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Here are 1-3 brief analogies for Barnes & Noble Education (BNED):

• Amazon for college campus retail.
• Sodexo for university bookstore operations.
• Netflix for university course materials.

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• Campus Bookstore Management & Operations: BNED manages and operates physical and online bookstores for colleges and universities, providing textbooks, course materials, and general merchandise.
• First Day® Complete Inclusive Access Program: This comprehensive program delivers all required digital and physical course materials to students through a single, institutionally charged fee.
• Wholesale Services: BNED provides wholesale distribution of new and used textbooks and other course materials to its own managed stores and third-party institutions.
• Bartleby® Digital Learning Solutions: This direct-to-student digital platform offers subscription-based academic support tools including homework help, writing assistance, and online tutoring.

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Barnes & Noble Education (BNED)

Barnes & Noble Education (BNED) primarily sells its services and solutions to other organizations, specifically educational institutions.

Major Customers:

BNED's major customers are colleges and universities across the United States. BNED partners with these post-secondary institutions to manage their campus bookstores (both physical and online), provide course materials (such as textbooks, digital content, and Open Educational Resources), and offer various academic and retail services.

While students are the ultimate consumers who purchase products and materials from the stores and platforms managed by BNED, the primary contractual relationships and revenue generation for BNED come from these higher education institutions. BNED maintains contracts with over 1,400 college and university campuses.

These customers are educational institutions and are not publicly traded companies, therefore, no symbols are provided.

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• Pearson plc (NYSE: PSO)
• John Wiley & Sons (NYSE: WLY)

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Jonathan Shar, Chief Executive Officer

Jonathan Shar was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Barnes & Noble Education (BNED) on June 11, 2024. Before becoming CEO, he served as Executive Vice President of BNED Retail and President of Barnes & Noble College, overseeing the company's campus bookstore and e-commerce strategy. Mr. Shar has an extensive background in education, digital content, and media, having held executive roles at Akademos Inc. (Chief Marketing Officer), Barnes & Noble, Inc. (General Manager of NOOK Digital Content), CNNMoney (Senior Vice President and General Manager), and Time Inc. (Vice President of Consumer Marketing for Sports Illustrated Group and Director of Consumer Marketing for FORTUNE Magazine Group).

Jason Snagusky, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial Officer

Jason Snagusky is slated to become Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Barnes & Noble Education on January 4, 2025. He joined BNED in 2007 and has advanced through various finance and treasury roles, including Senior Vice President, Treasurer, where he was responsible for financial planning, budgeting, forecasting, reporting, and regulatory compliance. Prior to joining Barnes & Noble Education, Mr. Snagusky held positions at NYSE Euronext, Inc. and Toys R Us, Inc.

Christopher Neumann, General Counsel & Corporate Secretary

Christopher Neumann joined Barnes & Noble Education in March 2025 as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary. His prior experience includes serving as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary for Six Flags Entertainment Corporation from January 2018 to December 2024. From 2010 through 2017, he was Vice President, Deputy General Counsel for Kaplan, Inc., an international educational services company. Before Kaplan, Mr. Neumann served as an Associate General Counsel in BlackRock's real estate private equity group.

Stephen Culver, Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer

Stephen Culver serves as Senior Vice President, Chief Information Officer for Barnes & Noble Education. He oversees the company's IT operations and strategic development. Before joining Barnes & Noble College in 2005, Mr. Culver held leadership positions in both the private and public sectors, including owning and presiding over an IT consulting company and serving as CIO of Giorgio Armani Corporation.

Cynthia Origlio, Senior Vice President, Chief Human Resources Officer

Cynthia Origlio is the Senior Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer at Barnes & Noble Education. In this role, she manages human resources across the enterprise, including strategy, talent acquisition, talent development, diversity and inclusion, compensation, benefits, employee relations, and HR operations. Ms. Origlio has over 25 years of human resources experience, having first joined the company in 1996 in the Benefits department for Barnes & Noble College.

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1. Accounting Irregularities, Internal Control Weaknesses, and NYSE Delisting Risk: Barnes & Noble Education is facing critical issues stemming from material financial restatements and internal control weaknesses. The company disclosed errors, including revenue overstatements and cost-of-sales errors, attributed to a former employee who deliberately circumvented internal controls. This has led to the expectation of reporting at least one material weakness in internal control over financial reporting for fiscal years 2024 and 2025. Consequently, BNED delayed filing its annual report for the fiscal year ended May 3, 2025. The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) has notified BNED of non-compliance with listing standards and given the company until February 1, 2026, to resolve these issues and file the overdue report, or face potential delisting. Delisting would significantly restrict access to institutional investors, reduce liquidity, and damage the company's credibility.
2. Significant Debt Burden and Solvency Risk: BNED carries a considerable debt load, reported at over $360 million and an unaudited $94 million at the end of fiscal year 2025. Despite some debt reduction, the solvency risk remains significant, with an interest coverage ratio barely above 1.00x. The company's long-term debt matures in June 2028, raising concerns about potential default or the necessity to refinance under unfavorable terms if consistent profitability is not achieved by then.
3. Challenging Higher Education Market and Business Model Shift: The company operates within a higher education market characterized by continually declining enrollment. BNED's strategic shift from traditional, higher-margin textbook sales to digital courseware programs like "First Day Complete" requires substantial upfront investment. While this program has shown growth, this transition has contributed to lower overall margins, creating ongoing pressure on the company's profitability.

