Barnes & Noble and Microsoft have announced a strategic partnership with NOOK Media LLC.
The recently formed Barnes & Noble subsidiary has become a leader in the emerging digital reading and digital education markets.
In a nutshell, Microsoft and Barnes & Noble’s deal will enable the companies to advance their digital reading experiences to hundreds of millions of customers.
NOOK Media LLC comprises the digital and College businesses of Barnes & Noble and will continue to have a very close and mutually beneficial relationship with Barnes & Noble’s retail stores. The partnership includes a $300 million investment from Microsoft in NOOK Media LLC.
According to details disclosed in a joint press release from the two corporate giants, Microsoft made its $300 million investment in NOOK Media LLC at a post-money valuation of $1.7 billion in exchange for an approximately 17.6% equity stake, with Barnes & Noble owning the remaining shares.
“As demand for digital content continues to increase, we are focused on bringing ground-breaking reading and learning content and technologies to more people in more formats than ever before, including the imminent launch of our exceptional NOOK reading application for Windows 8,” says William Lynch, CEO of Barnes & Noble. “We look forward to working closely with our new partner Microsoft to add value to their innovative new platform by bringing great reading experiences and one of the world’s preeminent digital bookstores to millions of Windows 8 users.”
