Damndest thing I've heard of this month

Ed here: We have now officially entered the Twilight Zone. Borders, near bankruptcy, wants to buy Barnes & Noble? Hufington Post

Borders-Led Takeover Bid For Barnes & Noble Gets Ackman's Support


MAE ANDERSON | 12/ 6/10 04:03 PM |

NEW YORK — Buying out Barnes & Noble would give its much smaller rival, Borders Group, a bigger and firmer stake in the digital world, but some analysts said combining the two largest companies in the shrinking world of traditional book selling could hurt both – perhaps irreparably.

Activist investor William Ackman and his investment firm announced in a regulatory filing Monday that they had offered to finance a $963 million bid by Borders for Barnes & Noble Inc.

Under the deal, Pershing Square Capital Management would sponsor a bid by Border's of $16 per share for more than 60 million outstanding Barnes & Noble shares.

The stock shot up 13.6 percent to $15.08 on the news Monday afternoon.

Both book sellers face increasingly tough competition from much bigger merchants online and in stores, including Amazon.com, Target and Walmart. And both have said they are relying for growth on electronic books and readers, a still-small arena where another giant, Google Inc., launched its own bookstore Monday.

Barnes & Noble debuted its reader, the Nook, last year and has invested heavily in its electronic bookstore, while Borders sells readers and e-books on a smaller scale through a partnership with Kobo.

The financing from Ackman, who owns 37 percent of Borders' outstanding shares, would let Borders to make a "quantum leap" in the e-book space, Morningstar analyst Peter Wahlstrom said.

"It's is a sign Borders is looking to catch up," Wahlstrom said.

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