Barnes & Noble earns Fifth Consecutive Perfect Score in the 2013 Corporate Equality Index (CEI)

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Barnes & Noble, Inc. BKS, the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, proudly announced today that it has earned the top rating of 100 percent for the fifth year in a row in the 2013 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), an annual survey administered by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation, the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender civil rights organization. Barnes & Noble joins the ranks of 252 other major U.S. businesses which received top marks for their treatment of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) employees and consumers.

“We value all of our employees at Barnes & Noble, and are extremely proud to once again be recognized for creating an inclusive business environment and for providing our LGBT employees with expanded and competitive benefits,” said Michelle Smith, Vice President of Human Resources for Barnes & Noble, Inc. “At Barnes & Noble, we're committed to our core values and to treating everyone with respect and dignity. Whether in-store, online or digital, the Barnes & Noble experience is special thanks to our passionate employees who are committed to embracing diversity of ideas and people. This award is as reflective of our people and the communities we serve as it is our policies.”

A total of 889 businesses were rated in the 2013 CEI, including the entire Fortune 500, on a scale from 0 to 100 percent, evaluating LGBT-related policies and practices including non-discrimination policies, transgender health benefits and domestic partner benefits. Once again, Barnes & Noble's efforts in ensuring LGBT equality in each of the survey's main criterion earned it the prestigious 100 percent ranking by CEI, which was established in 2002.

The 2013 Corporate Equality Index report is available at www.hrc.org/cei.

About Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. BKS, the leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, operates 689 bookstores in 50 states. Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Barnes & Noble, also operates 667 college bookstores serving over 4.6 million students and faculty members at colleges and universities across the United States. Barnes & Noble conducts its online business through BN.com (www.bn.com), one of the Web's largest e-commerce sites, which also features more than 3 million titles in its NOOK Bookstore™ (www.bn.com/ebooks). Through Barnes & Noble's NOOK® eReading product offering, customers can buy and read digital books and content on the widest range of platforms, including NOOK devices, partner company products, and the most popular mobile and computing devices using free NOOK software. Barnes & Noble is proud to be named a J.D. Power and Associates 2012 Customer Service Champion and is one of only 50 U.S. companies so named. Barnes & Noble.com is ranked the number one online retailer in customer satisfaction in the book, music and video category and a Top 10 online retailer overall in customer satisfaction according to ForeSee E-Retail Satisfaction Index (Spring Top 100 Edition).

General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained via the Internet by visiting the company's corporate website: www.barnesandnobleinc.com.