Barnes & Noble Chairman Plans Offer for Bookstore Business
February 26, 2013
Leonard Riggio, founder and chairman of New York-based Barnes & Noble Inc., plans to make an offer for the company's bookstores, according to Reuters. Riggio, who bought the original Barnes & Noble store in New York, is the company’s largest shareholder, owning nearly 30 percent of the company. He would offer cash and would assume some of Barnes & Noble’s debts, but the offer would not include the company’s Nook e-books and device business or its college bookstore chain, which are part of a separate unit that the company created last year called Nook Media. A special board committee of three directors is considering Riggio’s proposal. Currently, Barnes & Noble operates 689 bookstores in 50 states and 674 college bookstores.
