June 7 (Reuters) - Barnes & Noble Inc said on Friday it would be bought by hedge fund Elliott Management Corp in an all-cash deal valued at about $683 million, including debt.

Shareholders of the once-dominant U.S. book retailer would be paid $6.50 per share, representing a premium of about 42% as of Wednesday’s close.

The company’s shares surged about 34% on Thursday after the Wall Street Journal reported that a deal between the activist hedge fund and bookseller could be reached soon. </s> June 6 (Reuters) - Elliott Management is the lead bidder in an auction for Barnes & Noble Inc, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.

A deal between the hedge fund and bookseller could be reached in the coming days, the report said here

Last October, Barnes & Noble said it was exploring options after several parties, including founder-chairman Leonard Riggio, showed interest in acquiring the company.

Elliott and Barnes & Noble did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Shares of Barnes & Noble were up more than 16% in afternoon trading. (Reporting by Uday Sampath in Bengaluru; Editing by James Emmanuel) </s> (Reuters) - Hedge fund Elliott Management Corp is in talks to acquire Barnes & Noble Inc, in a deal that would mark the end of the once-dominant U.S. book retailer as a publicly listed company, a source familiar with the matter said on Thursday.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier that a deal between the activist hedge fund and bookseller could be reached in the coming days. The Financial Times reported the price would be $6.50 per share, equivalent to a value of $476 million (£375 million).

Should Elliott prevail with its bid, James Daunt, chief executive officer of Waterstones, would head Barnes & Noble, the source said. Elliott bought the British bookshop chain last year.

Both Elliott and Barnes & Noble did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.

Barnes & Noble shares were last up 33.6% at $6.13.

Last October, Barnes & Noble said it was exploring its options after several parties, including founder-chairman Leonard Riggio, showed interest in acquiring the company.

Riggio acquired the flagship Barnes & Noble trade name in 1970s, nearly a century after Charles Barnes started the business in his Illinois home. Riggio grew the business, adding several retail stores across the country and transforming the Fifth Avenue store in new York into the world’s largest bookstore. The company’s growing success took a hit following the launch of Amazon.com Inc, which started as an online marketplace for books and also as more Americans shifted to non-reading activities like videogames. Since then, Barnes & Noble has grown its website, launched an ereader called Nook to compete with rival stores and online retailers. It has even closed several stores, including its flagship, and cut jobs to save costs.

It now runs 627 retail store as of January this year. The company’s annual sales have fallen for the past three years.

Barnes & Nobles has been locked in a legal dispute with its former Chief Executive Officer Demos Parneros after he was fired, partly because of allegations that he sexually harassed a female employee and attempted to “sabotage” a potential sale.

Parneros has rejected Barnes & Noble’s accusations. </s> • Elliott Management is acquiring Barnes & Noble for about $683 million including debt, the companies said Friday.
• While the bookseller has lost half its market value in the last five years, its shares soared Thursday after The Wall Street Journal reported the deal was in the works.

Elliott Management, the hedge fund led by noted investor Paul Singer, is acquiring the beleaguered bookseller Barnes & Noble for about $683 million including debt, the companies announced Friday.

Elliott is acquiring the bookseller in an all-cash transaction that’s expected to close in the third quarter. Shares of Barnes & Noble jumped early Friday on the announcement, a move that followed a 30% surge Thursday after The Wall Street Journal reported the deal was imminent.

Barnes & Noble would not mark Elliott’s first bookstore deal. Elliott acquired Waterstones, the largest retail bookseller in the United Kingdom, one year ago. That chain’s chief executive, James Daunt, will also assume the role of Barnes & Noble CEO once the deal is complete.

Elliott’s investment in the bookseller that’s lost around half of its market value in five years highlights the ongoing challenges brick-and-mortar retailers are facing in the age of online shopping and the rise of Amazon.

Read more: We shopped at Barnes & Noble and saw a key shortcoming that’s hurting the chain in its battle against Amazon

Once a $2.4 billion company by market capitalization around its peak in 2006, Barnes & Noble’s market value has shrunk to just over $436 million. Its shares traded just under $6 apiece as of Thursday’s close.

Last year, the New York-based company was mired in legal drama involving Demos Parneros, the bookseller’s former chief executive. Parneros sued Barnes & Noble last August, saying the company falsely accused him of violating its sexual harassment policy before terminating him without severance.

At the time, Barnes & Noble said the lawsuit was “an attempt to extort money from the company by a CEO who was terminated for sexual harassment, bullying behavior and other violations of company policies.”

