You are viewing your 1 free article this month. Login to read more articles.
Barnes & Noble founder Leonard Riggio has said he plans to buy the retail assets of the chain he founded.
The proposal does not include B&N's Nook and college businesses, according to a filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, reported by Bloomberg.
Seventy-one-year-old Riggio already owns about 30% of the company's stock.
B&N is looking to reverse two years of net losses, and warned recently that third-quarter results out on Thursday (28th February) will see greater year-on-year losses for Nook Media, with 2013 revenues estimated at "less than $3 billion".
Last year Nook's EBITDA loss was $262m.
This weekend the New York Times reported that "a person familiar with Barnes & Noble's strategy" had acknowledged that the retailer was planning to move away from building its own devices and focus more on licensing its content to other device makers, a major shift for a company which late last year was promoting Nook as its future. It was said that Thursday's announcement will focus on intensifying partnerships with other tablet producers like Microsoft and Samsung to make content deals.