Microsoft Strikes $300 Million Deal With Barnes & Noble For Nook Partnership

Microsoft's getting into the e-reader space.

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Complex Original

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Microsoft has announced today that it’s pouring $300 million into a partnership with Barnes & Noble to restructure the bookseller’s Nook e-reader business into its own independent entity. 

The move expands Microsoft’s portfolio in a variety of ways, giving the company a Windows 8 Nook application and numerous patents, as well as, potentially, tablets to rival the Kindle Fire and a platform to compete with iBooks.

B&N would retain 83% of the new company, with Microsoft getting the remaining 17%—per the latter’s investment, the total company is now valued at $1.7 billion. It’s a strange turn of events considering the two companies were just locked in patent disputes—and that the Nook runs Android.

[via Business Insider]

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