Barnes & Noble Nook (credit: Wikipedia)
Pearson announced Friday that it is taking a 5 percent stake in Barnes & Noble’s Nook business. The British publisher and education company is investing $89.5 million just as Barnes & Noble announced that its e-reader business will fall short of projections and holiday sales are below expectations.
The New York Times reports that the latest investment gives Barnes & Noble extra ammunition in its fight for market dominance against Amazon, but lackluster sales make it an uphill battle.
The Pearson investment leaves Barnes & Noble with 78.2 percent of the Nook and Microsoft, which invested $300 million in April, with 16.8 percent. Pearson also has warrants to buy an additional 5 percent of Nook at a pre-investment price of $1.79 billion.
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