“An infusion of money from Microsoft sent Barnes & Noble’s stock zooming Monday, as the software giant established a way to get back into the e-books business,” The Associated Press reports.
“The two companies are teaming up to create a subsidiary for Barnes & Noble’s e-book and college textbook businesses, with Microsoft paying $300 million for a minority stake,” AP reports. “The deal gives Barnes & Noble ammunition to fend off shareholders who have agitated for a sale of the Nook e-book business or the whole company, but the companies said Monday that they are exploring separating the subsidiary, provisionally dubbed ‘Newco,’ entirely from Barnes & Noble. That could mean a stock offering, sale, or other deal.”
AP reports, “For Microsoft, the investment means that it will own 17.6 percent a company that sells tablet computers based on Google Inc.’s Android, one of the main competitors of Windows Phone 7, Microsoft’s smartphone software. Microsoft also said the deal means that there will be a Nook application for Windows 8 tablets, set to be released this fall. The app is likely to get a favored position on Windows 8 screens… William Lynch, the CEO of Barnes & Noble, said Nook software will continue to be available on devices like the iPhone that compete with Windows Phone.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Mook.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Readers “Fred Mertz” and “Terry O.” for the heads up.]
