Microsoft and Barnes & Noble end Nook Partnership

The American group stops its partnership with Barnes & Noble, the manufacturer of the reading ebook device Nook. Because of the weak sales of the e-book reader Microsoft's ambitions for this product has been declined.

While Barnes & Noble was worth for reading light to sell its Nook e-book, the publisher had found a way to head out of the water. The company signed a partnership with Microsoft to ensure that the group of Redmond invest $300 million in the society.

However, the results were not up to the expectations of the publisher. Faced with the continuing decline in sales of Nook, the two companies have signed an agreement to end their partnership. Barnes & Noble is going to buy 16.8% of the shares currently held by Microsoft.

Despite this new problem, B&N will attempt to continue to streamline its operations and pursue its strategy to sign partnerships to build devices for third party publishers. After the failures of partnerships with Microsoft and Samsung, the group will still change its positioning.

The company could therefore reposition its activities, particularly its physical stores, to other sectors, such as entertainment or toys.