Look back how the NOOK tablet had been started:
Barnes & Noble NOOK offensive [this same blog, May 25, 2011]

while the whole NOOK effort in terms of devices was as as follows:

Note: only Android has been used so far.

Then here is a recent “internal progress with Microsoft” information:
Barnes & Noble Now Hiring Windows 8 Engineers For New Nook Devices [The Digital Reader, Sept 26, 2012]

Now that B&N has their new Nook gadgetry out for all to see, it looks like they are going to turn their attention to their next set of devices.

Yesterday a friend tipped me to a couple new job postings for B&N. The jobs are located at the Nook facility in Palo Alto, Calif., and at least one is pretty clearly associated with new devices, not apps. That listing mentions the Nook hardware repeatedly, a detail which isn’t included in the job listings for app developers.

There’s little to indicate what the hardware will be, or what it will do, but it is clear that B&N is just beginning to build the team. B&N is looking for a “Director, Engineering Windows 8“, and that’s the only 1 of the 2 listings which mention Windows 8 as well as the Nook. The other new job listing looks to be aimed at someone to manage the app developers for Windows 8. Put the 2 together and they suggest that B&N is going to have the new guys build the teams.

What’s also interesting about the new job listings is that one confirms the rumored integration with MS software and services. The Director of Engineering is responsible for:

delivering on our contractual commitments on Windows 8 applications, Cloud , commerce , content integration with the Microsoft ecosystem and for defining and delivering on product strategy of Nook integration with Microsoft  ecosystem including Windows, Office, Bing.

To be honest, this should come as no surprise, given that many bloggers jumped to this conclusion when the B&N/MS deal was announced back in April of this year. But it is still a surprise because Bill Lynch said this wasn’t going to happen. Of course, he did use the word “currently” when he made that statement back in May, so it is more than possible that this was always the next step.

Note that since the new NOOKs are based on TI OMAP 4470 SoCs (see later on) Windows RT may quite easily come for them on October 26 as the TI’s platform had been one the ARM SoCs selected by Microsoft for the development of the Windows RT.

More to come below as:

1. The NOOK Media LLC: what is it and what is behind?
2. Recent announcements about Barnes & Noble’s NOOK business
3. About Liberty Media Corporation

1. The NOOK Media LLC: what is it and what is behind?

Barnes & Noble and Microsoft Complete Strategic Partnership in New Subsidiary:  NOOK MEDIA LLC [joint press release, Oct 4, 2012]

Includes Barnes & Noble’s NOOK® Digital and College Businesses as well as Microsoft Investment to Advance Digital Reading Experience

New York, NY and Redmond, WA (October 4, 2012) – Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) today announced the completion of their previously announced strategic partnership in NOOK Media LLC, a recently formed Barnes & Noble subsidiary and a leader in the emerging digital reading and digital education markets. Microsoft and Barnes & Noble’s strategic partnership in NOOK Media LLC will enable the companies to advance world-class digital reading experiences to the hundreds of millions of customers they jointly serve.

NOOK Media LLC comprises the digital and College businesses of Barnes & Noble and will continue to have a very close and mutually beneficial relationship with Barnes & Noble’s retail stores.  The partnership includes a $300 million investment from Microsoft in NOOK Media LLC.

“As demand for digital content continues to increase, we are focused on bringing ground-breaking reading and learning content and technologies to more people in more formats than ever before, including the imminent launch of our exceptional NOOK reading application for Windows 8,” said William Lynch, CEO of Barnes & Noble. “We look forward to working closely with our new partner Microsoft to add value to their innovative new platform by bringing great reading experiences and one of the world’s preeminent digital bookstores to millions of Windows 8 users.”

“NOOK Media is a leader in developing the next generation of digital reading and we look forward to the company bringing one of the world’s largest digital libraries to Windows 8 devices via their upcoming Windows 8 app,” said Andy Lees, President at Microsoft. “We are also excited by NOOK Media’s product roadmap and expansion into markets around the world as demonstrated by their recent launches in the United Kingdom.”

Microsoft made its $300 million investment in NOOK Media LLC at a post-money valuation of $1.7 billion in exchange for an approximately 17.6% equity stake, with Barnes & Noble owning the remaining shares.

As previously announced, there is no set timetable for Barnes & Noble’s review of strategic options for its investment in NOOK Media LLC. There can be no assurance that the review will result in a strategic separation or the creation of a stand-alone public company.  Barnes & Noble does not intend to comment further regarding the review unless and until a decision is made.

---

About Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS), the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, operates 689 bookstores in 50 states. Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, also operates 667 college bookstores serving over 4.6 million students and faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States.  Barnes & Noble conducts its online business through BN.com (www.bn.com), one of the Web’s largest e-commerce sites, which also features more than 3 million titles in its NOOK Bookstore™ (www.bn.com/ebooks). Through Barnes & Noble’s NOOK® eReading product offering, customers can buy and read digital books and content on the widest range of platforms, including NOOK devices, partner company products, and the most popular mobile and computing devices using free NOOK software. Barnes & Noble is proud to be named a J.D. Power and Associates 2012 Customer Service Champion and is one of only 50 U.S. companies so named.  Barnes & Noble.com is ranked the number one online retailer in customer satisfaction in the book, music and video category and a Top 10 online retailer overall in customer satisfaction according to ForeSee E-Retail Satisfaction Index (Spring Top 100 Edition).

