Barnes & Noble announced that it has agreed to buy back its Nook e-reader business. The company plans on splitting the business into a separate company.
The company said that it is acquiring Pearson Inc.’s stake in Nook for $27.7 million in cash and stock, meaning that Barnes & Noble will outright own Nook Media.
Pearson had bought a 5% stake in Nook Media in 2013 for $89.5 million.
On December 4, 2014 Barnes and Noble announced an end to its partnership with Microsoft. It agreed to buy back Microsoft Corp.’s 16.8% stake in Nook for $125 million.
The company first said that its Nook Media business would be spun off into an independent company on June 25, 2014, mainly due to the fact that the company’s e-reader has struggled to compete with bigger companies like Amazon and Apple.
According to the Wall Street Journal:
“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.”
Barnes & Noble Inc. shares rose 47 cents, or 2 percent, to $23.59 in morning trading.