In its Friday statement, Elliott said the fund is betting on the “experience” of bookstores.

“Our investment in Barnes & Noble, following our investment last year in Waterstones, demonstrates our conviction that readers continue to value the experience of a great bookstore,” Paul Best, a portfolio manager and head of European private equity at Elliott, said in a release.

Barnes & Noble will report its fiscal 2019 fourth-quarter and year-end earnings results on June 19.

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Beyond Meat soars 20% after crushing expectations for its first earnings report as a public company </s> Elliott Management Corp., is reportedly the top contender to purchase Barnes & Noble and the two sides appeared to be approaching an agreement.

The Wall Street Journal reported the news Thursday, citing sources familiar with the matter, but said negotiations could still fizzle out. Details into a possible agreement with the hedge fund weren’t clear, they added.

The development comes months after the book retailer revealed in early October that several parties had shown interest in buying them. Among the offers was one from Leonard Riggio, Barnes & Noble’s founder and chairman.

Another possible contender to purchase the company is Readerlink LLC, Bloomberg reported, also citing sources. However, one source reportedly indicated that the more enticing bid appeared to be from Elliott.

The aforementioned potential Readerlink agreement would include Riggio, the outlet said.

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Barnes & Noble has been struggling in recent years due to competition from Amazon and changing consumer preferences.

A representative for Barnes & Noble did not immediately return Fox Business’ request for comment.

The Associated Press contributed to this report. </s> Activist firm Elliott Management announced Friday it plans to acquire bookseller Barnes & Noble for roughly $683 million, including debt.

The deal values Barnes & Noble at $6.50 a share, a 43% premium to the retailer's 10-day volume weighted average closing share price before news of an imminent deal leaked Thursday.

After the announcement, the stock was up 10% to $6.56 per share, in premarket trading.

Barnes & Noble has faced continued pressure from Amazon and independent booksellers. Its shares had fallen roughly 25% year to date before the news leak. Within the past five years, Barnes & Noble has lost more than $1 billion in market value.

Amazon holds nearly half of new book sales, a report by audience research Codex Group said last year, while Walmart has about 4.2 percent of the market

In search of a turnaround, Barnes & Noble said last year it was exploring a sale after having received "expressions of interest" from "multiple parties," including its chairman, Leonard Riggio, who founded the company in 1965.

Riggio has entered into a voting agreement in support of the transaction, the company said Friday.

As a private company, Barnes & Noble will likely be more free to make the changes and investment that can be unwieldy under a public spotlight. Part of the bookseller's turnaround plan has included closing some of its more than 600 stores across the U.S. and relocating to smaller spaces that receive a fresh and modern look. The company has said its prototype stores encourage shoppers to buy books online or from a tablet.

The retailer has shown small signs of upturn. In March, it reported that over the holidays, sales at locations open for at least a year during the quarter rose 1.1 percent — its best quarterly performance in three years. As of January, it had $15 million in cash and cash equivalents.

For its part, Elliott, the firm founded and led by billionaire Paul Singer, acquired Britain's biggest bookseller, Waterstones, last year. Owning the two book retailing giants could give Elliott synergies and buying leverage with publishers, people familiar with the industry say.

Elliott will operate the two retailers independently, the company said on Friday, though Waterstones CEO James Daunt will oversee both retailers as chief executive.

The deal, which will be structured as a merger, is expected to close in the third quarter, the company said. Elliott and Barnes & Noble expect to amend the agreement to utilize a tender offer structure, thereby likely reducing closing time by several weeks.

Barnes & Noble also will pay out a quarterly cash dividend of 15 cents per share, payable on Aug. 2. </s> Barnes & Noble, the one-time bookselling giant that lost customers to Amazon.com and other online rivals, is being acquired by hedge fund Elliott Management for $476 million.

Elliott, the owner of U.K. book chain Waterstones, said it plans to invest in Barnes & Noble.

The purchase by the hedge fund comes after Barnes & Noble in October said that it might put itself up for sale after it was approached by a number of potential buyers. Those possible buyers including founder Leonard Riggio who opened Barnes & Noble stores across the country and turned it into a superstore.

Elliott Management said it plans to invest in Barnes & Noble, adding that Waterstones CEO James Daunt will also become the CEO of Barnes & Noble. In a statement, the companies said Waterstones had returned to “sustainable profitability” and sales growth.

“Physical bookstores the world over face fearsome challenges from online and digital. We meet these with investment and with all the more confidence for being able to draw on the unrivalled bookselling skills of these two great companies,” Daunt said in the statement.

