Global Search

business

Best Buy: Turbulent times for electronics giant

Share this series

  • share

    email

FILE - This Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2001 file photo shows Richard Schulze fo...

  • related content

Richard Schulze

Best Buy signage Thursday, June 7, 2012, in Richfield, MN for an upcom...

Pedestrians walk past Best Buy, the No. 1 U.S. consumer electronics re...

Richard Schulze

Richard Schulze

Best Buy signage Thursday, June 7, 2012, in Richfield, MN for an upcom...

Pacific Kitchen staff members Billy Woodson, left, and Hector Saenz High walked past high-end appliances on display at the Best Buy Pacific Kitchen display at the Richfield store last week. Best Buy’s appliance business has shown strong growth, one of the few product categories where sales have increased.

  • Best Buy counts on appliances for sales revival

    Article By: THOMAS LEE , Star Tribune Publish March 10, 2013 3:00 AM / Update March 9, 2013 4:05 PM

    When Best Buy Co. Inc. CEO Hubert Joly visited stores during his first week on the job in September, he quickly noticed something was amiss. Why, he asked, did some locations relegate some appliances to the back of the store when they should be more up front and center?

    Full StoryFull story

Best Buy signage Thursday, June 7, 2012, in Richfield, MN for an upcom...

The Best Buy store in Eden Prairie.

Richard Schulze

Richard Schulze

Best Buy’s better-than-expected fourth-quarter results came from stable sales of such bread-and-butter items as TVs, mobile phones and computers.

JIM GEHRZ • jgehrz@startribune.com The Best Buy store in Eden Prairie was busy over the noon hour on Tuesday. The 400 layoffs announced that day will not affect “Blue Shirts” who woprl in such store. the layoffs should affect store employees.

Richard Schulze

Best Buy signage Thursday, June 7, 2012, in Richfield, MN for an upcom...

  • Schafer: Schulze's main goals are already achieved

    Article By: LEE SCHAFER , Star Tribune Publish February 24, 2013 2:00 AM / Update February 23, 2013 4:42 PM

    All of the financial advisers, lawyers, bankers and investors assembled for Best Buy Co. Inc. founder Richard Schulze’s effort to take the company private could be putting in long hours this weekend to meet a Thursday deadline for a proposal.

    Full StoryFull story

Best Buy

Richard Schulze

Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly

  • Schafer: Pitching in is the new rule at Best Buy

    Article By: LEE SCHAFER , Star Tribune Publish February 17, 2013 2:00 AM / Update February 16, 2013 3:20 PM

    It’s been all hands on deck at Best Buy Co., as about 600 district and territory managers and other staffers, with hundreds more from headquarters, jumped into stores for a 10-day push that closed the fiscal year that just ended.

    Full StoryFull story

Amy Poehler was a good choice, but the Blue Shirt didn’t talk enough, said market researcher Leslie Zane.

This undated image provided by Best Buy, shows Amy Poehler on the set...

The Best Buy sign at its store in Richfield, down the street from the company's headquarters.

Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly,working the floor as a "blue shirt" at the St. Cloud store in September.

Mike Ersfeld, general manager of a Best Buy store in Eden Priaire

Mike Mikan

What was supposed to be an act of inspiration — a Super Bowl ad featuring pop music star Justin Bieber and rock veteran Ozzy Osbourne — turned into a vehicle of desperation for Best Buy.

Stephen Gillett

Richard Schulze

  • Best Buy offer deadline postponed

    Article By: THOMAS LEE , Star Tribune Publish December 15, 2012 2:00 AM / Update December 14, 2012 11:12 PM

    Delay a sign that company "is absolutely open to an offer." At the behest of the company, Best Buy and its founder agreed to extend the deadline for a buyout bid until February.

    Full StoryFull story

FILE - This Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2001 file photo shows Richard Schulze fo...

Richard Schulze

Best Buy signage Thursday, June 7, 2012, in Richfield, MN for an upcom...

A Best Buy Microsoft Windows 8 consultant, David Smith, left, works wi...

A chilled but excited Black Friday customer rushed into the Best Buy store in Eden Prairie as General Manager Mike Ersfeld greeted the midnight throng.

