Stock-Based Compensation Stock-Based Compensation (Notes)

9 Months Ended

Jan. 28, 2017

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.

When initially adopted, 2,409,345 shares of our Common Stock were reserved for grants under the Barnes & Noble Education Inc. Equity Incentive Plan (the "Equity Incentive Plan"). During the second quarter of Fiscal 2017, shareholders approved an amendment to the Equity Incentive Plan to increase the number of shares available for issuance by an additional 4,000,000 shares of our Common Stock, for an aggregate total of 6,409,345 shares. 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 39 weeks ended January 28, 2017, we granted the following awards:

• 406,078 PS awards were granted to employees 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 number of PS awards that will vest range from 0%-150% of the target award based on actual performance.

• 1,157,586 RSU awards were granted to employees with a three year vesting period in accordance with Equity Incentive Plan;

• 49,484 RSU awards and 12,371 RS awards were granted to the current Board of Directors ("BOD") members for annual 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				39 weeks ended
	January 28, 2017		January 30, 2016		January 28, 2017		January 30, 2016
Restricted stock expense	$	30	$	150	$	250	$	690
Restricted stock units expense	2,622		1,697		6,500		4,007
Performance shares expense	117		—		477		—
Stock option expense	—		—		—		120
Stock-based compensation expense	$	2,769	$	1,847	$	7,227	$	4,817

Total unrecognized compensation cost related to unvested awards as of January 28, 2017 was $17,073 and is expected to be recognized over a weighted-average period of 2.3 years.