Barnes & Noble (BKS) Will Separate Retail from Nook
Barnes & Noble (BKS) announced it plans to break up the company:
With the objective of optimizing shareholder value, the Company’s Board of Directors has authorized management of the Company to take steps to separate the Barnes & Noble Retail and NOOK Media businesses into two separate public companies. The Company’s objective is to take the steps necessary to complete the separation by the end of the first quarter of next calendar year.
The company provided a PDF giving segment performance.
Over the last year, Retail had positive EBITDA of $354 million. College had positive EBITDA of $115 million. Nook had negative EBITDA of $217 million.
The company ex-Nook would have $6.04 billion in sales, $1.78 billion in gross profit (29% gross margin), and $469 million in EBITDA (8% EBITDA margin).
(I do not own any shares of Barnes & Noble. I bought shares in August 2010 and sold them in December 2010).