The high-profile arrival of Books & Books Westhampton Beach has been greeted by success among shoppers and browsers, but has also stirred resentment among at least some customers of the town’s other bookstore, The Open Book, located “about a dozen storefronts away.” The NYT covers the tensions, in which Open Book owner Terry Lucas “said Books & Books is on a course to put her already struggling store out of business.” Lucas also works as a librarian in Southampton, and had negotiated to sell the store to an employee early last yar though the deal was never consummated. Her store […]
Bookstores
Barnes & Noble Rolls Out “Completely New” Rebranded Nook Reading Apps
The bookseller has released new versions of its ereading apps for Apple mobile devices and PCs, now unified under the Nook brand (as previously covered). The iPad version of their app now lets readers “rate” the books they’ve read, and the line of apps promise much more customization of fonts, colors and other aspects of the screen appearance.Release In the UK, WH Smith has taken the lead in ebook pricing wars, offering all ebooks at half the publishers’ digital list price.
Barnes & Noble: Talks Collapse, Company Wins In Delaware, Burkle Launches Proxy Fight
As Friday the 13th today would have provided more appropriate timing for the latest events in Barnes & Noble’s corporate soap opera. Though the press release was reportedly ready to go announcing the settlement between the company and activist shareholder Ron Burkle, and Delaware vice chancellor Leo Strine had been notified a settlement was close (NYT), during a conference call yesterday morning “to review final details…negotiations broke down” (WSJ). By 12:30 Barnes & Noble announced they “were unable to conclude an agreement on mutually acceptable terms”; hours later, Strine issued his ruling, not unsurprisingly supporting the company. He concluded that […]
More from the BN Paperwork
Though dense, there’s some interesting (and colorful) reading in the full opinion from chancellor Strine in his Barnes & Noble poison pill ruling. He did find that lead director Michael Del Giudice is too closely tied financially and politically to Len Riggio’s money and interests to be considered an independent director. But the current committee of independent directors considering strategic alternatives does not include Del Giudice as a member. He cites a number of snippets of testimony regarding earlier tussles between Riggio and Burkle, and at one point he relates a board discussion of the poison pill plan in which […]
Burkle Starts Proxy Campaign, Nominates Himself and Two Others to Barnes & Noble Board
Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa responded to the Delaware verdict by saying it “believes no legitimate corporate purpose is served by treating the Riggios more favorably than other stockholders.” As expected, they filed their plans with the SEC to launch a campaign for shareholder votes to amend the company’s poison pill by raising the threshhold of stock accumulate from 20 percent to 30 percent before it is triggered, and vote Burkle, Stephen Bollenbach and Wheego car ceo Michael McQuary onto the board of directors. In the solicitation, Yucaipa writes: “The company has reached a crucial juncture. The Company recently announced that it […]
Judge Support Barnes & Noble On Poison Pill; Talks with Burke Are Off–So Proxy Fight Is On?
It’s never a surprise when a Delaware Chancery Court sides with corporate management, since business is the business of Delaware, so as expected Vice Chancellor Leo Strine rejected the case brought by Ron Burkle’s Yucaipa. Strine concluded that the poison pill “rights plan was a proportional response to the threat the company faced and was reasonably designed to prevent “a creeping acquisition without the benefit of receiving a control premium.” The chancellor also identified weaknesses and inconsistencies in the arguments made by Burkle. Particularly on the point that the poison pill made it difficult for Burkle to wager a proxy […]