Tesco is closing the last of its digital entertainment services, Blinkbox Books, after failing to find a buyer for the ebook platform. The news sent shares in the supermarket down just over three per cent in afternoon trading.
The struggling supermarket said it would close the service by the end of February to focus on its core business. Bookstore Waterstones was said to be interested in taking on the ebook business.
The service is shutting down just over two years after it was acquired by Tesco, when the supermarket forked out £4.5m for Mobcast in September 2012. It later renamed it Blinkbox Books.
The closing down of the service brings to an end Tesco’s Philip Clarke era, in which the former chief executive pushed the retail giant into the digital age with a raft of acquisitions.