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Barnes and Noble Inc and Microsoft just ended a two-year partnership as they both agreed to terminate their contract with regard to Nook Media LLC. This clears the way for Barnes and Noble to spin off its digital content and e-reader division, which definitely are loss-making divisions.
The shares of Barnes and Noble went down by 5.4 percent on the New York Stock Exchange after it reported a quarterly profit that is much weaker than what is anticipated. The weak quarterly profit is primarily due to much lower sales of Nook devices.
Nook was first launched in the year 2009. At first, it enjoyed its initial success. However, the success was just short. Later on, it costs Barnes and Noble a couple of hundred million dollars due to the fact that it was unable to keep up with the pace Apple Inc’s iPad and Amazon.com Inc’s Kindle.
According to the spokesman of Microsoft, both Microsoft and Barnes and Noble agreed that it is better for them to terminate the contract. Under their new agreement, it is agreed that Microsoft will receive 22.7 percent of the overall proceeds once digital business of Nook, excluding the college bookstores, would be sold in the next three years.
