A hedge fund buys out a struggling retailer on the verge of bankruptcy. It’s a story told so much it has become a cliché. Naturally, one would expect that the next step is to gut the corporation, rob the employees of their pensions, and sell off whatever tangible and intangible assets they can get a few bucks for. But in 2019 when Elliott Management purchased Barnes & Noble Booksellers for $638 million, something different happened.