Barnes & Noble said Elliott Management will pay $6.50 per share, an approximately 9% percent premium to the company’s Thursday closing stock price. Elliott bought the U.K. bookseller Waterstones in June 2018.

The sale, valued at about $683 million including debt, is targeted to close in the third quarter if approved by regulators and shareholders.

Shares of the New York company jumped 11% in early trading. </s> Get breaking news alerts and special reports. The news and stories that matter, delivered weekday mornings.

Hedge fund Elliott Management announced Friday it plans to acquire bookseller Barnes & Noble for roughly $683 million, including debt.

Barnes & Noble has faced continued pressure from Amazon and independent booksellers. Its shares had fallen roughly 25 percent year to date before news of the deal leaked on Thursday. Within the past five years, Barnes & Noble has lost more than $1 billion in market value.

Amazon holds nearly half of new book sales, a report by audience research Codex Group said last year, while Walmart has about 4.2 percent of the market

In search of a turnaround, Barnes & Noble said last year it was exploring a sale after having received “expressions of interest” from “multiple parties,” including its chairman, Leonard Riggio, who founded the company in 1965.

Riggio has entered into a voting agreement in support of the transaction, the company said Friday.

As a private company, Barnes & Noble will likely be more free to make the changes and investment that can be unwieldy under a public spotlight. Part of the bookseller’s turnaround plan has included closing some of its more than 600 stores across the U.S. and relocating to smaller spaces that receive a fresh and modern look. The company has said its prototype stores encourage shoppers to buy books online or from a tablet.

The retailer has shown small signs of upturn. In March, it reported that over the holidays, sales at locations open for at least a year during the quarter rose 1.1 percent — its best quarterly performance in three years.

For its part, Elliott, the firm founded and led by billionaire Paul Singer, acquired Britain’sbiggest bookseller, Waterstones, last year. Owning the two book retailing giants could give Elliott synergies and buying leverage with publishers, people familiar with the industry say.

Elliott will operate the two retailers independently, the company said on Friday, though Waterstones CEO James Daunt will oversee both retailers as chief executive. </s> (Reuters) - Barnes & Noble Inc said on Friday it would be bought by hedge fund Elliott Management Corp for $475.8 million, marking the end of the once-dominant U.S. book retailer as a public company after years of falling sales.

Shares in the United States’ largest book-store chain closed up 30% on Thursday after reports of a potential deal surfaced, and rose another 11% early on Friday.

Listed on the New York Stock Exchange since 1993, Barnes & Noble has struggled to grow its business since the arrival of Amazon.com Inc turned the book sales market on its head.

Even the company’s recent efforts to pull in a more tech-savvy audience with its Nook e-book reader failed to compete with Amazon’s Kindle and other tablets.

Elliot’s offer of $6.50 per share, represented a premium of about 42% to Wednesday’s close, the day before media reports of a potential transaction first surfaced.

Barnes & Noble has been exploring options for a buyout since at least last October, with multiple parties showing interest including founder-chairman Leonard Riggio.

Riggio acquired the flagship Barnes & Noble trade name in 1970s, nearly a century after Charles Barnes started the business in his Illinois home.

Riggio grew the business, adding several retail stores across the country, but could not sustain the growth in a retail landscape dominated by Amazon.

In 2014, Barnes & Noble closed its New York Fifth Avenue store - once the world’s largest bookstore - and has faced declining sales for at least the last three years. As of this January, it ran 627 retail stores.

To help turnaround the company’s fortunes, Elliott is bringing in Chief Executive Officer of British bookshop chain Waterstones, James Daunt, to take the helm at Barnes & Noble.

Barnes & Noble said Waterstones, which was bought by Elliott last year, has successfully restored itself to sales growth and sustainable profitability under Daunt.

“Our investment in Barnes & Noble, following our investment last year in Waterstones, demonstrates our conviction that readers continue to value the experience of a great bookstore,” Paul Best, Elliott’s head of European Private Equity said.

While Daunt will lead both companies, the two booksellers would still operate independently.

Daunt will take up the top job, vacant since July 2018, following the completion of the transaction, expected in the third quarter of 2019.

Barnes & Noble fired former CEO Demos Parneros partly because of allegations that he sexually harassed a female employee and attempted to “sabotage” a potential sale.

The bookseller is being bought by Elliott Management’s affiliate, Elliott Advisors (UK) Ltd.
Reuters, citing "a source familiar with the matter", said that the hedge fund firm Elliott Management is in talks to acquire the storied bookseller Barnes & Noble for roughly $476 million.