Barnes & Noble Education Adopts Short-Term Stockholder Rights Plan

Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. (NYSE: BNED), a leading solutions provider for the education industry, today announced that its Board of Directors has approved the adoption of a short-term stockholder rights plan and declared a dividend distribution of one preferred share purchase right on each outstanding share of the Company’s common stock.

The rights will be exercisable only if a person or group acquires 10% or more of the Company’s outstanding common stock, subject to certain exceptions. Each right will entitle stockholders to buy one one-thousandth of a share of a new series of junior participating preferred stock at an exercise price of $5.00.

If a person or group acquires 10% of the Company’s outstanding common stock, each right will entitle its holder (other than such person or members of such group) to purchase for $5.00, a number of Company common shares having a market value of twice such price. In addition, at any time after a person or group acquires 10% of the Company’s outstanding common stock, the Company’s Board of Directors may exchange one share of the Company’s common stock for each outstanding right (other than rights owned by such person or group, which would have become void).

Prior to the acquisition by a person or group of beneficial ownership of 10% of the Company’s common stock, the rights are redeemable for one cent per right at the option of the Board of Directors.

Certain synthetic interests in securities created by derivative positions—whether or not such interests are considered to constitute beneficial ownership of the underlying common stock for reporting purposes under Regulation 13D of the Securities Exchange Act—are treated as beneficial ownership of the number of shares of the Company’s common stock equivalent to the economic exposure created by the derivative position, to the extent actual shares of the Company’s stock are directly or indirectly held by counterparties to the derivatives contracts.

The dividend distribution will be made on April 29, 2024, payable to stockholders on that date and is not taxable to stockholders. The rights will expire on January 31, 2025, unless the rights are earlier redeemed or exchanged.

A copy of the stockholder rights plan will be contained in a Form 8-K to be filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”).

Paul Hastings LLP is acting as legal counsel to the Company and Houlihan Lokey, Inc. is acting as financial advisor to the Company.

ABOUT BARNES & NOBLE EDUCATION, INC.

Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. (NYSE: BNED) is a leading solutions provider for the education industry, driving affordability, access and achievement at hundreds of academic institutions nationwide and ensuring millions of students are equipped for success in the classroom and beyond. Through its family of brands, BNED offers campus retail services and academic solutions, wholesale capabilities and more. BNED is a company serving all who work to elevate their lives through education, supporting students, faculty and institutions as they make tomorrow a better, more inclusive and smarter world. For more information, visit www.bned.com.

Forward-Looking Statements

Any statements contained in this press release that do not describe historical facts may constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, including statements regarding the anticipated benefits and expected consequences of the rights plan that BNED has adopted. Such statements are identified by use of the words “anticipates,” “believes,” “estimates,” “expects,” “intends,” “plans,” “predicts,” “projects,” “should,” and similar expressions. Any forward-looking statements contained herein are based on current expectations, but are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated, including, but not limited to, the effectiveness of the rights plan in providing the Board of Directors with time to make informed decisions that are in the best long-term interests of BNED and its stockholders, and other risk factors discussed from time to time in our filings with the SEC, including those factors discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” in our most recent annual report on Form 10-K, filed with the SEC on July 31, 2023, and in subsequent reports filed with or furnished to the SEC.

Additionally, this press release contains certain “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and information relating to us and our business that are based on the beliefs of our management as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to our management. When used in this communication, the words “anticipate,” “believe,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “plan,” “will,” “forecasts,” “projections,” and similar expressions, as they relate to us or our management, identify forward-looking statements. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment. New risks emerge from time to time. It is not possible for our management to predict all risks, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor, or combination of factors, may cause actual results to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements we may make. In light of these risks, uncertainties and assumptions, the future events and trends discussed in this press release may not occur and actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied in the forward-looking statements. Such statements reflect our current views with respect to future events, the outcome of which is subject to certain risks, including, among others: the completion, timing, size and use of proceeds of the Transactions and refinancing; the approval by our stockholders of the Transactions at the Special Meeting; the amount of our indebtedness and ability to comply with covenants applicable to current and /or any future debt financing; our ability to satisfy future capital and liquidity requirements; our ability to continue as a going concern; our ability to access the credit and capital markets at the times and in the amounts needed and on acceptable terms; our ability to maintain adequate liquidity levels to support ongoing inventory purchases and related vendor payments in a timely manner; our ability to attract and retain employees; the pace of equitable access adoption in the marketplace is slower than anticipated and our ability to successfully convert the majority of our institutions to our BNC First Day® equitable and inclusive access course material models or successfully compete with third parties that provide similar equitable and inclusive access solutions; the United States Department of Education has recently proposed regulatory changes that, if adopted as proposed, could impact equitable and inclusive access models across the higher education industry; the strategic objectives, successful integration, anticipated synergies, and/or other expected potential benefits of various strategic and restructuring initiatives, may not be fully realized or may take longer than expected; dependency on strategic service provider relationships, such as with VitalSource Technologies, Inc. and the Fanatics Retail Group Fulfillment, LLC, Inc. (“Fanatics”) and Fanatics Lids College, Inc. D/B/A "Lids" (“Lids”), and the potential for adverse operational and financial changes to these strategic service provider relationships, may adversely impact our business; non-renewal of managed bookstore, physical and/or online store contracts and higher-than-anticipated store closings; decisions by colleges and universities to outsource their physical and/or online bookstore operations or change the operation of their bookstores; general competitive conditions, including actions our competitors and content providers may take to grow their businesses; the risk of changes in price or in formats of course materials by publishers, which could negatively impact revenues and margin; changes to purchase or rental terms, payment terms, return policies, the discount or margin on products or other terms with our suppliers; product shortages, including decreases in the used textbook inventory supply associated with the implementation of publishers’ digital offerings and direct to student textbook consignment rental programs; work stoppages or increases in labor costs; possible increases in shipping rates or interruptions in shipping services; a decline in college enrollment or decreased funding available for students; decreased consumer demand for our products, low growth or declining sales; the general economic environment and consumer spending patterns; trends and challenges to our business and in the locations in which we have stores; risks associated with operation or performance of MBS Textbook Exchange, LLC’s point-of-sales systems that are sold to college bookstore customers; technological changes, including the adoption of artificial intelligence technologies for educational content; risks associated with counterfeit and piracy of digital and print materials; risks associated with the potential loss of control over personal information; risks associated with the potential misappropriation of our intellectual property; disruptions to our information technology systems, infrastructure, data, supplier systems, and customer ordering and payment systems due to computer malware, viruses, hacking and phishing attacks, resulting in harm to our business and results of operations; disruption of or interference with third party service providers and our own proprietary technology; risks associated with the impact that public health crises, epidemics, and pandemics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, have on the overall demand for BNED products and services, our operations, the operations of our suppliers, service providers, and campus partners, and the effectiveness of our response to these risks; lingering impacts that public health crises may have on the ability of our suppliers to manufacture or source products, particularly from outside of the United States; changes in applicable domestic and international laws, rules or regulations, including, without limitation, U.S. tax reform, changes in tax rates, laws and regulations, as well as related guidance; changes in and enactment of applicable laws, rules or regulations or changes in enforcement practices including, without limitation, with regard to consumer data privacy rights, which may restrict or prohibit our use of consumer personal information for texts, emails, interest based online advertising, or similar marketing and sales activities; adverse results from litigation, governmental investigations, tax-related proceedings, or audits; changes in accounting standards; and the other risks and uncertainties detailed in the section titled “Risk Factors” in Part I - Item 1A in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended April 29, 2023. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results or outcomes may vary materially from those described as anticipated, believed, estimated, expected, intended or planned. Subsequent written and oral forward-looking statements attributable to us or persons acting on our behalf are expressly qualified in their entirety by the cautionary statements in this paragraph. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise after the date of this press release.

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