General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained via the Internet by visiting the company’s corporate website: www.barnesandnobleinc.com.

To understand the meaning of “digital and College businesses of Barnes & Noble” as parts of the new NOOK Media LLC we should include here the corresponding excerpts from Barnes & Noble Reports Fiscal 2013 First Quarter Financial Results [Aug 21, 2012] with segment numbers specifically inserted here on the sideline:
Note that this actually shows that Barnes & Noble transferred all of its loss making and/or investment hungry businesses into the new NOOK Media LLC.

Retail
The Retail segment, which consists of the Barnes & Noble bookstores and BN.com businesses, had revenues of $1.1 billion for the quarter, increasing 2% over the prior year.
…
College
The College segment, which consists of the Barnes & Noble College bookstores business, had revenues of $221 million during this non-back-to-school rush period.
…
NOOK
The NOOK segment, which consists of the company’s digital business (including Readers, digital content and accessories), had revenues of $192 million for the quarter, essentially flat as compared to last year.  Digital content sales increased 46% for the first quarter.  Digital content sales are defined to include digital books, digital newsstand, and the apps business.  Device sales declined for the quarter due to lower average selling prices and production scaling issues surrounding the popular newly launched GlowLight product resulting in unmet demand.

NOOK EBITDA losses increased by $6 million, from a loss of $51 million to a loss of $57 million, as a result of product markdowns on the recently announced NOOK price adjustments, as well as continued investments in the NOOK business.

…

The formation of NOOK Media LLC goes back to Barnes & Noble and Microsoft Form Strategic Partnership to Advance World-Class Digital Reading Experiences for Consumers [joint press release, April 30, 2012]

Newly Formed Subsidiary to Include NOOK® Digital and College Businesses

New York, NY and Redmond, WA (April 30, 2012) – Barnes & Noble Inc. (NYSE: BKS) and Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) today announced the formation of a strategic partnership in a new Barnes & Noble subsidiary, which will build upon the history of strong innovation in digital reading technologies from both companies. The partnership will accelerate the transition to e-reading, which is revolutionizing the way people consume, create, share and enjoy digital content.

The new subsidiary, referred to in this release as Newco, will bring together the digital and College businesses of Barnes & Noble.  Microsoft will make a $300 million investment in Newco at a post-money valuation of $1.7 billion in exchange for an approximately 17.6% equity stake. Barnes & Noble will own approximately 82.4% of the new subsidiary, which will have an ongoing relationship with the company’s retail stores. Barnes & Noble has not yet decided on the name of Newco.

One of the first benefits for customers will be a NOOK application for Windows 8, which will extend the reach of Barnes & Noble’s digital bookstore by providing one of the world’s largest digital catalogues of e-Books, magazines and newspapers to hundreds of millions of Windows customers in the U.S. and internationally.

The inclusion of Barnes & Noble’s College business is an important component of Newco’s strategic vision. Through the newly formed Newco, Barnes & Noble’s industry leading NOOK Study software will provide students and educators the preeminent technology platform for the distribution and management of digital education materials in the market.

“The formation of Newco and our relationship with Microsoft are important parts of our strategy to capitalize on the rapid growth of the NOOK business, and to solidify our position as a leader in the exploding market for digital content in the consumer and education segments,” said William Lynch, CEO of Barnes & Noble. “Microsoft’s investment in Newco, and our exciting collaboration to bring world-class digital reading technologies and content to the Windows platform and its hundreds of millions of users, will allow us to significantly expand the business.”

“The shift to digital is putting the world’s libraries and newsstands in the palm of every person’s hand, and is the beginning of a journey that will impact how people read, interact with, and enjoy new forms of content,” said Andy Lees, President at Microsoft. “Our complementary assets will accelerate e-reading innovation across a broad range of Windows devices, enabling people to not just read stories, but to be part of them. We’re on the cusp of a revolution in reading.”

Barnes & Noble and Microsoft have settled their patent litigation, and moving forward, Barnes & Noble and Newco will have a royalty-bearing license under Microsoft’s patents for its NOOK eReader and Tablet products. This paves the way for both companies to collaborate and reach a broader set of customers.

Newco

On January 5, Barnes & Noble announced that it was exploring the strategic separation of its digital business in order to maximize shareholder value. Barnes & Noble is actively engaged in the formation of Newco, which will include Barnes & Noble’s digital and College businesses. The company intends to explore all alternatives for how a strategic separation of Newco may occur. There can be no assurance that the review will result in a strategic separation or the creation of a stand-alone public company, and there is no set timetable for this review. Barnes & Noble does not intend to comment further regarding the review unless and until a decision is made.

Additional information will be contained in a Current Report on Form 8-K to be filed by Barnes & Noble.

Barnes & Noble and Microsoft will host an investor call and webcast beginning at 8:30 A.M. ET on Monday, April 30, 2012. To join the webcast, please visit: www.barnesandnobleinc.com/webcasts.

Regarding those written cautions please note that:
– Barnes & Noble Board of Directors Announces Proposal from Liberty Media to Acquire Company [press release, May 19, 2011]
– Barnes & Noble Announces Strategic Investment Made by Liberty Media [press release, Aug 18, 2011]

… Liberty purchased preferred stock, convertible into approximately 12 million shares or 16.6% (after giving effect to the issuance) of the Company’s common stock at a price of $17 per share [a $204 million investment in Barnes & Noble by Liberty Media], and with a dividend rate of 7.75% per annum to be paid quarterly. …

Leonard Riggio, Chairman of Barnes & Noble said, “We could not have found a better strategic investor than Liberty Media.  Their investment is a strong endorsement of our overall business and the additional capital will further fuel the explosive growth of our digital strategy.”

