Leonard Riggio

When Barnes & Noble announced it was looking for a buyer, we entertained the fanciful notion that struggling rival Borders might put in a bid. As absurd as the idea was, that buyout offer has been made. Here's why it has virtually no chance of succeeding.

Back in September, billionaire Ron Burkle lost his proxy war with Barnes & Noble's board, failing to kill the poison pill that kept him from upping his stake in the company. That made Wednesday's shareholders meeting all but a formality. But what's next for the nation's largest bookseller?

Bookseller Barnes & Noble Inc. may enact limitations on the size of single shareholder stakes, as the family of founder and chairman Leonard Riggio and activist shareholder Ron Burkle battle for control of the company.

Barnes & Noble has unveiled the latest version of its Nook e-book reader. Aimed at mainstream readers, B&N hopes a new Nook with color display will rack up big holiday sales and help end Ron Burkle's proxy fight.

This week, Barnes & Noble is expected to unveil a new, color edition of the Nook e-reader. As the company moves forward with new digital products, however, it faces lawsuits that won't go away -- and which have the potential to complicate chairman Leonard Riggio's plans to stay with B&N if the company is sold to the highest bidder.

Barnes & Noble successfully defended itself in a proxy fight with billionaire Ron Burkle, who wants to gain control over the troubled bookseller. But Burkle hasn't given up, and a new SEC "shareholder access" rule could help in his quest.

A bitter proxy fight climaxed at Tuesday's shareholder meeting. In the end, B&N Chairman Len Riggio's defeat of dissident shareholder Ron Burkle was more fait accompli than 11th-hour surprise. And it left lots of questions unanswered.

The 33% of independent shareholders are relying on proxy advisory firms to recommend which slate of directors to vote for. But those firms are as split as the main adversaries, B&N Chairman Len Riggio and dissident shareholder Ron Burkle.

With less than two weeks to go in the bitter proxy contest between Barnes & Noble founder Leonard Riggio and billionaire Ron Burkle, one key analyst has changed his outlook on the company's stock for the worse and a leading proxy advisory firm has sided with the Riggio camp.

Investor Ron Burkle, who's embroiled in a proxy fight at Barnes & Noble, says he doesn't want control of the bookseller. His Yucaipa Companies owns 18.8% of the company and claims in a letter that he wants Chairman Leonard Riggio's hold on Barnes & Noble broken.