Liberty Media offers $1 billion for Barnes & Noble Liberty Media offers $1 billion for Barnes & Noble

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Barnes & Noble Inc said John Malone's Liberty Media Corp has proposed buying the largest U.S. bookstore chain for $1.02 billion.

Liberty Media has offered $17 per share, a 20.5 percent premium over Barnes & Noble's closing share price on Thursday. Barnes & Noble said the offer has not yet been evaluated by its special committee.

Barnes & Noble put itself up for sale last August saying its shares were undervalued.

The company, which operates 720 bookstores, as well as a chain of college campus stores, has been facing declining print book sales.

(Reporting by Phil Wahba; editing by Andre Grenon)