Leonard S. Riggio, Barnes Noble’s 71-year-old chairman, is preparing a bid to buy the company’s 689 stores that would save them from a risky future in public markets, Michael J. de la Merced writes. The move would effectively separate the retail arm from Nook Media, the company’s struggling e-book division, although it seems probable that Nook devices would still be featured in the stores. Analysts thought the deal made sense only if Mr. Riggio paid a low price for the legacy stores, which analysts valued between $484.5 million to more than $1 billion. Investors appeared sanguine Monday, as Barnes Noble shares jumped 11.5 percent, to $15.06.
As details emerge of the union of some Time Inc. magazines and Meredith Corporation, employees at both companies are concerned about the difficulties of combining two starkly different corporate cultures, Christine Haughney reports. Time is famously hierarchical and lavish with expenditures, while Meredith is more personable and prudent about spending. The last time the two cultures combined, when Jack Griffin took control of Time Inc. after a stint at Meredith, things did not work out (Mr. Griffin lasted six months). This merger may go more smoothly because flagship Time Inc. titles, like Time, Sports Illustrated and Fortune, are not part of the deal.
Distillers, rejoice, Stuart Elliott advises: a commercial for Baileys Irish Cream liqueur, sold by Diageo, is believed to be the first for a national spirits brand to appear during the Academy Awards. Makers of distilled spirits voluntarily avoided television for decades, but that changed starting with a Crown Royal advertisement in 1996. Networks are still cautious about airing liquor commercials, and tend to broadcast them at night and not during big events like the Super Bowl. Some other highlights from the broadcast included a series of Samsung ads culminating with an uncharacteristically squeamish Tim Burton and an action-packed update to Grey Poupon’s “Pardon me” campaign.
Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, who produced the Academy Awards broadcast, and Seth MacFarlane, who was the host, were excoriated by some members of the Academy and others for a broadcast that was criticized for crossing the line from irreverent to offensive, Michael Cieply and Brooks Barnes write. The show attracted a bigger audience, 40.3 million viewers compared with last year’s 9.3 million, and ratings up 3 percent. Mr. MacFarlane was castigated by the Anti-Defamation League, but fellow comedians proved more understanding.
The New York Times Company said on Monday that The International Herald Tribune would be renamed The International New York Times to focus on the company’s core brand, Christine Haughney and Eric Pfanner report. The name change would be coupled with a Web site redesign for international audiences. Mark Thompson, the president and chief executive of the Times Company, said in a statement that the change would help take advantage of “significant potential to grow the number of New York Times subscribers outside of the United States.”
The British Broadcasting Corporation said it and other news organizations would oppose a British government effort to limit information disclosed to an investigation into the death of Alexander V. Litvinenko, a former K.G.B. officer who died of radiation poisoning in 2006, Alan Cowell writes. The BBC reported that the government had planned to apply for a Public Interest Immunity certificate, usually issued on grounds of national security. Mr. Litvinenko, who ingested a rare radioactive isotope at the Pine Bar of the Millennium Hotel in central London, said that he thought the Russian government had poisoned him for working with British and Spanish intelligence agencies. His wife, Marina, also opposes limiting information, and a lawyer representing her said that British agencies did not do enough to protect Mr. Litvinenko.
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