Barnes And Noble Completes Buy Back Of Nook Business

(RTTNews) - Barnes & Noble (BNS) is buying back Pearson Plc's stake in its Nook Media e-reader division for about $28 million in cash and stock, the book seller announced Tuesday.

The move comes a few weeks after Barnes & Noble bought back Microsoft Corp.'s Nook holdings for $62.4 million and about 2.7 million shares, a deal worth a total of $125 million.

The two deals now give Barnes & Noble full ownership of Nook.

Barnes & Noble is all set to split into two companies -- the book retail business and the Nook digital business. The separation will happen at the end of August 2015, later than expected.

The company has been struggling of late, as the country's last book selling giant operates in an increasingly digital world.

On December 4, Barnes & Noble reported a drop in profit for the second quarter on declining revenues, with earnings missing Wall Street estimates.

Revenues for the second quarter declined 2.7 percent to $1.69 billion from $1.73 billion last year.