lowindustrial.

The Billionaire and the Book Lover

In May, Burkle filed a lawsuit in Delaware accusing Riggio of using Barnes & Noble as a “personal piggy bank” and seeking to void the poison-pill measure. During the a trial in July, Riggio sat with arms crossed, glowering as Burkle’s attorneys tried to paint him as a self-interested tyrant. They played a snippet of a taped deposition, in which the company founder said the poison pill “was about me and my family.” Ultimately, however, a Delaware judge issued a judgment in Riggio’s favor, writing that “being neither Goober Pyle or Kenneth Parcell,” he didn’t believe Burkle when he denied he was collaborating with Aletheia, and finding that Riggio’s fear of a takeover threat was therefore justified.

Way to keep it topical, judge-bro. I suppose it could have been worse: he could have just barked “dealbreaker!”