The past year in the life of Barnes & Noble would make a gripping page-turner. On December 6th America's best-known chain of bookstores became the target of an activist investor for the second time in a few months when Borders, its closest rival, made an offer of $95om to buy it, backed by William Ackman of Pershing Square, a hedge fund that is Borders' largest shareholder. Earlier this year Barnes & Noble fought off an attempted boardroom coup led by Ron Burkle, another investor, though in the course of doing so the firm agreed to consider all its strategic op-tions-in effect, putting itself on sale.
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