One day after a report surfaced in which the CEO of a mall said Amazon was planning to open hundreds of bookstores around the US, the same CEO appears to be backtracking his statement.
"General Growth Properties, Inc. Chief Executive Officer Sandeep Mathrani has indicated that a statement he made concerning Amazon during GGP's earnings conference call held on February 2, 2016, was not intended to represent Amazon's plans," according to a statement released by the company Wednesday.
General Growth Properties CEO Sandeep Mathrani had said on his company's earnings call: "You’ve got Amazon opening brick-and-mortar bookstores and their goal is to open, as I understand, 300 to 400." 
A move into larger-scale brick-and-mortar commerce would follow Amazon's decision to open a store in Seattle last November. 
Barnes & Noble shares, which fell 9% on Wednesday following the report, were up as much as 9% in after hours trade on Wednesday after Mathrani’s statement.
Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.

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