“We are excited about Barnes & Noble’s prospects as the leading bookseller in the U.S. and its growth opportunities in the digital world,” said Greg Maffei, Liberty Media’s President and CEO.  “This investment provides Barnes & Noble with capital to grow its business on terms that are attractive for both parties and allows us to play a meaningful role in shaping their success to generate returns for our shareholders and theirs.” …

– Barnes & Noble Reports Record NOOK® Sales – Announces Decision to Explore Separation of Large and Rapidly Growing NOOK Digital Business – Retail Business Grows During the Holidays [press release, Jan 5, 2012]

New York, NY (January 5, 2012) — Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today reported record holiday sales for its NOOK business, including devices and digital content. During the nine-week holiday period ending December 31, 2011, NOOK unit sales, including NOOK Simple Touch™, NOOK Color™ and the new NOOK Tablet™, increased 70% over the same period last year. Sales of NOOK Tablet exceeded expectations, while sales of NOOK Simple Touch lagged expectations, indicating a stronger customer preference for color devices.

Digital content sales also grew briskly during the same nine-week period, increasing 113% on a comparable basis. Content sales are defined to include digital books, digital newsstand, and the rapidly growing apps business.

The entire line of NOOK products have been acclaimed widely as the best in the marketplace, and validate the Company’s first-class digital organization. While the Company has invested heavily in developing its new platform, including recruiting world-class talent and increasing its advertising and marketing spend, its customer Life-Time-Value (LTV) models continue to indicate these up-front investments will create significant value.

The Company expects fiscal 2012 digital content sales to be approximately $450 million. By fiscal 2012 year-end, based upon forecasted device sales, the Company expects annualized U.S. digital content sales will achieve a run-rate of approximately $700-$750 million.

Due to the increased significance of the NOOK business platform, the Company is evaluating its reporting segments. The evaluation is expected to be complete by the end of this fiscal year, which may result in reporting NOOK as a separate operating segment.

STRATEGIC EXPLORATION OF NOOK DIGITAL BUSINESS

In order to capitalize on the rapid growth of the NOOK digital business, and its favorable leadership position in the expanding market for digital content, the Company has decided to pursue strategic exploratory work to separate the NOOK business.

“We see substantial value in what we’ve built with our NOOK business in only two years, and we believe it’s the right time to investigate our options to unlock that value,” said William Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble. “In NOOK, we’ve established one of the world’s best retail platforms for the sale of digital copyright content. We have a large and growing installed base of millions of satisfied customers buying digital content from us, and we have a NOOK business that’s growing rapidly year-over-year and should be approximately $1.5 billion in comparable sales this fiscal year. Between continued projected growth in the U.S., and the opportunity for NOOK internationally in the next 12 months, we expect the business to continue to scale rapidly for the foreseeable future.”

The Company also said that it is in discussions with strategic partners including publishers, retailers, and technology companies in international markets that may lead to expansion of the NOOK business abroad.

There can be no assurance that the review of a potential separation of the NOOK digital business will result in a separation. There is no timetable for the review, and the Company does not intend to comment further regarding the review, unless and until a decision is made.

RETAIL HOLIDAY SALES RESULTS

During the nine-week holiday period, Barnes & Noble store (or “Retail”) sales increased 2.5% over the prior year period to $1.2 billion. Comparable store sales increased 3.4%, on top of a 9.7% increase last year. Retail core comparable store sales, defined as the sales of non-digital merchandise, increased 4.5% over last year.

Book sales were strong overall, fueled by strength across multiple categories. Juvenile titles were exceptionally strong, led by The Hunger Games, Cabin Fever (Diary of a Wimpy Kid Series #6), Inheritance, and The LEGO Ideas Book. In addition, there was significant crossover between physical and digital book sales, including big movie books like The Help, The Girl With the Dragon Tattooand War Horse among the holiday hits. Physical book sales on a comparable basis increased by 4% at Barnes & Noble stores, exhibiting growth for the first time in five years.

The Company’s continued emphasis on Toys & Games led to 30% growth in that area, on top of a 48% increase last year. Top sellers included LEGO building sets, Harry Potter collectibles and games, Angry Birds games and electronic learning tablets such as LeapFrog® LeapPad™ Explorer and Vtech Innotab Tablet.

Barnes & Noble continues to benefit from a consolidating physical book market. The Company benefitted from the closure of Borders stores during the holiday season and now expects the sales lift to be in a range of $200 million to $230 million in fiscal 2012. The Company reinvested the Borders upside in its digital business.

BN.COM/NOOK HOLIDAY SALES RESULTS

BN.com sales increased 43% over the prior year period to $327 million, with comparable sales increasing 52%, on top of a 78% increase a year ago. This increase was driven by continued growth of the NOOK business, offset by a decline in online physical product sales.

The consolidated NOOK business across all of the Company’s segments, including sales of digital content, device hardware and related accessories, increased 43% during the holiday period to $448 million, on a comparable sales basis. A substantial portion of the 70% year-over-year NOOK unit increase was driven by sell-through at third-party retailers as the Company expanded NOOK distribution. This growth in sales with customers at retailers outside of Barnes & Noble stores is indicative of the increasing awareness of the NOOK brand and demand for the product from customers new to Barnes & Noble.

