Microsoft and Barnes & Noble have buried the patent hatchet and teamed up to compete against Apple and Amazon in the eBooks business. The new partnership sees Microsoft investing $ 300 million in a new Barnes & Noble subsidiary. (My colleague Laura Owen has the complete breakdown of the deal over on PaidContent.)
The $ 300 million investment in the Nook subsidiary of Barnes & Noble gives Microsoft about 17.6 percent ownership of this business unit. That values, this business at about about $ 1.7 billion. Before the markets open this morning, the Nook business was valued about $ 900 million more than Barnes & Noble itself.
Update: Barnes & Noble stock zoomed at the opening bell – and is now trading at about $ 9 a share, giving Barnes and Noble a total market cap of $ 1.3 billion — which is still less than the Nook subsidiary itself.
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