Barnes & Noble.com Acquires Fatbrain.com
Posted on September 13, 2000
Barnes & Noble.com has announced that it will acquire Fatbrain.com, Inc., an online bookseller specializing in professional and technical titles. Fatbrain.com's senior management, including its president and chief executive officer, Dennis Capovilla, and executive vice president of Product Development, Kim Orumchian, would continue in their current positions, and the company would remain headquartered in Santa Clara, Calif.
``We believe Fatbrain.com's business-to-business focus, combined with its digital publishing and print-on-demand capabilities, complement Barnes & Noble.com's consumer-based initiatives in these areas,'' said Steve Riggio, vice chairman of Barnes & Noble.com. ``We also believe that the companies have complementary cultures that will foster our ability to build both the consumer and business-to-business markets together. Most important, we are impressed with the Fatbrain.com management team, whose talent and experience has distinguished them as leaders in the corporate bookselling marketplace.''
``We are extremely excited about our proposed merger with Barnes & Noble.com,'' said Capovilla of Fatbrain.com. ``While the synergies derived from our book businesses are an obvious fit and will naturally benefit from increased scale, we believe the incremental resources provided by the Barnes & Noble.com backing and brand will greatly enhance and accelerate the rollout of Information Exchange to corporations seeking to streamline the management and distribution of their publishable materials.''
With the acquisition, Barnes & Noble.com would also own over 50 percent of MightyWords, formerly a subsidiary of Fatbrain.com and a provider of digital content. In June Barnes & Noble.com invested approximately $20 million for a 30 percent equity stake in MightyWords. With the acquistion, BN.com would also take the equity stake of 23 percent which Fatbrain.com retained in MightyWords.