Barnes & Noble will split in two as a last resort to save the Nook line

The company announced its plans to split in two on Wednesday, separating the Nook Media unit from the retail business in order to boost shareholder value. Barnes & Noble came to this decision after abandoning plans to split up last year. If all goes according to plan, the separation should be complete by the end of the first quarter of 2015.

“We have determined that these businesses will have the best chance of optimizing shareholder value if they are capitalized and operated separately,” Chief Executive Michael P. Huseby said in a statement. “We fully expect that our Retail and Nook Media businesses will continue to have long-term, successful business relationships with each other after separation.”

Barnes & Noble is planning to launch a new tablet in collaboration with Samsung. The device will be called the Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook and will utilize Samsung’s hardware together with the customized Nook software. The 7-inch tablet will be available in the U.S. by August. B&N tried for years to make its Nook line profitable. Unfortunately, its quarterly results on January 25 showed a 50.4 percent decline in sales. Shareholders demanded drastic changes and even suggested shutting down operations altogether. This last minute team-up with Samsung might be the only chance for the company to save the Nook brand.

The company’s latest quarterly results released on Wednesday for the Nook business show another 22 percent decline in revenue to $87.1 million. The two new companies will be called Barnes & Noble Retail and Nook media. It’s hard to predict the future of the company and especially its iconic Nook e-reader’s fate. Hopefully the split will help Barnes & Noble to fight its way back in business and the team-up with Samsung will help the Nook see another day.