Barnes & Noble Inc. will develop a tablet with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., as it tries to revive its money-losing Nook digital business.

The tablets will combine Samsung's hardware with Nook's software and give access to Barnes & Noble's digital collection of more than 3 million books, magazines and newspapers, the companies said in a statement.

Barnes & Noble's shares rose as much as 3.7 percent to $19.59 in early trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday.

The Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 Nook tablets are expected to be launched in a 7-inch version in the United States in early August. They will be sold in Barnes & Noble's nearly 700 stores and on its website, bn.com.

Barnes & Noble has agreed to buy 1 million tablets in the first 12 months after launch. This will be extended to 15 months if the devices do not meet sales targets, the company said in a filing.

Barnes & Noble Chief Executive Michael Huseby said the partnership was a major milestone in its efforts to rationalize the Nook business.

Barnes & Noble said last year that it would stop producing Nook tablets until it found a partner, after losing hundreds of millions of dollars over the years trying to compete with the likes of Amazon.com Inc., Apple Inc. and Google Inc.

However, Barnes & Noble said on Thursday that it would continue to offer its Nook GlowLight e-book reader, launched in October.