Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. (BNED)

Item 2:    Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

Unless the context otherwise indicates, references to “we,” “us,” “our” and “the Company” refer to Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. or “BNED”, a Delaware corporation. References to “Barnes & Noble College” or “BNC” refer to our subsidiary Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC. References to “MBS” refer to our subsidiary MBS Textbook Exchange, LLC.

This Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the “Securities Act”), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). The forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties. Please reference the disclosure regarding forward-looking statements for more information.

The following should be read in conjunction with "Disclosures Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" and our consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in Item 15 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended May 2, 2026 filed with the SEC on July 9, 2026 (“Form 10-K”).

Overview

Description of Business

Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. (“BNED”) is one of the largest contract operators of physical and virtual bookstores for college and university campuses and K-12 institutions across the United States. We are also one of the largest textbook wholesalers, and inventory management hardware and software providers. We operate 1,062 physical and virtual bookstores, delivering essential educational content and general merchandise within a dynamic omnichannel retail environment.

The strengths of our business include our ability to compete by developing new products and solutions to meet market needs, our large operating footprint with direct access to students and faculty, our well-established, deep relationships with academic partners and stable long-term contracts and our well-recognized brands. We provide product and service offerings designed to address the most pressing issues in higher education, including affordable access, enhanced convenience and improved affordability through innovative course material delivery models designed to drive improved student experiences and outcomes. We offer our BNC First Day® affordable access course material programs, consisting of First Day® Complete and First Day®, which provide faculty-required course materials on or before the first day of class at below market rates, as compared to the total retail price for the same course materials if purchased separately (a la carte), and students are billed the below market rate directly by the institution as a course charge or included in tuition. These programs have allowed us to reverse historical long-term trends in course materials revenue declines, which has been observed at those schools where such programs have been adopted, and improve predictability of our future results. We continue to see strong institutional interest in First Day® Complete and First Day® programs, reflecting an ongoing shift by colleges and universities toward affordable access course material models that increase student participation and improve access to required course materials.

We expect to continue to introduce scalable and advanced solutions focused largely on the student and customer experience, expand our e-commerce capabilities and accelerate such capabilities through our service providers, Fanatics Retail Group Fulfillment, LLC (“Fanatics”) and Fanatics Lids College, Inc. D/B/A “Lids” (“Lids”) (and together with Fanatics, referred to herein as the “F/L Relationship”), win new accounts, and expand our revenue opportunities through strategic relationships. We expect gross comparable store general merchandise sales to increase over the long term, as our product assortments continue to emphasize and reflect changing consumer trends, and we evolve our presentation concepts and merchandising of products in stores and online, which we expect to be further enhanced and accelerated through the F/L Relationship. Fanatics and Lids, acting on our behalf as our service providers, provide unparalleled product assortment, e-commerce capabilities and powerful digital marketing tools to drive increased value for customers and accelerate growth of our logo general merchandise business.

The Barnes & Noble brand (licensed from our former parent) along with our subsidiary brands, BNC and MBS, are synonymous with innovation in bookselling and campus retailing, and are widely recognized and respected brands in the United States. Our large college footprint, reputation, and credibility in the marketplace not only support our marketing efforts to universities, students, and faculty, but are also important to our relationship with leading publishers who rely on us as one of their primary distribution channels.

For additional information related to our business, see Part I - Item 1. Business in our Form 10-K.

BNC First Day® Affordable Access Course Material Programs

We provide product and service offerings designed to address the most pressing issues in higher education, including affordable access, enhanced convenience and improved affordability through innovative course material delivery models designed to drive improved student experiences and outcomes. We offer our BNC First Day® affordable access course material programs, consisting of First Day® Complete and First Day®, which provide faculty-required course materials on or before the

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first day of class at below market rates, as compared to the total retail price for the same course materials if purchased separately (a la carte), and students are billed the below market rate directly by the institution as a course charge or included in tuition.

