In a Thursday announcement, software giant Microsoft and bigwig book retailer Barnes & Noble (B&N) said that they have finalized their earlier-announced partnership for reaching out to higher-education markets with digital reading and digital content.

Going by the terms of the partnership, Microsoft and B&N will create a new spin-off - a company called Nook Media LLC - which will chiefly focus on B&N's popular Nook e-reader and college textbook business.

Under the partnership, Microsoft will make a $300-million investment in B&N's Nook Media subsidiary - in lieu of an approximately 17.6 percent equity stake in the company -, to help it achieve its objective of promoting digital content at the college and university level.

About having finalized the partnership, Microsoft and B&N said in an October 4 press release that the key focus area of Microsoft and Nook Media would be to advance "digital reading experiences to the hundreds of millions of customers they jointly serve."

Further revealing that the Microsoft-B&N partnership will also witness a Nook application delivered to the forthcoming Windows 8 OS for tablets and desktops and the Windows Phone 8 mobile OS, Microsoft president Andy lees said that the software company is looking forward to having Nook Media bring "one of the world's largest digital libraries to Windows 8 devices via their upcoming Windows 8 app."