AHEAD OF THE BELL

Barnes & Noble

[September 28, 2010]  NEW YORK (AP) -- Barnes & Noble shareholders are set to end a contentious proxy battle between the bookseller and billionaire investor Ron Burkle on Tuesday.

Shareholders will vote on a slate of three seats up for election. There are nine total board seats.

Burkle and his Yucaipa Cos., which owns a 19 percent stake in the company, contend that chairman Leonard Riggio is not operating the company in the best interest of shareholders. Barnes & Noble says that Burkle is trying to take control of the company without paying a fair price. Both dispute the other's claims.

Proxy advisory firm Institutional Shareholder Services Burkle's slate. Three other firms support Barnes & Noble.

The proxy fight comes as Barnes & Noble tries to reinvent itself to capture more of the small but growing e-book market. It introduced its Nook e-reader last year, expanded its selection of electronic books and elevated William Lynch, the president of its Web site, to lead the company in March.

It also made the surprise announcement in August that it was considering strategic options, including putting itself up for sale.

Barnes & Noble's slate includes Riggio, David Golden II, 52, a partner at private investment company Revolution LLC and a former longtime JPMorgan executive, as well as David Wilson, 69, CEO of the nonprofit that administers the Graduate Management Admission Test.

Yucaipa Cos.' slate is Burkle; Stephen F. Bollenbach, chairman of KB Home; and Michael S. McQuary, CEO of Wheego Electric Cars Inc. and a partner in an Atlanta investment firm.

[Associated Press]

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