Shoppers head to and from the Best Buy in Richfield, MN, Thursday, Mar...

FILE - This Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2001 file photo shows Richard Schulze fo...

FILE- This Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2001, file photo, shows Richard Schulze f...

One World Trade Center, center right, towers above the lower Manhattan...

Hubert Joly

Sharon McCollam

Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly

Best Buy CEO Hubert Joly, on the job less than two months, will meet with New York analysts.

Mike Vitelli

Richard Schulze

Scott Durchslag said the consumer needs to see value beyond price.

FILE- This Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2001, file photo, shows Richard Schulze following a news conference in Vancouver.

Best Buy will grab plenty of iPhone 5 sales but can’t match the buzz at Apple’s stores

Best Buy hopes moving workers to the sales floor will help focus on selling customers more merchandise. Here, John Haupert helped Tanya Matheys purchase an iPad and iPod at a Best Buy in Eagan in 2010.

Best Buy has appointed a new CEO, Hubert Joly, to lead the beleaguered...

Hubert Joly

The former KMART store property in New Hope has been shuttered and pur...

Best Buy founder Richard Schulze

Hubert Joly

Richard Schulze

Hubert Joly

Mike Mikan

Richard Schulze

Hubert Joly

Best Buy Founder Richard Schulz

Richard Schulze

Best Buy held its annual shareholders meeting at Best Buy corporate he...

  • Schulze's letter to Best Buy board

    Publish August 6, 2012 2:00 AM / Update August 6, 2012 8:27 AM

    August 6, 2012

    Board of Directors
    Best Buy Co., Inc.
    7601 Penn Avenue South
    Richfield, MN 55423

    Attention: Hatim Tyabji
    Chairman of the Board of Directors

    Dear Hatim:

    Since founding the Sound of Music in 1966 and opening the first Best Buy branded store in 1983, I have believed in Best Buy and its future. It goes without saying that I care deeply about the company’s customers, employees and shareholders – and I will always do so. As you know, since stepping down from the Board on June 7th, I have been actively exploring all available options for my ownership stake. That exploration has reinforced my belief that bold and extensive changes are needed for Best Buy to return to market leadership and has led me to the conclusion that the company’s best chance for renewed success will be to implement these changes under a different ownership structure.

    Over the last two months, I have done an extensive amount of work to develop a plan to address the company’s challenges, and I have had conversations with several premier private equity firms with deep experience in retail who are interested in a possible acquisition of Best Buy. In addition, I have had discussions with highly-regarded former Best Buy senior executives, including Brad Anderson and Allen Lenzmeier, who have expressed an interest in rejoining Best Buy in this context. As you are aware, Minnesota law requires that I receive permission from the Board of Directors before I reach any agreement with potential partners in this effort. While I have not yet reached any such agreements, I am confident, based on my discussions to date, that I could in short order if the Board allows me to do so.

    As you know, Hatim, I have made repeated requests to the Board for several weeks now to provide me with due diligence information and the consent to form a group required under Minnesota law. In your most recent communication to my advisors, you indicated that the Board would need an additional three weeks before it could consider my requests. I am submitting this letter in the hope that, with a concrete proposal in front of it, the Board will have a compelling basis on which to grant my requests and avoid further delay.

    Based on my analysis of publicly available information, and subject to due diligence, I would propose to acquire all of the common stock of Best Buy for a purchase price in the range of $24.00 to $26.00 per share in cash. This represents a very compelling opportunity for Best Buy shareholders, who would receive the certainty of an immediate all-cash premium of 36% to 47% for their shares based on the latest closing stock price of $17.64 on August 3, 2012.

    The transaction would be financed through a combination of investments from private equity firms, my equity investment of approximately $1 billion, and debt financing. Based on significant work done to date, Credit Suisse, who I have retained as my financial advisor, is highly confident that it can arrange the necessary debt financing.

    With the Board’s agreement that I may work together with potential private equity partners and former senior executives, and with timely access to relevant non-public company information, I am confident that the necessary due diligence could be completed expeditiously and a binding agreement to acquire Best Buy could be reached quickly. Of course, I am prepared to enter into a customary confidentiality agreement and begin work immediately.

