Privately-held equity firm Willis Stein & Partners has acquired Baker & Taylor, the Charlotte, North Carolina-based book and video distributor from the Carlyle Group for $255 million.  If the deal passes legal and regulatory muster, it should be finalized later this month.  Baker & Taylor is the second largest (behind Ingram) major independent book distributor.  In spite of the weakness in book sales and the general economic malaise that has kept the U.S. economy scuffling for the past three years, Willis Stein is hoping that Baker & Taylor will perform well thanks to its strong foothold in both the book and video markets.  Baker & Taylor managed to stay on board with both Columbia TriStar Entertainment and Warner Home Video during the past year in which the two key video producers axed numerous distributors.