Barnesandnoble.Com - Reorganized With New Investor, 1998, Went Public In 1999, New Initiatives, 2000-2001

Before the onset of online bookselling and the rise of Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble Inc. was the un-disputed leader in bookselling. The giant chain had the most brick-and-mortar stores and the largest market share. Its U.S. bookselling subsidiaries included the flagship Barnes & Noble Booksellers, as well as B. Dalton Booksellers, Doubleday Book Shops, and Scribner's Bookstores. The company also owned an interest in Canadian bookseller Chapters, and Calendar Club, which operated internationally.

Barnes & Noble entered the world of online bookselling in March 1997 as the exclusive bookseller on America Online (AOL). Two months later the company set up its own Web site for online purchases, barnesandnoble.com Sales at barnesandnoble.com doubled in each of 1997's first three quarters, and reached $11.9 million that year. In addition to being the exclusive bookseller on AOL, the online bookseller also reached an agreement with Microsoft to be the exclusive bookseller on three of its Web sites: MSNBC, Microsoft Investor, and Expedia. All of the Microsoft Web sites attracted millions of visitors daily. By the end of 1998 barnesandnoble.com was the exclusive English language bookseller on Micro-soft's MSN.com and its global network of Web portals.