Stock-Based Compensation Stock-Based Compensation (Notes)

3 Months Ended

Jul. 30, 2016

Disclosure of Compensation Related Costs, Share-based Payments [Abstract]

Disclosure of Compensation Related Costs, Share-based Payments [Text Block]

Note 12. Stock-Based Compensation

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

During the second quarter of Fiscal 2016, 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 shares ("PS").

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 July 30, 2016, we granted employees 406,078 PS awards that will only vest based upon the achievement of pre-established performance goals related to Adjusted EBITDA and new business achieved measured over a period of time. The PS will vest based on company performance during Fiscal 2017 - Fiscal 2018 with one additional year of time-based vesting. The targets for achievement range from 0%-150%.

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

	13 weeks ended
	July 30, 2016		August 1, 2015
Restricted stock expense	$	150	$	80
Restricted stock units expense	1,596		753
Performance shares expense	144		—
Stock option expense	—		120
Stock-based compensation expense	$	1,890	$	953

Total unrecognized compensation cost related to unvested awards as of July 30, 2016 was $23,096 and is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 2.1 years.