Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY) is an American public company that is a specialty retailer of consumer electronics in the United States, accounting for 19 percent of the market. Headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota, it also operates in Puerto Rico, Mexico, Canada and China.[5] The company's subsidiaries include CinemaNow, Geek Squad, Magnolia Audio Video, Pacific Sales, and, in Canada operates under both the Best Buy and Future Shop label. Together these companies operate more than 1,150 stores, domestically and internationally.[6] In addition, the company operates over 100 Best Buy Express Automated Retail stores or "ZoomShops", operated by Zoom Systems, in airports and malls around the U.S.[7] It was named "Company of the Year" by Forbes magazine in 2004,[8] "Specialty Retailer of the Decade" by Discount Store News in 2001,[9] ranked in the Top 10 of "America's Most Generous Corporations" by Forbes in 2005 (based on 2004 giving),[10] ! and made Fortune magazine's List of Most Admired Companies in 2006.[11] On March 9, 2009, Best Buy became the largest electronics retail store (online and bricks and mortar) in the eastern United States, after smaller rival Circuit City went out of business.[12] Fry's Electronics remains a major competitor in the western United States, while hhgregg remains competitive in the eastern United States . Many locations feature in-store pickup, which can be arranged through the company's website.[13] Best Buy is also a retailer of cellular phones with phones from Verizon Wireless, AT&T Wireless, Sprint PCS, Boost Mobile, and T-Mobile.[14] Best Buy also has standalone Best Buy Mobile stores in shopping malls that sell a subset of products carried at the larger stores. In 2011, during the three-month period ended February 26, the company saw its revenue and profits slide, generating a profit of $651 million on revenue of $16.26 billion. In comparison to the same per! iod in 2010, it tallied $16.55 billion in revenue and a $779 m! illion profit.[15] Various reasons have been given for the decline.[16] In 2012, the company announced it would be closing fifty stores in the U.S., including a high-profile store on Newbury Street in Boston, Massachusetts, as part of a "transformation strategy".[17][18] On April 10, 2012, Brian J. Dunn resigned as the company's chief executive officer under a mutual agreement that it was time for new leadership to address Best Buy's problems. Director G. Mike Mikan was named the company's interim CEO.[19] In July 2012, the company planned to cut 2,400 store and Geek Squad jobs, starting immediately, according to a person familiar with the plans.[20] Two of the Best Buy stores that closed were located in Baltimore, Maryland, at the Inner Harbor; and Hunt Valley, Maryland, in the Hunt Valley Mall. It announced that the company would shift its focus to Best Buy Mobile stores to open in shopping malls and other places where the aforementioned stores would generate revenue for ! the company. On August 20, 2012, it was announced that Hubert Joly would be the full time CEO replacing Interim CEO G. Mike Mikan effective September 2012.[1] Contents 1 History 1.1 Founding 1.2 Billion-dollar company 1.3 International expansion 1.4 Thousandth store 2 Company 2.1 Business operations 2.2 Demographics 2.3 Best Buy exclusive brands 2.4 Corporate sponsorships 2.5 Expansion plans 2.5.1 International Closures 2.5.1.1 United Kingdom 2.5.1.2 People's Republic of China 3 Criticism and controversy 3.1 Warranty controversy 3.2 Pricing controversies 3.3 Analog televisions 3.4 Environmental issues 3.5 Misconduct by leadership 4 References 5 External links [edit] History [edit] Founding Best Buy is sometimes called the "big blue box" because of the prominent design on Best Buy stores. This store is located in Guadalajara, Mexico. Best Buy Store located in Shanghai, China This Best Buy logo has appeared at select stores. Its replacement status remains unknown. Best Buy op! ens its 800th store in Chicago, Illinois. In 1966, Richard M. Schulze a! nd business partner Gary Smoliak,[21] opened Sound of Music, an audio specialty store, in West Saint Paul, Minnesota.[22][23] In 1967, Sound Of Music acquired Kencraft Hi-Fi Company and Bergo Company. Two additional Sound of Music stores were opened near the University of Minnesota and in downtown Minneapolis. The Sound of Music ended its first year with gross sales of $173,000 (USD). In 1969, Sound of Music's stock began trading as a publicly held company, the company enacted its first employee stock-option plan, and three stores opened in the Twin Cities area. In 1970, Sound of Music hit the $1 million mark in annual revenues. In 1979, Sound of Music became the first suppliers of video and laserdisc equipment including Panasonic, Magnavox, Sony and Sharp. On June 14, 1981, a tornado hit the Roseville, Minnesota, store. Sound of Music responded with a "Tornado Sale," (with the sale promoted as a "Best Buy") and it became an annual