Barnes & Noble Downsizes Campus Space

PALO ALTO, CA—Barnes & Noble says NOOK Media, LLC, has entered into an Assignment of Lease for its 208,000 square foot Palo Alto campus.

Employees will be relocated to new state-of-the art facilities totaling 88,000 square feet. NOOK employees will move to a new facility in Santa Clara, while Barnes & Noble College's digital education employees will relocate to a facility in Mountain View The relocations are expected to occur by the end of the first quarter of 2015.

The moves will result in a net reduction of annual occupancy expenses of approximately $10 million, reducing the company's future lease commitments by approximately $102 million. The asset impairment charges resulting from this relocation are approximately $30 million. Barnes & Noble also expects to incur cash closing costs and to adjust lease accounting items in the first quarter of fiscal 2015 to reflect the impact of these relocations.

“This move is a significant step in our ongoing efforts to both rationalize and better equip the NOOK business to achieve success, while positioning the digital education team and platform for future growth,” said Michael Huseby, CEO of Barnes & Noble, Inc. “These relocations result in work environments and related cost structure impacts that are better aligned with our business objectives and our employees' expressed needs.”