Barnes & Noble Receives Perfect Score on 2019 Corporate Equality Index (CEI) for Twelfth Consecutive Year

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS), the world’s largest retail bookseller, today announced that it earned a perfect score of 100 percent for the twelfth consecutive year on the 2019 Corporate Equality Index (CEI). The CEI is a national benchmarking survey and report on corporate policies and practices related to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) workplace equality, administered by the Human Rights Campaign Foundation. Barnes & Noble is one of 560 major U.S. businesses that also received top marks this year.

“We are honored to once again receive a perfect score on the Corporate Equality Index from the Human Rights Campaign Foundation,” said Michelle Smith, Vice President, Human Resources at Barnes & Noble. “This recognition for the twelfth year in a row reflects our longstanding commitment to diversity and equality in the workplace for our booksellers around the country.”

The 2019 CEI report evaluates LGBTQ-related policies and practices including non-discrimination workplace protections, domestic partner benefits, transgender-inclusive health care benefits, competency programs and public engagement with the LGBTQ 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 LGBTQ Equality.

For more information on the 2019 Corporate Equality Index, or to download a free copy of the report, visit www.hrc.org/cei.

About Barnes & Noble, Inc.

Barnes & Noble, Inc. (NYSE: BKS) is the world’s largest retail bookseller, and a leading retailer of content, digital media and educational products. The Company operates 627 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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Mary Ellen KeatingSenior Vice PresidentCorporate CommunicationsBarnes & Noble, Inc.(212) [e-mail]

Alex OrtolaniDirectorCorporate CommunicationsBarnes & Noble, Inc.(212) [e-mail]