PublishersLunch
BN shares doubled in pre-market trading, but within 30 minutes after the opening of regular trading they had settled a bit, rising by roughly 65 percent to approximately $22.50 a share. Those shares are facing a massive "short squeeze"; as we detailed last week, only approximately 10 percent, or 6 million shares, of Barnes & Noble stock was in the hands of investors with less than a 5 percent stake in the company--but as of April 13, there was huge short interest of roughly 19 million shares, and those bettors need to cover their losses. It was just last week that Jana Partners intensified questions about Barnes & Noble's investor structure when they disclosed a nearly 12 percent stake in the company (along with more short-term options), considered by Wall Street players a prelude to further rearrangement of the company's financial structure. Jana's investment has roughly doubled in just a few weeks.