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The widespread adoption and increasing quality of Open Educational Resources (OER) directly challenging the market for paid textbooks and course materials.

The rapid advancement and accessibility of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, particularly generative AI, which can provide free or low-cost alternatives to BNED's digital learning services like Bartleby for homework help, writing assistance, and concept explanations.

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Barnes & Noble Education (BNED) operates in several key markets within the education sector. Here are the addressable market sizes for their main products and services:

• Course Material Sales and Rentals (Higher Education):
  • For the U.S. higher education market, sales of college textbooks and course materials generated over $3.18 billion in revenue in 2022.
• K-12 Instructional Materials:
  • The total sales of instructional materials for the PreK-12 market in the U.S. reached $9.9 billion in 2022.
• Digital Student Solutions / Online Program Management (OPM):
  • The U.S. Online Program Management (OPM) industry is estimated to generate revenues of approximately $3.37 billion in 2025. The global OPM market was valued at $4.2 billion in 2022 and is projected to reach $7.7 billion by 2025.
• Campus Retail Solutions (General Merchandise and Services): null
• Wholesale Textbook Distribution and Inventory Management: null

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1. Expansion of BNC First Day® and First Day Complete® Programs: Barnes & Noble Education is heavily focused on the growth and adoption of its BNC First Day® and First Day Complete® courseware initiatives. These programs have demonstrated significant revenue increases, with First Day program revenues increasing by 32% in Q1 fiscal year 2025 and 20.8% year-over-year in Q3 fiscal year 2025. The company continues to prioritize expanding adoptions of these programs and anticipates further growth in fiscal year 2025 and beyond. Enrollment in First Day Complete grew to 925,000 students, and 191 campus stores are utilizing First Day Complete in spring 2025, representing approximately 957,000 undergraduate and graduate students, up 18.9% from the prior year.
2. Digital Transformation and Product Innovations: BNED is expected to benefit from introducing new digital learning platforms and enhanced textbook rental programs. These product innovations cater to the evolving needs of students and educational institutions, aligning with a broader industry shift towards digital solutions.
3. New Market Expansion: Expanding into new educational institutions, both domestically and internationally, is identified as a significant opportunity to boost BNED's revenue streams. The company's strategic growth initiatives include exploring opportunities in core adjacent products/markets within higher education and opportunistic new markets.
4. Optimizing Core Physical and Virtual Bookstore Businesses: While some physical locations have been closed due to underperformance, BNED is working on consolidating and simplifying its operations to better focus on its core physical and virtual bookstore businesses. This optimization, coupled with strategic investments in store improvements and technology, can lead to more efficient and appealing offerings, supporting revenue generation from its established customer base. The company also reported an increase in gross comparable store sales of 6.6% during Q3 FY2025.

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Share Repurchases

• No significant share repurchase programs or authorizations have been publicly announced or executed by Barnes & Noble Education within the last 3-5 years.

Share Issuance

• On June 12, 2024, Barnes & Noble Education executed a 1:100 reverse stock split.
• In June 2024, the company completed a fully backstopped $45 million equity rights offering, issuing approximately 641,995,541 shares at $0.05 per share.
• In Q3 of fiscal year 2025, BNED completed two $40 million At-the-Market (ATM) equity offering programs, raising a total of $80 million from these offerings in that fiscal year. These issuances resulted in approximately 30% dilution to existing equity holders.

Inbound Investments

• As part of a recapitalization in June 2024, investors led by Immersion Corporation made a private investment of $50 million in Barnes & Noble Education's common stock.
• The $45 million equity rights offering completed in June 2024 was fully backstopped, ensuring the company received the full amount of new equity capital.

Outbound Investments

• Barnes & Noble Education divested its digital student solutions (DSS) segment to Learneo in 2023.

Capital Expenditures

• Capital expenditures for Barnes & Noble Education were approximately $11.91 million in the last 12 months.
• The company anticipates utilizing operating free cash flow, alongside reduced interest costs, to further de-lever its balance sheet.