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Originally Posted by jasonkchapman
Actually, B&N's "poison pill" provision, which survived Burkle's court challenge, appears to have taken care of Yucaipa's advances.
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That's a nice theory, but it hasn't stopped Burkle at all. They're now mired in a proxy fight, with Burkle attempting to get 3 seats on the board -- mostly in order to try and remove the poison pill provisions. Burkle is still harping on the $500m purchase of Riggio's college bookstore business and slinging lots of other mud. Apparently another company, Aletheia, has about 14% of outstanding shares and may be collaborating with Burkle.
The only way Burkle can truly be stopped is if someone buys him out, or... if the company goes private.
E.g.:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...,5767130.story
Quote:
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Originally Posted by jasonkchapman
According to a recent NYT article, yes, Riggio has expressed interest in taking B&N private again and the board seems to be with him.
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Sure.... For the moment.
It's pretty obvious that Riggio wants to get rid of Burkle. Even with the poison pill provisions, Yuicapa + Aletheia = 34% of shares, or more than Riggio. Getting private equity partners and/or going private is probably Riggio's only recourse to maintain control.
At any rate, there is absolutely no connection between B&N trying to get bought out and/or go private, and the shift to ebooks. I don't know what the B&N rep actually believes, and maybe it doesn't matter what the staff is told, but it's clear that individual is not portraying the current issues accurately.