BKS no longer controls its own destiny:
Barnes & Noble Shares Surge 18% After Jana Takes a Stake
By AZAM AHMED
DealBook
New York Times
April 23, 2012
Shares in the bookseller Barnes & Noble soared more than 18 percent on Monday after the hedge fund Jana Partners bought a 12 percent stake in the company.
Jana Partners, a hedge fund known for taking an activist role at other companies, disclosed late Friday that it had purchased nearly 7 million shares in Barnes & Noble and had an option to buy another 250,000 at a price of $13 a share. Barnes & Noble stock closed at $13.41 on Monday, up $2.07.
The boost to the stock price offers a much-needed reprieve for the ailing bookseller, which has watched its income sink even as it plows money into its digital strategy. The company has said it is turning itself around, in particular by investing heavily in its Nook e-book division, though the plan remains risky.
Barnes and Noble is trying to evade the fate of its one-time rival, Borders, which filed for bankruptcy and liquidated last year as it failed to keep up with stiff competition from Amazon. Jana will join a group of other investors who already own significant stakes in Barnes & Noble, including the billionaire Ron Burkle and Liberty Media.
Jana’s regulatory filing offers little insight into the hedge fund’s plans as an investor in Barnes & Noble, though it seems unlikely to be taking an activist position right now. The hedge fund recently engaged McGraw Hill, arguing that the information company should spin off parts of its business and separate high-growth, high-profit divisions like Standard & Poor’s from divisions that produced steady revenue, like its education business.
Last September, McGraw Hill announced that it would split in two, spinning off its education business while consolidating other divisions.
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