•First Day® Complete is adopted by an institution and includes all or the majority of undergraduate classes (and on occasion graduate classes), providing students both physical and digital materials. The First Day® Complete model drives substantially greater unit sales and sell-through for the bookstore.

•First Day® is adopted by a faculty member for a single course, and students receive primarily digital course materials through their school's learning management system (“LMS”).

Offering course materials through our affordable access, First Day® Complete and First Day® models is an important strategic initiative of ours to meet the market demands of substantially reduced pricing to students, as well as the opportunity to improve student outcomes, while, at the same time, increasing our market share, revenue and relative gross profits of course material sales given the higher volumes of units sold in such models as compared to historical sales models that rely on individual student marketing and sales. These programs have allowed us to reverse historical long-term trends in course materials revenue declines, which has been observed at those schools where such programs have been adopted, and improve predictability of our future results. We are moving quickly to accelerate our BNC First Day® programs strategy. Institutions continued to adopt BNC First Day® programs during the first quarter of 2027, and we continue to expand participation across our partner schools. Part of our strategy involves encouraging existing schools that have adopted our First Day® program, to transition to our First Day® Complete model, which may from time-to-time result in a reduction of First Day® sales over prior periods.

The following table summarizes our BNC First Day® sales:

Financing Arrangements

There have been no material changes to the Company's financing arrangements since May 2, 2026. For a discussion of the Company's financing transactions completed in fiscal years 2026 and 2025, see the Form 10-K. As of August 1, 2026, the Company had approximately $113.4 million of availability under its revolving credit facility. For additional information, see "Liquidity and Capital Resources" below.

Cost Savings Initiative

We continually seek to streamline our operations, maximize productivity and drive profitability to achieve significant cost reductions. Over the past few fiscal years, we have reduced our workforce, eliminated duplicate administrative headcounts at all levels, implemented improved system development processes to reduce maintenance costs, reduced capital expenditures, and evaluated operating contractual obligations for cost savings. In addition, we continue to close under-performing stores, and evaluate opportunities to refinance our debt.

Segments

We identify our segments in accordance with the way our business is managed. The Chief Executive Officer serves as the Chief Operating Decision Maker ("CODM") assesses performance and allocates resources. The Company currently operates as a single operating and reportable segment.

Seasonality

Our business is highly seasonal, particularly with respect to textbook sales and rentals, with the major portion of sales and operating profit realized during the second and third fiscal quarters when college students generally purchase and rent textbooks for the upcoming semesters and lowest in the first and fourth fiscal quarters. Our quarterly results also may fluctuate depending on the timing of the start of the various schools’ semesters, as well as shifts in our fiscal calendar dates. These shifts in timing may affect the comparability of our results across periods.

Product sales are recognized when the customer takes physical possession of our products, which occurs either at the point of sale for products purchased at physical locations or upon receipt of our products by our customers for products ordered through our websites and virtual bookstores. Revenue from the sale of digital textbooks, which contains a single performance

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obligation, is recognized upon delivery of the digital content as product revenue in our condensed consolidated financial statements. Revenue from the rental of physical textbooks is deferred and recognized over the rental period based on the passage of time commencing at the point of sale, when control of the product transfers to the customer and is recognized as rental income in our condensed consolidated financial statements. Depending on the product mix offered under the BNC First Day® offerings, revenue recognized is consistent with our policies for product, digital and rental sales, net of an anticipated opt-out or return provision.

Given the growth of BNC First Day® affordable access course material programs, the timing of cash collection from our school partners may shift to periods subsequent to when the revenue is recognized. When a school adopts our BNC First Day® affordable access course material offerings, cash collection from the school generally occurs after the institution's drop/add dates, which is later in the working capital cycle, particularly in our third quarter given the timing of the Spring Term and our quarterly reporting period, as compared to direct-to-student point-of-sale transactions where cash is generally collected during the point-of-sale transaction or within a few days from the credit card processor. As a higher percentage of our sales shift to BNC First Day® affordable access course material program offerings, we are focused on efforts to b

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Item 7.     MANAGEMENT'S DISCUSSION AND ANALYSIS OF FINANCIAL CONDITION AND RESULTS OF OPERATIONS

Unless the context otherwise indicates, references to “we,” “us,” “our” and “the Company” refer to Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. or “BNED”, a Delaware corporation. References to “Barnes & Noble College” or “BNC” refer to our subsidiary Barnes & Noble College Booksellers, LLC. References to “MBS” refer to our subsidiary MBS Textbook Exchange, LLC.

