William Ackman, whose hedge fund Pershing Square Capital is the single-largest shareholder of Borders Group, has sold its entire stake in Barnes & Noble, which last September had amounted to 11.8% of the bookseller, according to Forbes.com.
Forbes commented: "It is unclear whether the billionaire activist investor believes that Barnes & Noble has taken a turn for the worse, or if he, like many money managers, is being slammed with redemptions and must exit positions even as the market sinks to new lows."
Despite Ackman's sale, B&N has no loss of interested investors. Recently Ron Burkle's Yucaipa American Management bought more B&N stock and now owns about 8% of the company (Shelf Awareness, January 5, 2009).
