Barnes & Noble completes spinoff of college store business; shares fall in debut

Barnes & Noble completed the spinoff of its college book store business, made up of more than 720 stores on college and university campuses.

Shares of Barnes & Noble Education Inc. slid 11 percent, or $1.63, to $12.72 in early Monday trading. Shares are listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol "BNED."

Barnes & Noble, which operates nearly 650 retail locations, said it would break the company apart in February after scrapping plans to spin off its digital Nook business. The New York bookseller has been struggling with falling sales at its stores and of the Nook.

The company said last month that Sears Canada CEO Ronald Boire would take over as CEO of Barnes & Noble Inc. in October, replacing Michael Huseby, who will become executive chairman of Barnes & Noble Education. Max Roberts will remain in his position of CEO at Barnes & Noble Education.

Shares of Barnes & Noble fell 22 cents to $17 in morning trading Monday.