Barnes & Noble Issues Statement Regarding ABA's Statement About the Acquisition of the Ingram Book Group.

NEW YORK, NY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--November 6, 1998--The following is a statement by Barnes & Noble, Inc.:

While we understand the concern expressed by the Independent Bookstore Owners Association (ABA), we believe their position is at best another attempt to disparage our good reputation, and, at worst, is itself an a manipulation designed to cause booksellers who should be competing with one another, to act in concert against our company.

To be sure, the acquisition of Ingram is designed to improve the level of service Barnes & Noble can offer to its customers. At the same time, however, we expect to dramatically improve the services Ingram will offer to all its customers: beginning with a wider selection of titles and a deployment of the very best database in all of bookselling.

Independent booksellers constitute a substantial portion of Ingram's business and are responsible for a major share of its profits. It is ludicrous, therefore, to claim that, in making this acquisition, Barnes & Noble will do anything but try to increase its business with other booksellers, including every independent that chooses to buy from us.

To suggest anything to the contrary is an attack on our integrity, as well as the good people who manage Ingram. We would advise all customers of Ingram to speak to their representatives to find out firsthand what plans are in store for this great company. Please be assured that our history is all about building businesses and making them better.

Our goals are to help Ingram become bigger, stronger and better. This bodes well for all of its customers, including independent booksellers.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) operates 504 Barnes & Noble bookstores and 507 B. Dalton bookstores. Barnes & Noble stores stock an authoritative selection of book titles and provide access to more than one million titles from Barnes & Noble's state-of-the-art distribution center. They offer books from more than 50,000 publisher imprints with an emphasis on small, independent publishers and university presses. Barnes & Noble is the world's largest bookseller on the World Wide Web (http://www.barnesandnoble.com), and the exclusive bookseller on America Online (Keyword: bn). The company also publishes books under the Barnes & Noble imprint for exclusive sale through its retail stores, mail-order catalogs, and Web site.

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