Investors were expecting a bad earnings report from Barnes & Noble on Tuesday and they got it. The company’s revenues were down 7.4 percent compared to this time last year, to $1.3 billion, in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2013, with a net loss of $118.6 million, or $2.11 per share. For the full fiscal year, revenues were down 4.1 percent to $6.8 billion, with net losses of $154.8 million, or $2.97 per share, compared to $65.6 million the previous year.

Barnes & Noble attributed the results to its poorly performing Nook line, and is taking steps to address that.

Nook tablets have been heading downhill for awhile, and in an attempt to stanch the bleeding, B&N said in its fourth-quarter earnings report Tuesday that it will create “a partnership model for manufacturing” those tablets, while continuing to develop e-ink readers in-house. “The company’s tablet line will be co-branded with yet to be announced third party manufacturers of consumer electronics products,” the company said in its release.

Barnes & Noble had recently slashed prices on those tablets. It says it will keep selling them through the holiday season and will keep building its digital content catalog.

Key issue not addressed in the press release: The quarter brought reports that Microsoft, which already has a stake in B&N’s Nook and college businesses, is interested in buying the division outright for $1 billion. This stuff is bound to come up in the investor call at 10 AM ET. We’ll be on the call.

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