By Phil Wahba and Ben Berkowitz (Reuters) - Shares in Barnes & Noble Inc soared 22 percent on Thursday after a report that Microsoft Corp is considering an offer to acquire the tablet and e-book business of B&N's Nook Media unit. The technology website TechCrunch reported that Microsoft, which already owns a 17 percent stake in Nook Media, was proposing a $1 billion offer to buy all of Nook's digital assets. The report also suggested that Nook would stop selling Android-based tablets entirely by the end of fiscal 2014 in favor of distributing content via other publishers' platforms. ...



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