Current Events > Barnes & Noble Is Sold to Hedge Fund After a Tumultuous Year

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https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/07/books/barnes-noble-sale.html

Do you guys go to bookstores anymore?

"Barnes & Noble has been acquired by the hedge fund Elliott Advisors for $638 million.

The sale was announced Friday morning following months of speculation over the future of Barnes & Noble, the largest bookstore chain in the United States and a critical retail outlet for publishers and authors.

Elliotts acquisition of Barnes & Noble follows its purchase of the British bookstore chain Waterstones in June 2018. James Daunt, the chief executive of Waterstones, will also act as Barnes & Nobles C.E.O. and will be based in New York.

The sale, which was an all-cash transaction, valued Barnes & Noble stock at $6.50 a share, a premium of nearly 42 percent over the retailers stock price on Wednesday, before reports of an impending deal caused the price to surge on Thursday.

The sale was approved unanimously by Barnes & Nobles board. Leonard Riggio, the companys founder and chairman, who voted for the transaction, said in a news release: In view of the success they have had in the bookselling marketplace, I believe they are uniquely suited to improve and grow our company for many years ahead.

Mr. Daunt is well regarded in the publishing industry for rescuing Waterstones from near bankruptcy. In the announcement, he said he was confident that Barnes & Noble could flourish despite the challenges facing the industry.

Physical bookstores the world over face fearsome challenges from online and digital, he said. We meet these with investment and with all the more confidence for being able to draw on the unrivaled bookselling skills of these two great companies. As a place in which to choose a book, and for the sheer pleasure of visiting, we know that a good bookstore has no equal.

The Wall Street Journal had reported that Elliott Management was the favored buyer of Barnes & Noble.

Barnes & Noble has struggled to make a profit and increase its foot traffic and sales in recent years. The company has closed more than 150 stores in the last decade or so, leaving it with 627 stores.

Waterstones has pursued a strategy that many analysts say is the only way to compete in a marketplace dominated by online sales, by allowing individual Waterstones booksellers to tailor each store to a communitys needs and interests. Mr. Daunt, who took over in 2011, has said that Waterstones operates more like a constellation of independent stores, rather than a homogeneous chain.

Elliott will own both chains, and while Barnes & Noble and Waterstones will operate independently, they will share a C.E.O. and benefit from the sharing of best practices between the companies, the news release said.

Mike Shatzkin, the chief executive of Idea Logical Company, a book-industry consulting firm, said a sale was probably the best outcome for Barnes & Nobles future.

Somebody else had to save Barnes & Noble; the present ownership succeeded in a completely different environment and was not ready to jump into the 21st century, he said. Of Elliott, he added, The fact that they own Waterstones certainly puts them in the right direction. Their ability to influence the publishing industry is going to be stronger being in both markets."

Cocytus posted...

Do you guys go to bookstores anymore?

Yes, and I like B&N.
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Barnes and Noble is my silver medal now that Borders is dead.
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Cocytus posted...

which was an all-cash transaction

did they literally have 600 million in cash moved? seems unrealistic
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Smart move. Guess we'll see where it goes from here. They need to go full on with the Nook like Amazon has with their Kindle, and maybe rebrand their stores. Renovate, have reasons for people to go there other than a loaned out Starbucks and an unorganized inventory.
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Yeah I love bookstores. I prefer local but I like B&N
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the one in my town closed years ago and the next closest one is like a half hour away. Not close enough to just randomly want to go there one day.
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I was at Barnes and Noble last saturday

Is this a sears thing where it slowly dies as the assets are stripped?

B&N is so insanely expensive. Sometimes twice as much as online retailers.
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In Canada we have a chain of bookstores called Indigo (well Chapters, Coles, and Indigo, it's all owned by the same company). I worked for them when I was in college.

Even in this market they still do really well. Like, shockingly well. Even when it wasn't a holiday I remember it being fairly busy there all the time.

And every quarter for like many years the company has had growth. It's weird.
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AlephZero posted...

B&N is so insanely expensive. Sometimes twice as much as online retailers.

I agree. Their prices are ridiculous. Unfortunately they are the only book store around
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Is this bad?
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I go to a p sweet local used book store. I can almost always find something interesting for less than $5.
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eggcorn posted...

Cocytus posted...

Do you guys go to bookstores anymore?

Yes, and I like B&N.

Same
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brick-and-mortar stores are a thing of the past
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HylianFox posted...

brick-and-mortar stores are a thing of the past

They'll always have a role to play, but they'll definitely be smaller than they are currently
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I use Barnes and Noble to beta test books. Anything I find interesting from a little bit of reading I'll buy on Amazon for $10+ less

It's a nice and relaxing environment though
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Amazon is killing every specialty store.

I pretty much only buy the Kindle version of books straight from the Kindle store on my phone.

Behaviorism posted...

AlephZero posted...

B&N is so insanely expensive. Sometimes twice as much as online retailers.

I agree. Their prices are ridiculous. Unfortunately they are the only book store around

Well... Amazon, unless you're impatient.

God I miss bookstores. Never could afford anything, but if you hide in a corner, it's better than a library.
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I worked for B&N for a year, absolutely hated it. Still a pleasant place to browse and relax, though.
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Guide posted...

God I miss bookstores. Never could afford anything, but if you hide in a corner, it's better than a library.

.... what are you doing hiding in a corner of a bookstore?
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that's the best place to masturbate
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CruelBuffalo posted...

Is this a sears thing where it slowly dies as the assets are stripped?

Probably more a Toys R Us thing, where the new puppetmasters don't even try to hide running it into the ground.

Yeah I still like going to them. They smell nice and are aesthetically pleasing.
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JimCarrysToe posted...

Guide posted...

God I miss bookstores. Never could afford anything, but if you hide in a corner, it's better than a library.

.... what are you doing hiding in a corner of a bookstore?

Reading in peace probably.
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I go there whenever there's a deal on manga.
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Sada_Pop posted...

JimCarrysToe posted...

Guide posted...

God I miss bookstores. Never could afford anything, but if you hide in a corner, it's better than a library.

.... what are you doing hiding in a corner of a bookstore?

Reading in peace probably.

Yes, although at the crest of puberty, I was getting really red-faced reading lewd manga like Bastard, or Those Who Hunt Elves.
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I don't care what anyone says. I await the day the government finally steps in with antitrust against Amazon.
They're destroying far too many smaller businesses.
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The closest B&N to me is about an hour-plus away.

I do like it, although I mainly shop there when they run their 50% off Criterion sale...
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Elliott are some of the cleverest money makers on the planet

they are almost without peer in the hedge fund space
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Barnes and Nobles was where I got all the ace attorney and AAI manga, something thats not even findable online (at least not easily) - a rarity for manga.
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