Barnes & Noble Inc. seeks to buy out its online counterpart
With Barnes & Noble.com starting to show improved financial performance amid continuing net losses, Barnes & Noble Inc. is offering to pay about $115 million , or $2.50 per share, for the remaining shares of the dot-com operation that it doesn’t already own, Barnes & Noble Inc. said today.
Barnes & Noble Inc. already owns about 75% of the online unit, following its $164 million purchase of a 37% share from media company Bertelsmann AG earlier this year.
The online unit reported a Q3 net loss of $12.2 million, an improvement of 30% from its year-ago net loss of $17.5 million. It has also forecast full-year sales of $415 million to $435 million, compared to $423 million last year.
Barnes & Noble.com said it has retained Dewey Ballantine LLP as legal counsel and formed a special committee of independent directors to evaluate the acquisition offer. The online book seller launched in March 1997, and has since served more than 15.8 million customers in 230 countries.
Back...