BN.com and NOOK comparable sales reflect the actual selling price for eBooks sold under the agency model rather than solely the commission received. Additionally, it includes all deferred eReader device revenues, and includes device sales to channel partners on a “sell-in” basis net of estimated returns.

UPDATED GUIDANCE

The Company now expects full fiscal year 2012 consolidated sales between $7.0 billion and $7.2 billion. Comparable sales at Barnes & Noble stores are expected to increase 1%, Barnes & Noble College sales are expected to be flat, and sales are expected to increase 40% to 50% at BN.com.

The Company now expects full year earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) to be in a range of $150 to $180 million. The change in guidance is due primarily to a shortfall in the expected sales of NOOK Simple Touch, as well as additional investments in growing the NOOK business, such as advertising to support new products and international expansion in the back half of the year. The Company now expects full year losses per share to be in a range of $1.40 to $1.10.

Although Barnes & Noble was the first to the market with a revolutionary color eReader and has since introduced NOOK Tablet, which has exceeded expectations, the Company over-anticipated the growth in consumer demand for single purpose black-and-white reading devices this holiday. Nevertheless, NOOK Simple Touch saw strong sales this holiday, remains the highest rated eReader in the market, and the Company plans to continue to market this successful product for years to come.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. will report third quarter earnings results on or about February 21, 2012.

2. Recent announcements about Barnes & Noble’s NOOK business

Barnes & Noble Introduces NOOK® for Web, Giving Readers Instant Access to NOOK Books™ from any Web Browser – No Sign-In, Download or NOOK Required [July 17, 2012]

Get Started Today with Six FREE Bestsellers Available through July 26

Barnes & Noble Announces Lowest Prices Ever on Award-Winning NOOK Tablet™ and NOOK Color™ [Aug 12, 2012]

Amazing Products at Best Value: NOOK Tablet As Low As $179 and NOOK Color Just $149

Barnes & Noble Announces Partnership with Leading UK Retailer John Lewis to Offer its Award-Winning NOOK® Products and Digital Content [Aug 28, 2012]

First Retail Partner Announced to Bring NOOK Reading Devices to

UK Customers Through John Lewis Stores and Online Beginning This October

Barnes & Noble Continues its NOOK Expansion into the UK, Announces Partnership with Argos, Blackwell’s and Foyles, To Offer Award-Winning NOOK® Products  [Aug 30, 2012]

NOOK Reading Devices Available to Millions of Argos, Blackwell’s and Foyles Customers in Stores, Catalogues and Online Beginning in October

Barnes & Noble Partners with Sainsbury’s to Offer Award-Winning NOOK® Products [Sept 25, 2012]

Leading UK Retailer Will Offer NOOK As Exclusive Reading Devices to Millions of Customers

Barnes & Noble Partners with Waitrose to Offer Award-Winning NOOK® Products [Sept 25, 2012]

Leading UK Supermarket to Offer NOOK Reading Experience and Products to Millions of Customers Across the Country in Shops and Online this Autumn

NOOK Video™ to Premiere This Fall [Sept 25, 2012]

Coming Soon: Shop Popular Digital Movies & TV Shows Available for Streaming and Download

Content Licensed From Major Studios Including HBO®, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, STARZ, The Walt Disney Studios, Viacom and Warner Bros. Entertainment to Bring Customers Entertainment Anywhere

NOOK® Simple Touch and NOOK Simple Touch GlowLight™ – Best-In-Class E Ink® eReaders – Now on Sale in UK [Sept 26, 2012]

First Time NOOK® Products Are Available to UK Customers

Starting at Only £79, NOOK eReaders Offer High-Quality Touchscreen and Top-Rated Reading Experience at an Amazing Price

Order Today From Leading UK Retailers

NOOK Simple Touch with GlowLight™ Now Available for the Incredible New Low Price of Just $119 – Unbeatable Value with No Distracting Ads [Sept 30, 2012]

Award-Winning First E Ink® Reader Designed for Reading in the Dark and in Bright Sunlight, At Lowest Price Ever

Barnes & Noble Celebrates Educator Appreciation Week October 13-21 [Ocf 1, 2012]

Special Offers Include Discounts on NOOK® eReaders & Tablets

Presentations Focus on the Digital Classroom and New Nearpod™ Mobile Learning Platform on NOOK

The latest NOOK Device Specs [The NOOK Developer Program, Sept 26, 2012]:

Tour NOOK HD & NOOK HD+ [nookBN YouTube channel, Sept 26, 2012]

Barnes & Noble Launches NOOK® HD and NOOK HD+, Lightest and Highest-Resolution 7-Inch HD Tablet and World’s Lightest Full HD Tablet [Sept 26, 2012]

Incredible Reading and Entertainment Like Never Seen Before on 7- and 9-Inch Tablets

Designed for Both Personal Use and the Whole Family to Share – Like Having Multiple Devices in One

NOOK HD Offers World’s Highest Resolution Display Ever on a 7-Inch Media Tablet Starting at Only $199

NOOK HD+ is Lightest, Lowest-Priced Full HD Tablet Ever Starting at Only $269

Unbeatable Values for Top Quality Tablets and No Distracting Ads  Coming to the US and UK This Fall; Pre-Order Starting Today at NOOK.com and Barnes & Noble Stores

