Barnes & Noble Buys E-book Retailer Fictionwise for $15.7M

Authored by Mark Hefflinger on March 5, 2009 - 7:37am.

New York - Bookseller Barnes & Noble (NYSE: BKS) announced on Thursday that it has acquired Fictionwise, an online retailer of e-books, for $15.7 million in cash. Founded in 2000, New Jersey-based Fictionwise offers e-books for a range of platforms and devices, and sold an estimated 1.5 million units in 2008.

New York-based Barnes & Noble operates 800 bookstores in the U.S.

The company said it plans to use Fictionwise as part of its overall digital strategy, which includes the launch of an online e-book store later this year.

The deal also includes earn out payments for Fictionwise, should it achieve certain performance targets over the next two years.

The acquisition comes in the same week that rival Amazon.com released an iPhone application that opens its e-book marketplace to owners of Apple's iPhone and iPod touch.

http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com

http://www.fictionwise.com