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Liberty Invests in Barnes & Noble But Ends Buyout Bid
posted on by Andrew Osmond
On Thursday, Liberty Media agreed to invest US$204 million in the bookstore chain Barnes & Noble, but ended its proposal to acquire the chain, according to Publishers Weekly. In mid-May, Liberty Media (the parent company of Manga Entertainment) had offered a bid worth about US$1 billion to purchase Barnes & Noble.
Barnes & Noble chairman Len Riggio said that the company will use Liberty Media's investment “to further fuel the explosive growth of our digital strategy.” Liberty will be entitled to elect two nominees to Barnes & Noble's board of directors.
According to Publishers Weekly, a possible problem which hindered Liberty's acquisition bid was "uncertainty in the debt markets which made financing difficult."
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