Barnesandnoble.com to acquire Fatbrain.com for $64 million

Barnesandnoble.com announced after the bell Wednesday that it will shell out $64 million to acquire Fatbrain.com.

Barnesandnoble.com (Nasdaq: BNBN) said it will pay $4.25 a share for outstanding shares of Fatbrain.com (Nasdaq: FATB).

Company officials said Fatbrain.com's management team would remain intact and continue to operate out of its Santa Clara, Calif. location.

"We believe Fatbrain.com's business-to-business focus, combined with its digital publishing and print-on-demand capabilities, complement Barnes & Noble.com's consumer-based initiatives in these areas," said Steve Riggio, vice chairman of Barnesandnoble.com in a prepared release. "We also believe that the companies have complementary cultures that will foster our ability to build both the consumer and business-to-business markets together."

Separately, Fatbrain.com posted a smaller-than-expected loss in its second quarter, losing $8 million, or 62 cents a share, on sales of $15.3 million.

First Call Corp. consensus expected it to lose 76 cents a share in the quarter.

Ahead of the news, Fatbrain.com shares closed up 37/64, or 15 percent, to 4 25/64.

Barnesandnoble.com closed off 1/4 to 4 3/8.

In its latest quarter, Barnesandnoble.com missed analysts' estimates when it lost $39.9 million, or 27 cents a share, on sales of $67.4 million.

First Call Corp. consensus expects the online bookseller to lose 25 cents a share in its third quarter and 94 cents a share in the fiscal year.

Five of the six analysts tracking the stock rate it a "hold."