Barnes & Noble Education Acquires MBS

Barnes & Noble Education on Tuesday strengthened its presence in the bookstore market with the acquisition of MBS Textbook Exchange, a textbook distributor based in Columbia, Mo. MBS bills itself as the largest operator of virtual bookstores -- it runs more than 700. With the acquisition, Barnes & Noble Education will increase the number of bookstores it runs to more than 1,490, the company said in the announcement. Barnes & Noble Education is paying $174.2 million in cash to acquire MBS.