Liberty Media Execs Discuss Barnes & Noble Offer
NEW YORK (AP) - Executives with online company Liberty Media say the interesting interplay'between Barnes & Noble's Nook e-reader and its retail stores is one reason they have bid for the book seller, but Barnes & Noble executives launching the device's latest version Tuesday were mum on the $1 billion offer.
Barnes & Noble held an event in New York to introduce a new, smaller $139 black-and-white touch-screen Nook that replaces some earlier iterations.
The Nook Color, which will still be offered at $249, and the new version are central to the book seller's future as it faces increasing competition selling traditional books.
Liberty executives, including Chairman John Malone, signaled during a special stockholders meeting that they have no plan to shutter all of Barnes & Noble's stores.
There will be a physical (Barnes & Noble) presence for a long and long time to come and it will be a profitable physical presence, said Malone, a longtime leader in the cable television industry.
The comments helped explain why Malone and his Liberty Media are pitching to enter a retail sector that appears to be on life support. Barnes & Noble's chief rival, Borders Group Inc., filed for bankruptcy protection in February, brought down by heavy competition from online and discounter competition.
Liberty CEO Greg Maffei said the Nook is a very interesting' device and there is an interesting interplay between how the stores and device could work together.
Maffei cited Apple stores, which sell iPads and other devices, as a good example of how retail stores can help drive demand for devices. Maffei also outlined how Liberty sees the e-book reader and tablet market evolving. Last month, Barnes & Noble added an app store and an e-mail program to its Nook Color e-reader. That brings the $249 device closer to working like a tablet computer like the iPad. But the focus in the newest Nook was on simplicity, Barnes & Noble said.
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