    Hatim, I cannot emphasize strongly enough how much I believe in Best Buy and its future, and how much I would welcome the opportunity to do what is best for shareholders and Best Buy. I believe there is an urgent need for Best Buy to reinvigorate growth by reconnecting with today’s customers and building pathways to the next generation of consumers. I feel that the transaction I am proposing would be a “win-win”, as it would allow shareholders to receive compelling value for their shares, and it would allow Best Buy to take the actions that it needs to take outside of the public sphere. I believe that it is in our mutual interest to move as quickly and efficiently as possible and appreciate your prompt attention to this matter.

    Of course, neither Best Buy nor I shall be subject to any binding obligation with respect to any transaction unless and until a definitive agreement is executed and delivered.

    I look forward to your response at your earliest convenience.

    Sincerely,
    Richard Schulze

    Full StoryFull story

Richard Schulze

Richard Schulze

Brad Anderson

Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune Friday, April 22, 2005 -- Maplewood, Minn...

Glen Stubbe/Star Tribune Friday, April 22, 2005 -- Maplewood, Minn...

The Geek Squad is at the center of Best Buy's new Connected Store concept at their flagship store in Richfield.

Richard Schulze

Best Buy founder Richard Schulze

Best Buy held its annual shareholders meeting at Best Buy corporate he...

Best Buy

  • Best Buy short on specifics

    Article By: THOMAS LEE and WENDY LEE , Star Tribune staff writers Publish June 22, 2012 2:00 AM / Update June 21, 2012 9:41 PM

    Shareholders heard from interim CEO Mike Mikan. Later, directors changed the bylaws to make a private takeover tougher.

    Full StoryFull story

Best Buy shops set to shut. A general view of Carphone Warehouse's Bes...

FILE- This Tuesday, Aug. 14, 2001, file photo, shows Richard Schulze f...

A Best Buy employee in Mountain View, Calif., looked over a cellphone contract.

An Aug. 14, 2001, file photo, of Richard Schulze.

Shoppers head to and from the Best Buy in Richfield, MN, Thursday, Mar...

Best Buy founder Richard Schulze

FILE - In this Sept 12, 2011 file photo, a Best Buy employee looks ove...

Brian Dunn, president and chief executive officer of Best Buy Co. Inc....

Roseville, Mn. Friday 11/26/10 Black Friday early shopping. These peo...

April 2000: Best Buy founder Richard Schulze

Richard Schulze

Richard Schulze

Hatim Tyabji

Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn thanked customers for coming to Best Buy and s...

April 2000: Best Buy founder Richard Schulze

Shoppers head to and from the Best Buy in Richfield, MN, Thursday, Mar...

Brian Dunn, president and chief executive officer of Best Buy Co. Inc....

Barry Judge

Best Buy employees walk through the parking lot and to the Best Buy st...

Brian Dunn, president and chief executive officer of Best Buy Co. Inc....

In this photograph taken by AP Images for Best Buy, Brian Dunn, then Best Buy's CEO, greets Black Friday shoppers in Eden Prairie.

April 2000: Best Buy founder Richard Schulze

Brian Dunn

Brian Dunn

In this photograph taken by AP Images for Best Buy, Brian Dunn, Best B...

Brian Dunn

Best Buy headquarters in Richfield.

G. Mike Mikan, Best Buy interim CEO

Best Buy headquarters in Richfield.

Minneapolis,MN. Tuesday 6/25/2002 Best Buy Annual Meeting.L to R Bra...

New Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn answered media questions after th...

Brian Dunn

from the homepage

ADVERTISEMENT

Connect with twitterConnect with facebookConnect with Google+Connect with PinterestConnect with PinterestConnect with RssfeedConnect with email newsletters

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Offers & Events

«
Defying Expectations

Defying Expectations

The Most Innovative bank empowering you to achieve

Dare to Learn More


ADVERTISEMENT

inside the StarTribune

lifestyle

Best of MN 2013: Guide to state's finest

projects

ST100: 2013 ranking of Minnesota's top companies

sports

New Vikings stadium section: The game plan

local

Follow Star Tribune on social media

home

Map to Twin Cities farmers markets

minnesota topics

Minnesota Topics: People, places and companies