New York, New York – September 26, 2012 – Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, today introduced NOOK HD and NOOK HD+, the lightest HD and full HD tablets. The super-fast and lightweight 7-inch NOOK HD and 9-inch NOOK HD+ feature must-see displays for superior reading and entertainment and an instantly personalized tablet experience for each family member. In fact, NOOK HD boasts the world’s highest-resolution ever on a 7-inch tablet and NOOK HD+ rivals the industry-leading tablet’s display. Starting at the low prices of $199 for NOOK HD and $269 for NOOK HD+,  nearly half the cost of the leading large-format tablet, both products deliver an amazing value for customers, with no annoying ads. With more than three million books, a large selection of magazines and apps, and now with newly launched NOOK Video™ and NOOK Catalog™ content, NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ offer virtually endless reading and entertainment at customers’ fingertips. Both are available for pre-order at www.nook.com and Barnes & Noble stores for customers to enjoy beginning in early November.

The fantastic new 7-inch NOOK HD and 9-inch NOOK HD+ are packed with favorite tablet features that the whole family will love:

A Personalized Tablet Experience for Both Individuals and Families

According to research by Barnes & Noble, more than 50 percent of tablet owners share their devices with others in their family every day. Half also say they would never let their child handle their device unattended. Not surprising, given that more than a third of tablet owners report having content on their devices they don’t want anyone else to see. NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ are designed precisely to provide a personalized experience for individuals and their family members, allowing children to freely enjoy all the content they love without happening upon all that mom and dad would rather they didn’t see. New NOOK Profiles™ instantly transform the device in hand to any family member’s very own tablet. With a quick tap on a profile at the top of the screen, the entire experience magically changes into that family member’s personal tablet as their own content – and personalized recommendations – appear on the display. Now mom’s NOOK becomes Billy’s NOOK, becomes dad’s NOOK and so on. In a blink, one device is like four, five or six. Adults can use their personal passwords to easily access their books, magazines, videos, apps and more. Children can dive into their collection of digital picture books, learning apps and kid-friendly videos, while tweens and teens can access their chapter books, magazines, games and favorite TV shows. Enhanced controls with simple settings and password features empower parents to easily manage their children’s access to the Web, content and shopping.

Must-Have Tablet Features

The new NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ are optimized to deliver unparalleled experiences in the areas that company research showed NOOK tablet owners use most: reading, Web, video and email. The reading experience is unmatched, offering beautifully rendered text, magazines in spectacular HD and lightning fast page turns. Thanks to top-end processors, the newly designed Web browser in NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ is super-fast, making it simple and smooth to surf favorite sites with a tap, pinch and zoom. New to the Web, ArticleView™ allows you to customize your online reading experience. Both NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ offer access to a collection of popular movies and TV shows through new NOOK Video. And an all-new built-in email app offers new features in an easy-to-use, clean format that supports a host of popular personal and work-related email services including Microsoft® Exchange ActiveSync.

NOOK HD 360° View [nookBN YouTube channel, Sept 25, 2012]

NOOK HD – The Most Exceptional Reading and Entertainment Experience in a 7-Inch Tablet

Best 7-Inch Display: NOOK HD includes a newly invented, brilliant display that delivers the highest quality text, graphics and video experience in a 7-inch media tablet. Packed with pixels, every book read, every movie watched, every game played is rendered in a digital quality never before seen. NOOK HD offers the highest-resolution display ever on a 7-inch tablet at 1440 x 900, with an unprecedented 243 pixels per inch and HD video playback of up to 720p. It’s ultra-sharp with 25 percent more pixels than Kindle Fire HD for a better overall viewing experience. Building on the highly advanced laminated displays first seen in the 7-inch category on previous NOOK LCD products, NOOK HD features the most advanced IPS display coupled with world-class optical bonding technology with no air gap to deliver low-glare and a wide viewing angle for sharing.

Super-Light and a Joy to Hold: Weight matters, and no other leading 7-inch HD tablet is lighter than NOOK HD.  By developing a breakthrough design that integrates the display into the device itself, Barnes & Noble eliminated many components to keep NOOK HD super-light, yet durable. At only 11.1 ounces (315 grams) and just 5-inches wide, it’s more than 20 percent lighter and nearly a half-inch narrower than Kindle Fire HD. So, it fits the hand beautifully and is finished with soft-touch paint that makes it comfortable for even a young child to hold. NOOK HD is ergonomically contoured for comfort and slips easily into a men’s suit coat, a woman’s handbag or a child’s backpack.

Lightning Fast: Armed with a dual-core 1.3GHz high-speed processor, NOOK HD is lightning fast, highly responsive and smooth. With its more powerful processor, it’s not surprising that NOOK HD is faster than Kindle Fire HD for a nimble overall experience and 80 percent faster when it comes to graphics processing for smoother, faster animations, renderings, apps experience and more. The 1GB of RAM allows customers to easily zip from one app to another and play movies.

More Choices: The world’s most exceptional 7-inch reading and entertainment tablet is now available for pre-order in two colors, “Snow” and “Smoke.” Starting at just $199 for an 8GB model and only $229 for a 16GB version – both featuring expandable microSD memory storage – customers can pre-order at www.nook.com and at Barnes & Noble stores.

