdom and other nearby countries. it employed over 3,600 staff in Britain and Europe. The average Waterstones branch sells a range of approximately 30,000 individual books, as well as stationery and other related products.

Founded in 1982 by Tim Waterstone, the bookseller expanded rapidly until being sold in 1993 to WHSmith. In 1998 Waterstones was bought by a consortium of Waterstone, EMI, and Advent International. The company was taken under the umbrella of HMV, which later merged the Dillons and Ottakar's brands into the company. Following several poor sets of results for the group, HMV put the chain up for sale. In May 2011 it was announced that A&NN Capital Fund Management, owned by the Russian billionaire businessman Alexander Mamut, had bought the chain for £53.5 million and appointed James Daunt as the managing director. The company is incorporated in England and Wales as Waterstones Booksellers Ltd, with its registered office at 203–206 Piccadilly, London (which is also the location of its flagship shop).