Barnes & Noble Receives Perfect Score on 2017 Corporate Equality Index (CEI) for Ninth Year in a Row

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Barnes & Noble, Inc. BKS, the nation's largest retail bookseller and a leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products, proudly announced today that it has earned a perfect score of 100 percent for the ninth year in a row in the 2017 Corporate Equality Index (CEI), a national benchmarking survey and report on corporate policies and practices related to LGBT workplace equality, administered by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. Barnes & Noble is one of 517 major U.S. businesses which received top marks for their treatment of LGBT employees and customers.

"We're proud to receive another perfect score on the Corporate Equality Index," said Michelle Smith, Vice President of Human Resources for Barnes & Noble, Inc. "This award reflects our commitment to celebrating and recruiting diverse talent and providing competitive benefits."

The 2017 CEI rated 887 businesses in the report, which evaluates LGBT-related policies and practices including non-discrimination workplace protections, domestic partner benefits, transgender-inclusive health care benefits, competency programs, and public engagement with the LGBT community. Barnes & Noble's efforts in satisfying all of the CEI's criteria results in a 100 percent ranking and the designation as a Best Place to Work for LGBT Equality.

For more information on the 2017 Corporate Equality Index, or to download a free copy of the report, visit www.hrc.org/cei.

About Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. BKS is a Fortune 500 company, the nation's largest retail bookseller, and a leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products. The Company operates 638 Barnes & Noble bookstores in 50 states, and one of the Web's premier e-commerce sites, BN.com (www.bn.com). The Nook Digital business offers a lineup of popular NOOK® tablets and eReaders and an expansive collection of digital reading and entertainment content through the NOOK Store®. The NOOK Store features more than 4.5 million digital books in the US (www.nook.com), plus periodicals and comics, and offers the ability to enjoy content across a wide array of popular devices through Free NOOK Reading Apps™ available for Android™, iOS® and Windows®.

General information on Barnes & Noble, Inc. can be obtained by visiting the Company's corporate website at www.barnesandnobleinc.com.

Barnes & Noble®, Barnes & Noble Booksellers® and Barnes & Noble.com® are trademarks of Barnes & Noble, Inc. or its affiliates. NOOK® and the NOOK logos are trademarks of Nook Digital, LLC or its affiliates.

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