NOOK HD+ 360° View [nookBN YouTube channel, Sept 25, 2012]

NOOK HD+ – The Lightest and Lowest-Priced Full HD Tablet Ever

Spectacular Full HD Display: For those who want to enjoy reading and entertainment on a larger scale, NOOK HD+ offers a must-see full HD 9-inch display with resolution of 1920 x 1280 and 256 pixels per inch for up to 1080p for movies, magazines and more. The fully laminated display reduces glare and provides excellent viewing angles, perfect for personal or shared viewing.  This amazing display rivals the “resolutionary” screen of the leading high-resolution large-format tablet, but is offered in a device that’s more than 20 percent less weight and nearly half the price.

Incredibly Light Yet Powerful: Weighing in at only 18.2 ounces (515 grams), NOOK HD+ is big on display, yet lightweight, easy to hold and take anywhere. It is the lightest full HD tablet ever invented. NOOK HD+ is power-packed by a 1.5GHz dual-core processor with 1GB of RAM for a fast, smooth customer experience, whether browsing the Web, reading books and magazines, watching videos, enjoying apps or checking email.

Best Price Ever for Full HD Tablet: The beautifully designed NOOK HD+, offered in the color “Slate,” features expandable memory for even more storage with options of 16GB for $269 and 32GB for $299 – two astoundingly low prices for a brilliant, super-light 9-inch reading and entertainment tablet.

Both NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ will ship in late October and be available in stores in early November.

“With the combination of the highest resolution screen, lightest weight and expansive access to content rendered in a digital quality never before seen, NOOK HD is the world’s best 7-inch media tablet,” said William J. Lynch, Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble. “We designed our larger format tablet NOOK HD+ because we think there’s big demand from customers for a super-light, extremely high quality 9-inch tablet, at half the price of the iPad. Both our 7-inch NOOK HD and 9-inch NOOK HD+ deliver an exceptional customer experience and we enthusiastically encourage customers to go to nook.com and learn more about them.”

Barnes & Noble Nook HD+ to take on Amazon, Apple [computerworld YouTube channel, Sept 26, 2012]

Announcing Even More NOOK Content and Services to Enjoy

As part of the launch of NOOK HD and NOOK HD+, Barnes & Noble also announced significant new additions and advancements to the NOOK content ecosystem:

A Growing and Diverse Digital Catalog: The NOOK Store™ now offers more than 3 million books including bestselling books, new releases, classics and enhanced titles with special content; the world’s largest collection of nearly 3,500 best-loved English-language children’s interactive picture books; a growing collection of comic books and graphic novels; and picture-perfect art, photography, travel guides and cookbook titles.

New – NOOK Video: Launching concurrently with the shipment of the new products in late October, NOOK Video offers customers their favorite standard and HD movies and TV shows for streaming and download to enjoy in spectacular color and stunning definition on NOOK HD and NOOK HD+. From major studios, networks and companies like HBO®, STARZ, The Walt Disney Studios and Warner Brothers Entertainment, the NOOK Video catalog offers something for everyone in the family to enjoy. Customers will find TV favorites such as Game of Thrones®, Breaking Bad and The Walking Dead to movie favorites like Disney-Pixar’s Brave, The Dark Knight and Harry Potter movies. Both devices are designed with an HDMI compatible port to allow customers to easily connect to their TVs to watch movies and shows in up to full 1080p. Videos streamed and downloaded from the NOOK Store are stored safely and securely in the NOOK Cloud™, so NOOK Video content can also be viewed on NOOK devices, TVs, smartphones and tablets via a suite of new free NOOK Video apps. Like free NOOK Reading apps, all-new NOOK Video apps automatically sync so customers can pick up watching right where they left off on the compatible device of their choosing.

UltraViolet™ Support: NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ are the first UltraViolet-enabled tablets, so right out of the box they seamlessly integrate a customer’s compatible physical DVD and Blu-ray Disc™ purchases and digital video collection across their devices. Customers will be able to easily link their UltraViolet accounts to the NOOK Cloud allowing them to view their previously and newly purchased UltraViolet-enabled movies and TV shows across NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ devices, NOOK Video apps and third-party applications. In addition to purchasing a digital version via NOOK Video, customers can shop for DVDs and Blu-ray Discs with the UltraViolet logo in Barnes & Noble and other retail stores, add them to their digital collection, and instantly watch compatible titles from the NOOK Cloud to enjoy wherever they go and however they choose.

Magazine 2.0: NOOK Newsstand™ has the largest digital collection of the top 100 bestselling magazines available for both digital subscriptions and single copy sale. With NOOK HD and NOOK HD+, the industry-leading magazine experience just got even better. A new visual table of contents lets customers view thumbnails of the entire magazine and simply tap the article they want to read first. Magazines feature a super-fast, 3D-like page turn and include built-in hot spots for readers to quickly jump to specific articles and go deeper on a subject or story through audio, video and Web linking.  NOOK’s innovative ArticleView lets the reader focus only on the text, customized to their needs. The company also introduced a breakthrough NOOK Scrapbook™, where magazine readers can virtually clip pages of interest and save them in customized digital scrapbooks.

All-New Newspaper Experience: Extra! Extra! NOOK Newspapers have an all-new design on NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ that make it even easier and more fun to read newspapers digitally. Customers can view and choose each of the paper’s sections on the left column to tap and read in a snap. The large selection of daily and weekly newspapers are available through subscription or single copies and are automatically downloaded via Wi-Fi® to the device when available for reading with morning coffee, on the commute home or anywhere in between.

