Barnes & Noble to discontinue Windows Nook app

NEW YORK (AP) -- Barnes & Noble will stop offering a stand-alone Nook app for Windows and instead deliver Nook media to Microsoft's Consumer Reader app.

Microsoft, which took a 6.8 percent stake in the Nook unit in 2012, agreed to an updated revenue sharing plan with Barnes & Noble. In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission late Thursday, Barnes & Noble said it will discontinue distributing the Nook Windows app and will instead cooperate with Microsoft to transition users to the Microsoft Consumer Reader.

Speculation has been running high about what Barnes & Noble plans for the future of Nook. The New York bookstore chain has invested heavily in its e-book and e-book reader unit, but the unit has not been profitable. Still, Barnes & Noble has said it plans to launch a new Nook e-reader in coming months.

An investment firm offered to buy 51 percent of the company for about $672 million earlier this month, with plans to spin off Nook, but Barnes & Noble rebuffed that offer.

In its most recent third quarter, Barnes & Noble reported a profit as cost cuts at its Nook unit and elsewhere helped offset declining revenue across all of its businesses. Revenue fell 10 percent to $2 billion, from $2.22 billion last year.

Shares in Barnes & Noble Inc. rose 15 cents to close at $21.55 on Friday. The stock has jumped 44 percent since the beginning of the year.