Barnes & Noble Inc. (BKS), which primarily competes with Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN), could face additional pressure from a new activist investor coming onto the scene. Barnes & Noble Inc. (BKS), one of the largest booksellers in the United States, faces a number of competitive threats from a migration to the Internet for reading as well as larger online retailers like Amazon.com (AMZN). As a result, at least one activist investor is challenging the company to make key changes to enhance its business for the new century.
Since late last year, Ron Burkle has been aggressively buying up shares of the bookseller, which even led the company to adopting a poison pill to protect it from takeover. The activists latest move to double his stake to 37% of the troubled company would make him the largest shareholder, ahead of company insiders that own just over 30%.
In recent letters contained within 13D filings, Mr. Burkle characterized the company's stock as undervalued and criticized the company for not letting him increase his stake without triggering anti-takeover provisions. Meanwhile, the company insists that it remains in a good positive, given the circumstances, and it has already made efforts to change.
While the activist investor hasn't articulated his strategy to turn around the book seller, many investors are looking forward to the involvement brining some real change to a struggling company.