Barnes & Noble To Separate College Business From Retail & Nook Digital Business

(RTTNews) - Bookstore chain Barnes & Noble, Inc. (BKS) announced the filing of a Registration Statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to effect a separation of Barnes & Noble Education from Barnes & Noble's Retail and NOOK Digital businesses. The planned separation will, when consummated, create two independent, publicly traded companies. The separation is planned to be a tax-free distribution to Barnes & Noble shareholders and is anticipated to be completed by the end of August 2015.

The firm believes that the separation would allow each business to optimize its strategic opportunities. As more focused companies with differing potential growth profiles, capital needs and market dynamics, each company would benefit from strategic clarity and separate management and Board focus. Also, the separation would allow investors to assess each business more clearly as a stand-alone company.

Michael Huseby, Chief Executive Office of Barnes & Noble, Inc., said: "We have a talented College management team in place, led by CEO Max Roberts, and we will continue to invest and innovate to support the mission of our campus partners, expanding to new colleges and universities, students and faculty and increasing our presence in the growing market for digital educational content and services,"