Dive Brief:

• G Asset Management, a value-oriented investment firm, offered $22 a share to acquire 51% percent of Barnes & Noble in a highly conditional offer on Thursday.

• G Asset Management president and CIO Michael Glickstein says that if that deal couldn’t go through, his firm would buy 51% of the Nook business for $5 a share, also conditional.

• The news sent Barnes & Noble stock up 10% Friday, though it never met the $22 offer price.

Dive Insight:

G Asset Management, which seeks investments in undervalued companies, has had its eye on Barnes & Noble, proposing to break off the bookseller’s Nook business as recently as late last year. Glickstein said the move would unlock shareholder value. Things are getting interesting for the nation’s largest book selling chain, not always in a good way. Recent reports have revenues down but earnings up as the company is diligently trimming expenses by closing stores and cutting its Nook staff.