NEW YORK (Reuters) - cable TV pioneer John Malone loves a bargain and its a bid on the part of & Barnes Noble Inc. is already be violently to undervalue the largest chain of bookstores U.S. $ 17.
Shares of Barnes & Noble has jumped about 30 percent to close at $18.33 Friday as Wall Street analysts argued that the company was worth more, underlining the growing corner e-reader of the bookseller success as an opportunity to be operated by Liberty Media Corp. Malone they have said that the jump also showed that investors believe that other bidders are bound to come.
Until the Liberty Media offer, the auction process long of 9 months was supposed to be moribund. A month earlier, shares Barnes & Noble had fallen as low as $8 h 45.
Observers of longtime Malone said he would probably not his candidacy by many more, and that the financial opportunity is probably more important than its commercial strategy.
"Malone is likely to see the value of the brand and the franchise and believe they can derive additional value in the business, said analyst Collins Stewart Thomas Eagan.
Malone, 70, is known in the sector media for its tax effective astute investments and holds interests in a wide range of media and active Internet shopping channel QVC, society satellite DirecTV Group and Starz Entertainment. During his run as an operator in the business of cable television, he was known as a ruthless operator and former US Vice President Al Gore he nicknamed "darth vader.".
Apart from the media, this year Malone became private owner no. 1 of the United States with 2.1 million acres of land.
Barnes & Noble, said late Thursday that Liberty Media had offered $ 17 per action, $ 1.02 billion, and that a Special Committee would examine the bid.
Liberty Media, said that the offer is about 70 percent of the bookseller, who will be attributable to his capital of freedom followed by stock. The company said its financial contribution to the purchase, depending on funding, it can get, will be approximately $ 500 million.
Offer freedom is conditional upon the shareholder high and Founder Chairman Leonard Riggio, keeping a participation in the Noble & Barnes, that he built from a local bookstore in New York in a national chain, and stay involved in the operation of the undertaking.
Malone Liberty Media pursues a strategy of recent years to align the cheap in distress related to active media in the hope of making outsized investment returns.
In February 2009, Malone uproot a participation of 40% of Sirius XM Radio by 530 million dollars of loans to the satellite radio company, who was bankrupt. Malone has been rewarded in only a few months after Sirius turn around his company and the issue is now more than 3.5 billion.
STORE CLOSURES
Barnes & Noble, which faced years of decline of sales of the printed book, himself put on sale, in August saying that his actions have been dumped.
Capital market analyst David Strasser Janney called the offer of $17 "insufficient".
"Barnes & Noble has the potential of gains well beyond their previous peak share gains simply by now his current market of 27 and 28 per cent in digital books," Strasser wrote in a research note.
Barnes & Noble operates stores to large 720 surface, but readers have been progressively from digital books in print versions.
A person familiar with the thinking of Liberty Media said that the company was more interested in the corner in the talks, which implies very little interest to keep open stores.
If Liberty Media wants to close the Barnes & Noble stores, it would be easier it was to rival bankruptcy group borders.
Barnes & Noble has approximately 400 renewable leases by April 30, 2015, with more than half for 2012 and 2013. In contrast, the borders, which closed about half of its stores, large-area since filing for Chapter 11 protection was locked of long-term leases.
In 2009, Barnes & Noble has presented the corner to compete with the Kindle e-reader from Amazon.com market leaders. Forrester Research believes Barnes & Noble is now second only to the Amazon e-book sales.
E-books now represent approximately 14% of the sales of the entire industry. Amazon said Thursday it sold e-books more than paper books.
Analyst Switzerland Credit Gary Balter raised its price target for shares of Barnes & Noble to $21.
An agreement with liberty would better equip the bookseller to battle with Amazon and Apple Inc. technology giants, Balter wrote in a note.
"With strong support of a company of media such as freedom, we believe that business digital Barnes will be able to compete more effectively," Balter said. In turn, he added, Liberty would gain valuable business e-book from Barnes & Noble.
Standard & Poor analyst Michael sisters kept its "hold" recommendation and $19 price target. "We believe that there is a strong chance of an improved offer," he said.
Shares of liberty fell 1.47% to end at $17.71.
(Reported by Phil Wahba, Yinka Adegoke and Jessica Hall in Philadelphia.) (Editing by Lisa Von Ahn and Richard Chang)
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