Our fiscal year is comprised of 52 or 53 weeks, ending on the Saturday closest to the last day of April. “Fiscal 2026” means the 52 weeks ended May 2, 2026, “Fiscal 2025” means the 53 weeks ended May 3, 2025.

The following should be read in conjunction with "Disclosures Regarding Forward-Looking Statements" and our consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included in Item 15 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K (this “Form 10-K”).

Overview

Description of Business

Barnes & Noble Education, Inc. (“BNED”) is one of the largest contract operators of physical and virtual bookstores for college and university campuses and K-12 institutions across the United States. We are also one of the largest textbook wholesalers and inventory management hardware and software providers. We operate 1,116 physical and virtual bookstores, delivering essential educational content and general merchandise within a dynamic omnichannel retail environment. The Barnes & Noble brand (licensed from our former parent) and our subsidiary brands, BNC and MBS, are important to our relationships with leading publishers who rely on us as one of their primary distribution channels. For a detailed description of our business, products and services, strategic initiatives, key relationships, and competitive position, see “Business” in Part I, Item 1 of this Form 10-K.

BNC First Day®

The strengths of our business include our ability to compete by developing new products and solutions to meet market needs, our large operating footprint with direct access to students and faculty, our well-established, deep relationships with academic partners and stable, long-term contracts and our well-recognized brands. We provide product and service offerings designed to address the most pressing issues in higher education, including affordable access, enhanced convenience and improved affordability through innovative course material delivery models designed to drive improved student experiences and outcomes. We offer our BNC First Day® affordable access course material programs, consisting of First Day Complete and First Day, which provide faculty required course materials on or before the first day of class at below market rates, as compared to the total retail price for the same course materials if purchased separately (a la carte), and students are billed the below market rate directly by the institution as a course charge or included in tuition. During the 52 weeks ended May 2, 2026, BNC First Day® total revenue increased by $166.3 million, or 28.0%, to $760.1 million compared to $593.8 million during the prior year period. These programs have allowed us to reverse historical long-term trends in course materials revenue declines, which has been observed at those schools where such programs have been adopted, and improve predictability of our future results. In Fiscal 2026, the growth of our BNC First Day® programs offset the declines in a la carte courseware sales and closed store sales. We continue to see strong institutional interest in First Day Complete and First Day programs, reflecting an ongoing shift by colleges and universities toward affordable access course material models that increase student participation and improve access to required course materials.

The following table summarizes our BNC First Day® sales for the 52 weeks ended May 2, 2026 and the 53 weeks ended May 3, 2025:

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Index to Form 10-K Index to FS

Relationship with Fanatics and Lids

We have strategic service provider relationships with Fanatics Retail Group Fulfillment, LLC (“Fanatics”) and Fanatics Lids College, Inc. D/B/A “Lids” (together with Fanatics, the “F/L Relationship”), which provide e-commerce capabilities, product assortment expertise, and digital marketing tools to accelerate growth of our logo general merchandise business. As the logo and emblematic general merchandise sales are fulfilled by Lids and Fanatics, we recognize commission revenue earned for these sales on a net basis in our consolidated financial statements. For a full description of the F/L Relationship, see “Relationship with Fanatics and Lids” in Part I, Item 1, Business.

Financing Arrangements

On June 10, 2024, we completed various transactions (the “Transactions”), including an equity rights offering, private equity investment, Term Loan debt conversion, and Credit Facility refinancing, to substantially deleverage our Consolidated Balance Sheet. For a detailed description of these transactions, see “Financing Arrangements” in Part I, Item 1, Business and Note 10, Debt, in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.

