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<title>Haaze.com / ricmartine / Published News</title>
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<pubDate>Fri, 20 May 2011 07:10:41 +0000</pubDate>
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<title><![CDATA[Liberty Media offers $1B for Barnes & Noble stake]]></title>
<link>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=liberty-media-offers-1b-for-barnes--noble-stake</link>
<comments>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=liberty-media-offers-1b-for-barnes--noble-stake</comments>
<pubDate>Fri, 20 May 2011 07:10:41 +0000</pubDate>
<dc:creator>ricmartine</dc:creator>
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<guid>http://www.haaze.com/story.php?title=liberty-media-offers-1b-for-barnes--noble-stake</guid>
<description><![CDATA[The Nook Color is among the reasons that Liberty Media wants Barnes &amp; Noble.(Credit:Barnes &amp; Noble)Barnes &amp; Noble may soon have a new majority owner.Liberty Media, a conglomerate with its fingers in everything from the QVC and Starz channels to Expedia and Evite to SiriusXM Radio, announced yesterday after market close that it has offered Barnes &amp; Noble $17 per share, or about $1 billion, for a 70 percent stake in the book retailer. The offer represents a sizable 20 percent premium on Barnes &amp; Noble's closing stock price yesterday of $14.11. In after-hours trading, the book retailer's shares soared to $17.95.Liberty Media's acquisition bid comes at an interesting time in the book-retail market. Barnes &amp; Noble's biggest competitor--Borders--recently went bankrupt under pressure from online alternatives, like Amazon.com, and from digital content.Barnes &amp; Noble has not been immune to those changes. Over the last several years, the company's profits have dwindled from over $150 million during the fiscal year ended February 2007 to $36.7 million last year.However, Barnes &amp; Noble has been quick to jump into the e-book arena with its Nook e-reader. Earlier this year, Barnes &amp; Noble announced that its Nook had 25 percent of the e-book market. The Nook's competitors include Amazon's Kindle,Apple's iPad, and Sony's Reader. Barnes &amp; Noble said at the time that it was selling &quot;twice as many e-books as all formats of physical books combined on BN.com.&quot;Meanwhile, Nook Color was recently updated withAndroid 2.2 (Froyo), helping Barnes &amp; Noble transform the $249 device from a standard e-reader to a full-fledgedtablet. That digital transition hasn't gone unnoticed by Liberty Media. The company said in a statement that Barnes &amp; Noble &quot;is at the forefront of the transition to digital.&quot; For its part, Barnes &amp; Noble offered a low-key response. The company said yesterday that a board of directors' special committee will determine whether the offer is in the bookseller's best interest. The company cautioned shareholders that there is no assurance that a deal will pan out. If Barnes &amp; Noble accepts the deal, Liberty Media will require the bookseller's founding chairman, Leonard Riggio, to stay on as an equity owner and as part of management. <br/><br/>0 Vote(s) ]]></description>
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