Barnes & Noble Plans to Spin Off Ailing Nook As A Separate Public Company

Just when you think that Nook can't perform any worse, it does. Now Barnes & Noble is taking steps to remedy the problem: The company wants to split its retail and Nook businesses up as two separate, publicly traded companies by the first quarter of 2015, the company announced in its fiscal year-end earnings report Wednesday morning. The bookseller also reported another quarter of weak earnings, with Nook revenues down 35.2 percent for the full year ended May 3, 2014.

Barnes & Noble shares were up around 9 percent Wednesday morning.