Segments

We identify our segments in accordance with the way our business is managed. The current CEO (the current Chief Operating Decision Maker ("CODM")) assesses performance and allocates resources. The Company currently operates as a single operating and reportable segment.

Seasonality

Our business is highly seasonal, particularly with respect to textbook sales and rentals, with the major portion of sales and operating profit realized during the second and third fiscal quarters when college students generally purchase and rent textbooks for the upcoming semesters and lowest in the first and fourth fiscal quarters. Our quarterly results also may fluctuate depending on the timing of the start of the various schools’ semesters, as well as shifts in our fiscal calendar dates. These shifts in timing may affect the comparability of our results across periods.

Revenue Recognition

Product sales are recognized when the customer takes physical possession of our products, which occurs either at the point of sale for products purchased at physical locations or upon receipt of our products by our customers for products ordered through our websites and virtual bookstores. Revenue from the sale of digital textbooks, which contains a single performance obligation, is recognized upon delivery of the digital content as product revenue in our consolidated financial statements. Revenue from the rental of physical textbooks is deferred and recognized over the rental period based on the passage of time commencing at the point of sale, when control of the product transfers to the customer and is recognized as rental income in our consolidated financial statements. Depending on the product mix offered under the BNC First Day® offerings, revenue recognized is consistent with our policies for product, digital and rental sales, net of an anticipated opt-out or return provision.

Cash Collection Timing

Given the growth of BNC First Day® affordable access course material programs, the timing of cash collection from our school partners may shift to periods subsequent to when the revenue is recognized. When a school adopts our BNC First Day® affordable access course material offerings, cash collection from the school generally occurs after the institution's drop/add dates, which is later in the working capital cycle, particularly in our third quarter given the timing of the Spring Term and our quarterly reporting period, as compared to direct-to-student point-of-sale transactions where cash is generally collected during the point-of-sale transaction or within a few days from the credit card processor. As a higher percentage of our sales shift to BNC First Day® affordable access course material program offerings, we are focused on efforts to better align the timing of our

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Index to Form 10-K Index to FS

cash outflows to course material vendors and cash inflows from collections from schools. As the concentration of digital product sales increases, revenue will be recognized earlier during the academic term as digital textbook revenue is recognized when the digital content is made available to the customer compared to: (i) the rental of physical textbooks where revenue is recognized over the rental period, and (ii) a la carte courseware sales where revenue is recognized when the customer takes physical possession of our products, which occurs either at the point of sale for products purchased at physical locations or upon receipt of our products by our customers for products ordered through our websites and virtual bookstores.

Trends and Other Factors Affecting Our Business

For a discussion of our trends and other factors affecting our business, see Part I - Item 1. Business and Item 1A, Risk Factors.

Results of Operations

Elements of Results of Operations

Our consolidated financial statements reflect our consolidated financial position, results of operations and cash flows in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”). The results of operations reflected in our consolidated financial statements are presented on a consolidated basis. All intercompany accounts and transactions have been eliminated in consolidation.

Our sales are primarily derived from the sale of course materials, which include new, used, rental and digital textbooks, and general merchandise, including emblematic apparel and gifts, trade books, computer products, school and dorm supplies, convenience and café items and graduation products. Our rental income is primarily derived from the rental of physical textbooks. We also derive revenue from other sources, such as sales of inventory management, hardware and point-of-sale software, and other services.

Our cost of sales primarily includes costs such as merchandise costs, textbook rental amortization, warehouse costs related to inventory management and order fulfillment, certain payroll costs, and management service agreement costs, including rent expense, related to our college and university contracts and other facility related expenses.

Our selling and administrative expenses consist primarily of store payroll and store operating expenses. Selling and administrative expenses also include long-term incentive plan compensation expense and general office expenses, such as merchandising, procurement, field support, and finance and accounting.

Results of Operations Summary (a)

For a detailed discussion of Fiscal 2026 and year-over-year comparison to Fiscal 2025, see Results of Operations below.

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