There is a new report that Barnes and Noble is exploring a sale. The bookseller has been linked to Guggenheim Partners to facilitate a buyout. The report by trade publication Dealreporter also said B&N spoke to private equity firms Apollo Management and Platinum Equity.
Last month Sandell Asset Management purchased 5% of Barnes and Noble and Thomas Sandell wrote a manifesto to the booksellers board of directors on why they should sell the company. He said “t is our belief that now is the time for the Board of Directors (the “Board”) to retain a qualified, nationally-recognized investment banking firm in order to conduct an expansive strategic alternative process aimed at achieving a privatization of BKS at a price that delivers fair value to the Company’s shareholders.”
A spokesperson said the company isn’t engaged in a sale process at this time. Additionally, another spokesperson told Benzinga “Although we have an obligation as a public company to listen to any proposals or offers from outside parties, we are not engaged in a process at this time.”
Barnes and Noble has lost 35% of their stock value in the past year and the company is basically abandoning the Nook due to the mismanagement of the digital division.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.