Barnes & Noble is struggling, and its chairman is selling — again.
Shares of the bedraggled bookseller plunged 12 percent Thursday after it disclosed Chairman Len Riggio sold a massive chunk of stock for the second time in less than five months.
Bronx-born Riggio, who began building the bookselling empire in the 1970s, sold 3.7 million shares in a Wednesday block trade at $17.30 a share, snaring $64 million in the deal, according to a securities filing.
The surprise cashout cuts Riggio’s stake to 20 percent from more than 26 percent — and follows a December sale that had slashed Riggio’s holdings from nearly 30 percent.
The 73-year-old executive, in an interview with The Post at the time of his December stock sale, said he had no plans to sell additional shares — a key issue for many investors as the retailer has been hit by heavy losses on its Nook e-reader.
On Thursday, however, a B&N spokeswoman said Riggio had meant merely that he “had no plans at the time to sell more stock, meaning immediately.”
In a Thursday statement, Riggio said he has no plans for any additional stock sales in calendar 2014.
“After this sale I remain the company’s largest shareholder, a position I feel very good about,” Riggio said. “I love this company and I believe in its future.”
The latest sale is part of a “long-term financial and estate planning” move, he said.
In fact, Riggio added, he lost money on the shares — having purchased them for about $25 each.
Still, Riggio got a much better price than B&N shareholders were getting after news of his sale broke. The stock closed Thursday at $16.37, down by $2.23.
B&N shares had already taken a hit earlier this month when billionaire John Malone’s Liberty Media disclosed it liquidated nearly all of its 17 percent stake in the retailer.
Malone had acquired the stake in 2011 after reportedly trying to buy B&N outright for $1 billion.