New – NOOK Catalog: NOOK Catalog offers a convenient browsing and shopping experience through a selection of colorful, complimentary catalogs from leading retailers including Pottery Barn, L.L.Bean, Frontgate, Garnet Hill and Harry & David – with 100 top catalogs available this holiday. Customers’ catalogs are delivered magically to their devices when published so they can virtually flip through the pages to explore, tap on a product of interest for more information from the retailer’s Web site and make a purchase. The new NOOK Scrapbook feature can also be used to rip and save select pages in a personalized collection along with other chosen pages saved from catalogs and magazines.

Top Apps: The global developer community has quickly been innovating and adding to the catalog of high-quality NOOK Apps™. The number of NOOK Apps has grown 10x in the last year and 100x since launching and includes all the most popular and bestselling top 100 app titles for tablets available anywhere. NOOK Apps features a wide range of titles for the whole family, including the hottest games, as well as lifestyle, productivity, news, entertainment and reading apps. In fact, only the NOOK Store provides helpful age recommendations for parents and lets customers browse by subject area to find the perfect app for their child among the broadest and the most curated app collection of kids’ educational apps on any Android store. With games and activities focused on language, math, puzzles, reading, art and more, NOOK provides families with hours of playful learning that helps kids make the most of their “screen time.”

Newly Revamped NOOK Store – A Better Way to Shop & Find Content: NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ bring a new level of personal shopping service to the device experience. Customers can tap on the Your NOOK Today™ icon on the home screen to reveal fresh content and personalized recommendations each day. This includes their latest newsstand subscriptions delivered virtually, plus cool apps and new titles matched to their profile.

And just like a great bookshop, the revamped NOOK Store is a place of continuous discovery. The new store experience allows customers to easily shop by department or explore new NOOK Channels™, a pioneering recommendation system that combines the unrivaled knowledge of Barnes & Noble booksellers with advanced algorithmic technology to create an unparalleled, curated browsing experience. Targeted by interest and sensibility, each NOOK Channel programs a rich stream of reading – and soon movies and apps – that includes the latest releases as well as backlist gems, bestsellers as well as offbeat treasures. Customers can browse and shop Channels that will expand their passions for the authors and subjects they love, from Paranormal Romance, War Stories, and Books to Talk About to Jane Austen & Heirs, The New Classics, History by Plot and Books Every Kid Should Know.

NOOK Cloud: All NOOK content is delivered via Wi-Fi and safely stored through NOOK Cloud, making NOOK Books, videos, apps and other content accessible across NOOK, personal computing and mobile devices using free NOOK Reading and NOOK Video apps.

Additional NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ Highlights

• Battery Life that Lasts: Both devices feature extra-long battery life optimized for extended use.  NOOK HD offers up to 10.5 hours of continuous reading and up to 9 hours of video watching, while NOOK HD+ boasts up to 10 hours and up to 9 hours for reading and video, respectively, all with Wi-Fi off.

• Expandable Storage: In addition to generous onboard storage, NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ also feature expandable memory using a separate microSD card (up to 64GB) – another feature not offered on Amazon’s tablets. NOOK gives customers an economical and flexible way to carry their personal content, PDFs, music, videos and more anywhere.

• A Better Value, Ad-Free:  NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ offer brilliant displays so customers can enjoy their favorite content and personal photos, not annoying ads as with Amazon’s tablets. And with low prices starting at $199 and $269 respectively, always ad-free NOOK tablets are a better value than Amazon’s, which charges customers an additional $15 for freedom from advertising offers on their tablet home page.

• Ready for Power:  Barnes & Noble also knows that customers prefer to charge their tablets quickly with an AC adapter, every new NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ has one included at no extra cost. Amazon charges $20 for their tablets’ adapters sold separately.

• Superb Sound:  To deliver excellent audio, NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ are designed with customized speakers and utilize SRS TruMedia™* to create a wide sound field, deep bass, clear vocals and strong midrange performance. Whether listening through the device’s speakers, a pair of headphones or on a Bluetooth-enabled speaker, customers will enjoy a rich audio experience watching videos, listening to music, reading children’s picture books or playing games.

• A NOOK of One’s Own: Gallery has never been so personal with instant access to cherished memories from popular photo sharing and social networking sites. Customers can add even more photos to the Gallery from their computer or emails. NOOK becomes each family member’s very own when they pick a favorite photo for the home screen and screensaver for each individual profile – instead of annoying ads. NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ also make it easy to share photos via email or in person, by connecting NOOK to a TV.

• Easy to Use New Interface: Both new tablets feature an all-new beautiful “paper-like” user interface that gets customers right into the content they want, and allows quick access into core applications: Home, Library, Shop and Web. The new experience is intended to make NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ the easiest tablets on the market to use, empowering customers to take advantage of its extensive functionality and enjoy a reading experience that far surpasses that of any other tablets.

• Stay Connected More Easily:  The all-new email app on NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ lets customers stay connected with what’s happening at the office through support for Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync. Customers can check business email and sync calendar and contacts, too.  NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ also support email, calendar and contacts syncing for popular services like Gmail, Hotmail and Outlook.com, as well other popular POP3/IMAP email services like Yahoo!, AOL and more.

Experience the entire NOOK family of products at www.nook.com or at the NOOK Digital Shops and displays in one of Barnes & Noble’s more than 700 bookstores and other leading retailers including Best Buy, Target and Walmart, which will soon take pre-orders, and many others. Barnes & Noble offers Always Free NOOK Support in all of its neighborhood bookstores, with more than 40,000 NOOKsellers across the country ready to assist customers with setting up their NOOK devices or choosing their next great read.

