Stock-Based Compensation

6 Months Ended

Oct. 31, 2015

Note 11. Stock-Based Compensation

Prior to the Spin-Off, certain of our employees were eligible to participate in Barnes & Noble equity plans pursuant to which they were granted awards of Barnes & Noble common stock. The equity-based payments recorded by us prior to the Spin-Off included the expense associated with our employees.

During the 13 weeks ended October 31, 2015, 2,409,345 shares of our Common Stock were reserved for future grants in accordance with the Barnes & Noble Education Inc. Equity Incentive Plan (the "Equity Incentive Plan"). Types of equity awards that can be granted under the Equity Incentive Plan include options, restricted stock ("RS"), restricted stock units ("RSU") and performance awards. Currently, outstanding awards are not based on performance and are based solely on continued service. We recognize compensation expense for awards ratably over the requisite service period of the award, which is generally three years. We recognize compensation expense based on the number of awards expected to vest using an estimated average forfeiture rate. We calculate the fair value of stock-based awards based on the closing price on the date the award was granted.

During the 13 weeks ended October 31, 2015, we granted the following awards:


•	Barnes & Noble RSU awards held by our employees (or transfered employees) were converted to 877,426 shares of our RSUs with substantially the same vesting schedule as the forfeited awards. Compensation expense for these awards will continue to be recognized ratably over the remaining term of the unvested awards of approximately two years;


•	27,272 BNED RS awards were granted to former Barnes & Noble BOD members involved in the Spin-Off transaction. The awards vested during the 13 weeks ended October 31, 2015;


•	793,126 BNED RSU awards were granted to employees in accordance with Equity Incentive Plan;


•	46,080 BNED RS awards were granted to the current BOD members for annual director compensation with a one year vesting period in accordance with Equity Incentive Plan.

We recognized stock-based compensation expense for equity-based awards in selling and administrative expenses as follows:



	13 weeks ended				26 weeks ended
	October 31, 2015		November 1, 2014		October 31, 2015		November 1, 2014
Restricted Stock Expense	$	460	$	69	$	540	$	146
Restricted Stock Units Expense	1,557		1,381		2,310		2,284
Stock Option Expense	—		422		120		474
Stock-Based Compensation Expense	$	2,017	$	1,872	$	2,970	$	2,904

Total unrecognized compensation cost related to unvested awards as of October 31, 2015 was $14,379 and is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 2.3 years.