Item 1A. Risk Factors
Item 1 A. Risk Factors
There have been no material changes to the risk factors disclosed in Part I, Item 1 A, “Risk Factors” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2023, filed with the SEC on March 11, 2024, except as set forth below. You should carefully consider the risk factors described in Barnes & Noble Education, Inc.’s Annual Reports on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q which are filed with the SEC and are available at www.sec.gov.
Our consolidated subsidiary, Barnes & Noble Education, is a public company which may expose us to additional costs, and our management may be required to devote substantial time to compliance initiatives.
On June 10, 2024, we acquired ownership of approximately 42.0 % of the common stock of Barnes & Noble Education and as a public company, with a consolidated subsidiary that is also a public company, we incur significant legal, accounting and other expenses to comply with the requirements applicable to public companies. Many of our personnel and other resources are devoted to ensuring we, and Barnes & Noble Education, comply with requirements applicable to public companies. These further exhausts management and other personnel resources that could be used for other revenue-generating activities.
Changes in Barnes & Noble Education’s relationships with significant clients and suppliers, including the loss or reduction in business from one or more of them, could have a material adverse impact on its business.
The products that Barnes & Noble Education sells originate from a wide variety of domestic and international vendors. During fiscal 2024 , Barnes & Noble Education’s four largest retail suppliers, excluding its wholesale business which fulfills orders for all its physical and virtual bookstores, accounted for approximately 28 % of its merchandise purchased, with the largest supplier accounting for approximately 7 % of its merchandise purchased. Barnes & Noble Education’s wholesale business sources over 95 % of its inventory from two primary channels, approximately 55 % from third-party suppliers and approximately 40 % from retail bookstores (including its retail bookstores). Suppliers may modify the terms of these relationships due to general economic conditions or otherwise or, especially with respect to wholesale inventory, publishers could terminate distribution to wholesalers, including Barnes & Noble Education’s wholesale business.
Barnes & Noble Education does not have long-term arrangements with most of its suppliers to guarantee availability of merchandise, content or services, particular payment terms or the extension of credit limits. If Barnes & Noble Education’s current suppliers were to stop selling merchandise, content or services to it on acceptable terms, including as a result of one or more supplier bankruptcies due to poor economic conditions or refusal by such suppliers to ship products to us due to delayed or extended payment windows as a result of Barnes & Noble Education’s own liquidity constraints, Barnes & Noble Education may be unable to procure the same merchandise, content or services from other suppliers in a timely and efficient manner and on acceptable terms, or at all. Additionally, delayed or incomplete publisher shipments of physical textbook orders, or delays in receiving digital courseware access codes, could have an adverse impact on sales, including Barnes & Noble Education’s BNC First Day Complete equitable access program, which relies upon timely receipt of inventory in advance of class start dates each academic term.
Furthermore, certain of Barnes & Noble Education’s merchandise is sourced indirectly from outside the United States. Political or financial instability, merchandise quality issues, product safety concerns, trade restrictions, work stoppages, tariffs, foreign currency exchange rates, transportation capacity and costs, inflation, civil unrest, natural disasters, public health crises, epidemics, and pandemics, and other factors relating to foreign trade are beyond its control and could disrupt its supply of foreign-sourced merchandise.
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Recently announced changes to U.S. trade policy,
including recently announced tariffs, could adversely affect Barnes & Noble Education's business.
Recently, the United States announced tariffs on products
manufactured in several jurisdictions, including Canada, China, and Mexico, and
has made announcements regarding the potential imposition of tariffs on
products from other jurisdictions, such as the European Union. The President of
the United States has also directed various federal officials to evaluate other
aspects of United States trade policy. While the United States has temporarily
paused the imposition of tariffs on Canadian and Mexican products, the pause
may be lifted in whole or in part. The United States may take other action to
impose, reimpose or increase tariffs, and countries subject to such tariffs may
impose reciprocal tariffs or other restrictive trade measures in response to
the imposition of tariffs by the United States.
Certain of Barnes & Noble Education's merchandise is sourced indirectly from
outside the United States. Political or financial instability, merchandise
quality issues, product safety concerns, trade restrictions, work stoppages,
tariffs, foreign currency exchange rates, transportation capacity and costs,
inflation, civil unrest, natural disasters, public health crises, epidemics,
and pandemics, and other factors relating to foreign trade are beyond Barnes & Noble Education's control and could disrupt Barnes & Noble Education's supply of foreign-sourced merchandise.
Barnes & Noble Education is monitoring and evaluating any potential impacts that
increased tariffs and other trade restrictions may have on Barnes & Noble Education's business, and
considering ways in which Barnes & Noble Education may offset these impacts. There is no assurance,
however, that Barnes & Noble Education will be successful in mitigating the effects on Barnes & Noble Education of
increased trade regulation in the current environment.
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Text extracted from the filing as submitted to EDGAR. Formatting, tables and exhibits are simplified for reading; the original document is authoritative for anything you rely on.