Pre-orders for NOOK HD and NOOK HD+ will begin next month for customers in the United Kingdom, as the products will be available there through leading retailers and www.nook.co.uk in late November.

2. About Liberty Media Corporation: see also Asset List

• Wikipedia article on Liberty Media
• Wikipedia article on John C. Malone
  who owns a majority of the voting shares and worth of US $ 5.1 Billion (2012)

The biggest chunk is which they are going to separate from the rest as per the LMC 2012 Annual Meeting presentation slides [Aug 8, 2012]

Starz Entertainment, LLC, is a premium movie and original programming entertainment service provider operating in the United States. The company offers 17 premium channels including the flagship STARZ^® and ENCORE^®brands with approximately 20.7 million and 34.2 million subscribers respectively. Starz Entertainment airs in total more than 1,000 movies and original series every month across its pay TV channels. Starz Entertainment is recognized as a pay TV leader in providing HD, On Demand, HD On Demand and online advanced services for it s STARZ, ENCORE and MOVIEPLEX brands. Starz Entertainment (www.starz.com) is an operating unit of Starz, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation.

Starz Media, LLC, is a programming production and distribution company operating worldwide. It includes the Film Roman, Anchor Bay Entertainment, and Manga Entertainment brands. Its units create animated and live-action programming and programming created under contract for other media companies. It distributes that programming, and programming acquired from outside producers, through home video retailers, theaters, broadcasters, ad supported and premium television channels, and Internet and wireless video distributors in the US and internationally. Starz Media (www.starzmedia.com) is a controlled subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation attributed to the Liberty Capital Group.

– Starz, LLC: 100%

Starz, LLC, is a premium movie service provider operating in the United States. It offers …. and offers advanced services including Starz HD, Encore HD, Starz On Demand, Encore On Demand, MoviePlex On Demand, Starz HD On Demand, Encore HD On Demand, MoviePlex HD On Demand, and Starz Play.

Then come very large companies in which LMC has a controlling share:

– Live Nation Entertainment, Inc. (NYSE: LYV): 26%

Largest live entertainment company in the world, consisting of five segments: concert promotion and venue operations, sponsorship, ticketing solutions, eCommerce and artist management.

– Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS): 17%

The world’s largest bookseller and a Fortune 500 company, operates bookstores in 50 states and conducts its online business through BN.com (www.bn.com), one of the internet’s largest e-commerce sites, which also features more than two million titles in its NOOK Bookstore™.

– Sirius XM Radio Inc. (NASDAQ: SIRI): 49%

Sirius XM Radio is America’s satellite radio company [in 2011 its revenue exceeded $3 billion]. SiriusXM broadcasts more than 135 channels of commercial-free music, premier sports, live news, talk, comedy, entertainment, traffic and weather to 22.9 million subscribers. We are one of the world’s largest pure-play audio entertainment companies and we are among the largest subscription media companies in the United States. SiriusXM broadcasts to subscribers everywhere they want to listen on more than 800 devices for cars, boats, the home or office, and through a wide range of mobile devices.

SiriusXM offers an impressive array of content that spans virtually all genres and interests, including Howard Stern, Martha Stewart, Oprah Winfrey, Dr. Laura, Jamie Foxx, Opie & Anthony, Bob Edwards, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo, Jimmy Buffett, Elvis,Eminem, The Grateful Dead, B.B. King, Pearl Jam, Willie Nelson, Frank Sinatra, and Tom Petty. SiriusXM is the leader in sports programming as the Official Satellite Radio Partner of the NFL, Major League Baseball®, NASCAR®, NBA, NHL®, and PGA TOUR® and offers major college sports.

SiriusXM has arrangements with every major automaker for installation of satellite radio in their vehicles. SiriusXM products are available through shop.siriusxm.com and at retail locations nationwide. SiriusXM programming is also available atsiriusxm.com/whatson, and on Apple iPad, iPhone and iPod touch, BlackBerry and Android-powered smartphones using the SiriusXM Internet Radio App.

SiriusXM provides premium real-time video, traffic, weather, data and information services for subscribers in cars, trucks, RVs, boats and aircraft through Sirius Backseat TV™, Sirius Travel Link, XM NavTraffic®, Sirius Traffic™, XM Nav Weather™, and Sirius Marine™.

as well as investment companies of the same kind:

– Liberty Associated Partners, L.P.: 29%

Principal investment firm specializing in private equity investments

– Associated Partners, L.P.: 37%

Investment and operating partnership that targets long-term, risk-balanced and tax-efficient returns

then two sizeable investments with full ownership:

– “Atlanta Braves”: Atlanta National League Baseball Club, Inc.: 100%
see: Wikipedia Atlanta Braves article and official Atlanta Braves site

– TruePosition, Inc.: 100%

TruePosition is the leading provider of location determination and intelligence solutions for the safety and national security markets worldwide. TruePosition offers a portfolio of industry-leading location technologies, future-proof platform products, innovative applications, and comprehensive networking and systems services to enable the creation of carrier-grade location solutions for private enterprise and government agencies to protect citizens, combat crime, and save lives.

and a number of smaller holdings (large company but meager share like 1% or smaller company with significant share) according to these logos: