Barnes Noble Education Inc

Unless the context otherwise indicates, references to “we,” “us,” “our” and “the Company” refer to Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. or “BNED”, a Delaware corporation. References to “Barnes & Noble College” or “BNC” refer to our subsidiary Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC. References to “MBS” refer to our subsidiary MBS Textbook Exchange, LLC.

Our fiscal year is comprised of 52 or 53 weeks, ending on the Saturday closest to the last day of April. “Fiscal 2024” means the 52 weeks ended April 27, 2024, “Fiscal 2023” means the 52 weeks ended April 29, 2023.

Overview

Description of Business

Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. (“BNED”) is one of the largest contract operators of physical and virtual bookstores for college and university campuses and K-12 institutions across the United States. We are also one of the largest textbook wholesalers and inventory management hardware and software providers. We operate 1,245 physical, virtual, and custom bookstores and serve more than 5.8 million students, delivering essential educational content, tools and general merchandise within a dynamic omnichannel retail environment. For a discussion of our business, see Part I - Item 1. Business.

The strengths of our business include our ability to compete by developing new products and solutions to meet market needs, our large operating footprint with direct access to students and faculty, our well-established, deep relationships with academic partners and stable, long-term contracts and our well-recognized brands. We provide product and service offerings designed to address the most pressing issues in higher education, including equitable access, enhanced convenience and improved affordability through innovative course material delivery models designed to drive improved student experiences and outcomes. We offer our BNC First Day®equitable and inclusive access programs, consisting of First Day Completeand First Day, which provide faculty required course materials on or before the first day of class at below market rates, as compared to the total retail price for the same course materials if purchased separately (a la carte), and students are billed the below market rate directly by the institution as a course charge or included in tuition. During the 52 weeks ended April 27, 2024, BNC First Day total revenue increased by $127 million, or 37%, to $474 million compared to $347 million during the prior year period. These programs have allowed us to reverse historical long-term trends in course materials revenue declines, which has been observed at those schools where such programs have been adopted, and improve predictability of our future results. In Fiscal 2024, the growth of our BNC First Day programs offset the declines in a la carte courseware sales and closed store sales. We are moving quickly to accelerate our First Day Complete strategy. Many institutions adopted First Day Complete in Fiscal 2024, and we plan to continue to scale the number of schools adopting First Day Complete in Fiscal 2025 and beyond.

We expect to continue to introduce scalable and advanced solutions focused largely on the student and customer experience, expand our e-commerce capabilities and accelerate such capabilities through our service providers, Fanatics Retail Group Fulfillment, LLC (“Fanatics”) and Fanatics Lids College, Inc. D/B/A “Lids” (“Lids”) (collectively referred to herein as the “F/L Relationship”), win new accounts, and expand our revenue opportunities through strategic relationships. We expect gross comparable store general merchandise sales to increase over the long term, as our product assortments continue to emphasize and reflect changing consumer trends, and we evolve our presentation concepts and merchandising of products in stores and online, which we expect to be further enhanced and accelerated through the F/L Relationship. Fanatics and Lids, acting on our behalf as our service providers, provide unparalleled product assortment, e-commerce capabilities and powerful digital marketing tools to drive increased value for customers and accelerate growth of our logo general merchandise business.

The Barnes & Noble brand (licensed from our former parent) along with our subsidiary brands, BNCand MBS, are synonymous with innovation in bookselling and campus retailing, and are widely recognized and respected brands in the United States. Our large college footprint, reputation, and credibility in the marketplace not only support our marketing efforts to universities, students, and faculty, but are also important to our relationship with leading publishers who rely on us as one of their primary distribution channels.

We provide product and service offerings designed to address the most pressing issues in higher education, including equitable access, enhanced convenience and improved affordability through innovative course material delivery models designed to drive improved student experiences and outcomes. We offer our BNC First Day®equitable and inclusive access programs, consisting of First Day Completeand First Day, which provide faculty required course materials on or before the first day of class at below market rates, as compared to the total retail price for the same course materials if purchased separately (a la carte), and students are billed the below market rate directly by the institution as a course charge or included in tuition.

•First Day Complete is adopted by an institution and includes all or the majority of undergraduate classes (and on occasion graduate classes), providing students both physical and digital materials. The First Day Complete model drives substantially greater unit sales and sell-through for the bookstore.

•First Day is adopted by a faculty member for a single course, and students receive primarily digital course materials through their school's learning management system ("LMS").

Offering course materials through our equitable and inclusive access First Day Completeand First Day models is an important strategic initiative of ours to meet the market demands of substantially reduced pricing to students, as well as the opportunity to improve student outcomes, while, at the same time, increasing our market share, revenue and relative gross profits of course material sales given the higher volumes of units sold in such models as compared to historical sales models that rely on individual student marketing and sales. These programs have allowed us to reverse historical long-term trends in course materials revenue declines, which has been observed at those schools where such programs have been adopted, and improve predictability of our future results. In Fiscal 2024, the growth of our BNC First Day programs offset the declines in a la carte courseware sales and closed store sales. We are moving quickly to accelerate our First Day Complete strategy. Many institutions adopted First Day Complete in Fiscal 2024, and we plan to continue to scale the number of schools adopting First Day Complete in Fiscal 2025 and beyond.

The following table summarizes our BNC First Daysales for the 52 weeks ended April 27, 2024 and April 29, 2023:

In December 2020, we entered into the F/L Relationship. Fanatics and Lids, acting on our behalf as our service providers, provide unparalleled product assortment, e-commerce capabilities and powerful digital marketing tools to drive increased value for customers and accelerate growth of our logo general merchandise business. Fanatics operates as our service provider, including processing consumer personal information on our behalf, using their cutting-edge e-commerce and technology expertise to offer our campus store websites expanded product selection, a world-class online and mobile experience, and a progressive direct-to-consumer platform. Coupled with Lids, the leading standalone brick and mortar retailer focused exclusively on licensed fan and alumni products, our campus stores have improved access to trend and sales performance data on licensees, product styles, and design treatments.

We maintain our relationships with campus partners and remain responsible for staffing and managing the day-to-day operations of our campus bookstores. We also work closely with our campus partners to ensure that each campus store maintains unique aspects of in-store merchandising, including localized product assortments and specific styles and designs that reflect each campus’s brand. We leverage Fanatics’ e-commerce technology and expertise for the operational management of the emblematic merchandise and gift sections of our campus store websites. Lids manages in-store assortment planning and merchandising of emblematic apparel, headwear, and gift products for our partner campus stores, and Lids owns the inventory it manages, relieving us of the obligation to finance inventory purchases from working capital. As the logo and emblematic general merchandise sales are fulfilled by Lids and Fanatics, we recognize commission revenue earned for these sales on a net basis in our consolidated financial statements, as compared to the recognition of logo and emblematic general merchandise sales on a gross basis prior to April 2021.

On June 10, 2024, subsequent to the end of Fiscal 2024, we completed various transactions, including an equity rights offering, private equity investment, Term Loan debt conversion, and Credit Facility refinancing, to substantially deleverage our consolidated balance sheet. These transactions raised additional capital for repayment of indebtedness and provide additional flexibility for working capital needs, which will also allow us to strategically invest in innovation and continue to execute our strategic initiatives, including but not limited to the growth of our First Day Complete program. For additional information, see Part II - Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data - Note 17. Subsequent Events.

Cost Savings Initiative

During Fiscal 2023, we implemented a significant cost reduction program designed to streamline our operations, maximize productivity and drive profitability. We reduced our workforce, eliminated duplicate administrative headcounts at all levels, implemented improved system development processes to reduce maintenance costs, reduced capital expenditures, and evaluated operating contractual obligations for cost savings. Over the course of Fiscal 2024, we have achieved annualized savings of approximately $30 million to $35 million from the Fiscal 2023 cost savings initiatives. Additionally, during Fiscal 2024, Management's implemented further cost savings measures, including reduction of gross capital expenditures, amounting to approximately $29 million in savings.

Segments

We have two reportable segments: Retail and Wholesale. Additionally, unallocated shared-service costs, which include various corporate level expenses and other governance functions, are not allocated to a specific reporting segment and continue to be presented as “Corporate Services”. The following discussion provides information regarding the three segments.

Retail Segment

The Retail Segment operates 1,245 college, university, and K-12 school bookstores, comprised of 707 physical bookstores and 538 virtual bookstores. Our bookstores typically operate under agreements with the colleges, universities, or K-12 schools to be the official bookstore and the exclusive seller of course materials and supplies, including physical and digital products. The majority of the physical campus bookstores have school-branded e-commerce websites, which we operate independently or along with our merchant service providers, and which offer students access to required and recommended course materials and affinity products, including emblematic apparel and gifts. The Retail Segment offers our BNC First Day®equitable and inclusive access programs, consisting of First Day Completeand First Day, which provide faculty required course materials on or before the first day of class at below market rates, as compared to the total retail price for the same course materials if purchased separately (a la carte), and students are billed the below market rate directly by the institution as a course charge or included in tuition. Additionally, the Retail Segment offers a suite of digital content and services to colleges and universities, including a variety of open educational resource-based courseware.

During the 52 weeks ended April 27, 2024, we opened 46 stores and closed 167 stores in the Retail Segment with estimated net annual sales of $(74) million. The Company’s strategic initiative is to close under-performing and less profitable stores. Many institutions adopted First Day Complete in Fiscal 2024, and we plan to continue to scale the number of schools adopting First Day Complete in Fiscal 2025 and beyond. These programs have allowed us to reverse historical long-term trends in course materials revenue declines as the growth of our BNC First Day programs offsets declines in a la carte courseware sales and closed store sales.

Wholesale Segment

The Wholesale Segment is comprised of our wholesale textbook business and is one of the largest textbook wholesalers in the country. The Wholesale Segment centrally sources, sells, and distributes new and used textbooks to approximately 2,750 physical bookstores (including our Retail Segment's 707 physical bookstores) and sources and distributes new and used textbooks to our 538 virtual bookstores. Additionally, the Wholesale Segment sells hardware and a software suite of applications that provides inventory management and point-of-sale solutions to approximately 325 college bookstores.

Corporate Services represents unallocated shared-service costs which include corporate level expenses and other governance functions, including executive functions, such as accounting, legal, treasury, information technology, and human resources.

Our business is highly seasonal. For example, our retail business is seasonal, particularly with respect to textbook sales and rentals, with the major portion of sales and operating profit realized during the second and third fiscal quarters when college students generally purchase and rent textbooks for the upcoming semesters and lowest in the first and fourth fiscal quarters. Our quarterly results also may fluctuate depending on the timing of the start of the various schools’ semesters, the revenue impact of accounting principles with respect to the recognition of revenue associated with our equitable and inclusive access programs, the ability to secure inventory on a timely basis, as well as shifts in our fiscal calendar dates. These shifts in timing may affect the comparability of our results across periods. Sales attributable to our wholesale business are generally highest in our first, second and third quarters, as it sells textbooks and other course materials for retail distribution.

Retail product revenue is recognized when the customer takes physical possession of our products, which occurs either at the point of sale for products purchased at physical locations or upon receipt of our products by our customers for products ordered through our websites and virtual bookstores. Revenue from the sale of digital textbooks, which contains a single performance obligation, is recognized when the customer accesses the digital content as product revenue in our consolidated financial statements. Revenue from the rental of physical textbooks is deferred and recognized over the rental period based on the passage of time commencing at the point of sale, when control of the product transfers to the customer and is recognized as rental income in our consolidated financial statements. Depending on the product mix offered under the BNC First Day offerings, revenue recognized is consistent with our policies for product, digital and rental sales, net of an anticipated opt-out or return provision.

Given the growth of BNC First Day programs, the timing of cash collection from our school partners may shift to periods subsequent to when the revenue is recognized. When a school adopts our BNC First Day equitable and inclusive access offerings, cash collection from the school generally occurs after the institution's drop/add dates, which is later in the working capital cycle, particularly in our third quarter given the timing of the Spring Term and our quarterly reporting period, as compared to direct-to-student point-of-sale transactions where cash is generally collected during the point-of-sale transaction or within a few days from the credit card processor. As a higher percentage of our sales shift to BNC First Day equitable and inclusive access offerings, we are focused on efforts to better align the timing of our cash outflows to course material vendors and cash inflows from collections from schools. As the concentration of digital product sales increases, revenue will be recognized earlier during the academic term as digital textbook revenue is recognized when the customer accesses the digital content compared to: (i) the rental of physical textbooks where revenue is recognized over the rental period, and (ii) a la carte courseware sales where revenue is recognized when the customer takes physical possession of our products, which occurs either at the point of sale for products purchased at physical locations or upon receipt of our products by our customers for products ordered through our websites and virtual bookstores.

Trends and Other Factors Affecting Our Business

For a discussion of our trends and other factors affecting our business, see Part I - Item 1. Business.