By Chelsey Dulaney
Barnes & Noble Inc. will buy back Pearson PLC's stake in its
flagging Nook division for about $27.7 million in cash and stock,
as the largest U.S. bookstore chain prepares to split itself into
two separate companies next year.
Pearson's exit follows Microsoft Corp.'s decision to sell its
16.8% stake in Nook Media LLC earlier this month for about $125
million in cash and common stock.
Pearson, which took a 5% stake in Nook Media in 2013 for $89.5
million, had a right to sell its stake back to Barnes & Noble
for terms similar to the ones Microsoft received. The sale will
return full interest in the unit to Barnes & Noble.
Barnes & Noble's separation into two companies--one
consisting of 658 consumer stores and BarnesandNoble.com, and the
other encompassing 714 college bookstores and the Nook digital
business--is expected happen at the end of August 2015, instead of
the earlier target of March.
The decision to split came as Nook's e-reader struggled to
compete with bigger companies like Amazon.com Inc., resulting in a
series of heavy losses for the unit.
Write to Chelsey Dulaney at Chelsey.Dulaney@wsj.com
Access Investor Kit for Pearson Plc
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=GB0006776081
Access Investor Kit for Barnes & Noble, Inc.
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US0677741094
Access Investor Kit for Pearson Plc
Visit
http://www.companyspotlight.com/partner?cp_code=P479&isin=US7050151056
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires