Barnes & Noble Announces Promotions of Three Senior Executives; Stephen Riggio Named CEO; Mitchell Klipper, COO; and Alan Kahn, President of the Barnes & Noble Publishing Group.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 13, 2002

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE:BKS), the world's largest bookseller, today announced promotions of three senior executives to key management positions: Stephen Riggio has been appointed chief executive officer; Mitchell Klipper, chief operating officer; and Alan Kahn has been named president of the Barnes & Noble Publishing Group. All are seasoned bookselling executives with between 15 and 30 years of experience in the industry.

"The time has come to set the stage for the next phase of the company's remarkable growth in bookselling," said Leonard Riggio, chairman of Barnes & Noble, Inc. "Steve, Mitchell, and Alan have both the experience and skills to bolster our performance in all phases of our enterprise: retail bookselling, electronic commerce, and publishing and product development. More importantly, they work well together as a team, and they enjoy the respect and admiration of our entire organization."

Leonard Riggio will remain chairman of the Board of Directors, and continue to oversee strategic initiatives, while Steve Riggio and Mitchell Klipper will have complete responsibility for the company's day-to-day operations, including financial performance and investor relations.

Steve Riggio has spent more than 25 years in bookselling, joining Barnes & Noble in 1975. He started in the buying and merchandising departments of what was then a fifty-store company. In 1991, Steve was instrumental in the conception, design and marketing strategy for the company's superstores. Steve also was responsible for the company's entry into electronic commerce, resulting in the creation of Barnes & Noble.com, which became a public company in May 1999. Steve has been a Barnes & Noble, Inc. board member since 1993, and since 1997, has been its vice chairman. More recently, he served as acting chief executive officer of Barnes & Noble.com until February 2002, when Marie Toulantis was named to replace him. He remains a vice chairman of Barnes & Noble.com.

Mitchell Klipper has held many important positions in the company including chief financial officer, president of the retail group, and most recently as president of Barnes & Noble Development, where he and his team were responsible for opening more than 500 Barnes & Noble stores. He joined the company in 1988 after a career in public accounting led to a position at Barnes & Noble College Bookstores, where he served as chief financial officer from 1986 to1988.

Alan Kahn has spent a lifetime in bookselling and publishing, beginning his career at Pickwick Bookshops and later as chief merchant for B. Dalton. He also served as president of Marboro Books, editor-in-chief of the trade division of Harcourt Brace Publishers, president of Barnes & Noble College Bookstores, and recently was chief operating officer of Barnes & Noble, Inc. In his new role, Alan will oversee Barnes & Noble's extensive publishing activities, which the company plans to increase commensurate with its growth as a bookseller.

About Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) operates 582 Barnes & Noble and 328 B. Dalton bookstores, and GameStop (formerly Babbage's), which is the nation's largest operator of video game and entertainment software stores with 1,011 stores. Barnes & Noble stores stock an authoritative selection of book titles and provide access to more than one million titles. They offer books from more than 50,000 publisher imprints with an emphasis on small, independent publishers and university presses. Barnes & Noble is one of the world's largest booksellers on the World Wide Web (http://www.bn.com), and the premiere bookseller on America Online's (Keyword: bn) proprietary network. Barnes & Noble.com has the largest standing inventory of any online bookseller. Barnes & Noble also publishes books under its own imprint for exclusive sale through its retail stores and Web site.

General financial information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained via the Internet by visiting the company's corporate Web site: http://www.barnesandnobleinc.com/financials.