event. In 1983, Sound of Music's board of ! directors approved a new corporate name: Best Buy Co., Inc.,[22] the company opened its first superstore in Burnsville, Minnesota, featuring expanded selling space, a wide assortment of discounted brand-name goods, central service, and warehouse distribution. Stores began selling appliances and videocassette recorders. In 1985, Best Buy (symbol BBY) debuted on the New York Stock Exchange[22] with an offering of 8.3 million shares. In 1987, Best Buy's brand logo changed to the yellow tag. In 1989, Best Buy unveiled a new "grab-and-go" store format. [edit] Billion-dollar company In 1990, the company eliminated commissions for standalone sales people, but retained bonuses for management and supervisors. In 1992, it hit the $1 billion mark in annual revenues. In 1994, the company expanded to the Maryland and Virginia markets. In 1997, it became the first national retailer to sell DVD hardware and software.[citation needed]. In 1998, the company sponsored Enchanted Tour of singe! r-songwriter Stevie Nicks. In 2000, it entered the online-retailing bus! iness by launching Bestbuy.com, and acquired Magnolia Audio Video, a retailer of high-end consumer electronics.[22] Music compact cassettes were removed from most stores. In 2001, the company acquired the Canada-based electronics-chain Future Shop Ltd.,[22] which marked Best Buy's entrance to the international marketplace.[23] Though fully owned by Best Buy, Future Shop remains a separate entity operating independently from Best Buy Canada. Best Buy acquired Musicland,[22] a mall-based retailer for music and entertainment software. Best Buy launched Redline Entertainment, an independent music label and action-sports video distributor. In 2002, Brad Anderson succeeded Schulze as Best Buy's chief executive officer. The company acquired Geek Squad, a 24-hour computer-support taskforce. The first Canadian Best Buy store opened in Mississauga, Ontario. [edit] International expansion In 2003, Best Buy stores in the U.S. surpassed the 600-store mark. The company opened its first g! lobal-sourcing office in Shanghai, China; its corporate offices were consolidated in one headquarter campus; it divested itself of Musicland;[22] the company began to segment its stores, which is considered a major part of the company's "customer centricity" transformation, the Reward Zone loyalty program was introduced in the U.S. In 2004, Virtucom Group of Syracuse, New York, was hired to handle all online content for Best Buy which generated over $3 billion per year in revenues. In 2004, Geek Squad precincts were opened in every Best Buy store nationwide, offering in-store service during store business hours. In 2006, the company acquired a majority interest in the retail chain Jiangsu Five Star Appliance Co., Ltd., China's fourth-largest appliance chain.[24] On January 26, 2007, the first Best Buy in China had its grand opening – touted as the largest Best Buy in existence.[citation needed] In March, the company announced plans to purchase Seattle, Washington-bas! ed Speakeasy, Inc., a broadband and VOIP services provider.[25] Best Bu! y became the first major retailer to exit the analog television market, carrying only digital products that became mandatory in June 2009 by the FCC.[26] In 2007, the company launched mini-Geek Squad precincts in Office Depots in Orlando, Florida; and Denver, Colorado. It also launched mini-Geek Squad precincts in FedEx Kinko's in Indianapolis, Indiana; and Charlotte, North Carolina. These test markets and/or relationships with these companies ended in all markets late 2007 to early 2008. In February 2011, it closed all of its own-brand stores in China, but planned to reopen two by the end of the year. On November 17, 2011, the opened its first store in Northern Mexico, said store to be located in the city of Monterrey.[citation needed] In November 2011, it was announced that the 11 stores it had opened in the UK as part of a joint venture with Carphone Warehouse were to close.[27] [edit] Thousandth store On October 24, 2008, the company opened its 1,000th store, located in! the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.[citation needed] In 2008, it also announced the opening of its first pilot stores in Puerto Rico[28] and Mexico, as well as another store in Shanghai. The company decided to promote the Blu-ray optical-disc format over the HD DVD format, a move which ultimately contributed to Toshiba's decision to drop HD DVD.[29] In May, it agreed to buy a 50% holding in the retail division of The Carphone Warehouse, a UK-based mobile-phone operation; the company also announced that it would open branded superstores in the UK and other European countries. On July 29, the company announced that it would start selling musical instruments and related gear in over 80 of its retail stores (growing to over 100 stores by 2010), making the company the second-largest musical-instrument distribut
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