Post date: May 09, 2013 10:36:58 PM
Reuters Business Report - If Microsoft wants to make a deal for the majority Barnes and Noble's Nook Media business- the clock may be ticking.
Shares of Barnes and Noble soared Thursday after a report from Tech Crunch said Microsoft was considering paying a billion dollars for the 83 percent of Barnes and Noble's digital business it didn't already own.
Mashable.com's Lance Ulanoff: LANCE ULANOFF, EDITOR IN CHIEF, MASHABLE.COM:
"If Microsoft doesn't make a move now, potentially it could shrink in the hands of Barnes and Noble, which is trying to figure out the business in the first place."
BOBBI REBELL, REUTERS REPORTER:
"Things haven't been going well at Nook Media. Revenue dropped 26 percent in the most recent holiday quarter.
Nook sold fewer digital readers and tablets- and had to cut prices."
According to IDC, the Nook isn't even in the top 5 tablets.
But in Microsoft's hands- the devices may be besides the point. It would be about content.
LANCE ULANOFF, EDITOR IN CHIEF, MASHABLE.COM:
"For Microsoft to have digital assets- a content library that is similar to Google- that is similar to Amazon, it suddenly puts them in a different ballpark."
It's also a great way for Microsoft to get back in front of consumers.
LANCE ULANOFF, EDITOR IN CHIEF, MASHABLE.COM:
"Microsoft doesn't have, per se, a content store. And it doesn't have easy access to their eyeballs. And also, let's not forget this gets even more complicated, because Microsoft used to have ready access to people because of Internet Explorer. And they have kind of been eclipsed by the Chrome browser. So fewer and fewer people are looking directly at what Microsoft is trying to push at them. But if they get Barnes and Noble in full, and all that content and all those e-readers, suddenly they have got millions of eyeballs looking at them again to deliver whatever message Microsoft wants to deliver, and to really push them toward their products."
Both Microsoft and Barnes and Noble declined to comment.