Best Buy
Best Buy Co., Inc. is an American multinational consumer electronics retailer headquartered in Richfield, Minnesota. Originally founded by Richard M. Schulze and James Wheeler in 1966 as an audio specialty store called Sound of Music, it was rebranded under its current name with an emphasis on consumer electronics in 1983.
Formerly
- Sound of Music (1966–1983)
- Best Buy Co. Superstores (1983–1984)
- Best Buy Superstores (1984–1989)
August 22, 1966 in St. Paul, Minnesota, United States, as Sound of Music
- Richard M. Schulze
- James Wheeler
1,125 (2024)
- Patrick Doyle (Chairman)
- Corie Barry (CEO)
Consumer electronics, appliances
Tech repair
US$43.45 billion (2024)
US$1.574 billion (2024)
US$1.241 billion (2024)
US$14.97 billion (2024)
US$3.053 billion (2024)
c. 85,000 (February 2024)
- Best Buy Mobile
- Geek Squad
- Lively
- Magnolia Home Theater
- Pacific Sales
Best Buy operates internationally in Canada, and formerly operated in China until February 2011 (when the faction was merged with Five Star) and in Mexico until December 2020 (due to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic). The company also operated in Europe until 2012.[2] Its subsidiaries include Geek Squad, Magnolia Audio Video, and Pacific Sales. Best Buy also operates the Best Buy Mobile and Insignia brands in North America, plus Five Star in China.[2] Best Buy sells cellular phones from Verizon Wireless, AT&T Mobility, T-Mobile, Boost Mobile and Ting Mobile[3] in the United States. In Canada, carriers include Bell Mobility, Rogers Wireless, Telus Mobility, their fighter brands, and competing smaller carriers, such as SaskTel.
Hubert Joly is executive chairman of Best Buy, having been succeeded as CEO by Corie Barry in June 2019.[4][5][6] According to Yahoo! Finance, Best Buy is the largest specialty retailer in the United States consumer electronics retail industry.[7] The company ranked number 72 in the 2018 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue.[8]
Controversies
Warranty
In 2000, two Florida consumers brought a lawsuit against the company, alleging that it engaged in fraudulent business practices related to the sale of extended warranties (or, more accurately, service plans). The suit claimed that store employees had misrepresented the manufacturer's warranty to sell its own Product Service/Replacement Plan and that Best Buy had "entered into a corporate-wide scheme to institute high-pressure sales techniques involving the extended warranties" and that the company used "artificial barriers to discourage consumers who purchased the 'complete extended warranties' from making legitimate claims."[86] The company ultimately settled for $200,000, but admitted no wrongdoing.[87]
In 2014, Best Buy settled for $4.55 million in a class-action lawsuit filed against them in April 2010 by consumers who claimed Best Buy was making unsolicited phone calls in contravention of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act.[88]
Pricing
In the second quarter of 2007, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal ordered an investigation into the company's use of an in-store website alleged to have misled customers on item sales prices.[89] In December 2007, the Los Angeles Times reported on the same issue, in which some customers claimed they thought they were surfing the Internet version of bestbuy.com at an in-store kiosk only to learn that the site reflected in-store prices only. In response, company spokesperson Sue Busch indicated the in-store kiosks were not intended for price-match purposes and rather were a means to navigate in-store availability. Since the initial investigation, a banner was placed on the in-store site to make its customers more aware of the difference.[90]
Analog televisions
On April 26, 2008, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) fined the company $280,000 for not alerting customers that the analog televisions it sold would not receive over-the-air stations after the digital transition on June 12, 2009.[91] The company challenged this ruling in May 2008 by the FCC saying it was and is in compliance with current FCC regulations pertaining to the digital transition.[92]
Environmental issues
Best Buy was one of several companies named in a 2007 report by Greenpeace for purchasing raw materials or manufactured products derived thereof from logging companies that in the opinion of Greenpeace, contribute to unethical deforestation of taiga in Canada.[93]
Since that time, however, the company launched what it calls Greener Together to increase the energy efficiency of its products, and reduce consumer waste through more recyclable packaging and proper disposal of certain electronic components such as rechargeable batteries and empty ink cartridges.[94]
As a way to improve its image and past environmental issues, the company introduced a recycling program in 2009 that has since collected nearly half-a-billion pounds of consumer electronics and e-waste, and is available at all their stores for a nominal fee. These items are then handed over to certified recyclers in the U.S. for proper recycling. The company's goal is to collect one billion pounds of recycling.[95]
It also has been named to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency top-50 list of the largest green-power purchasers. In 2011, the company purchased nearly 119 million kilowatt-hours of green power – electricity generated from renewable resources, such as wind, solar, geothermal, biogas, biomass, and low-impact hydropower.[96]
FBI collaboration
In their attempt to combat child pornography, the FBI hired several Best Buy employees from the Geek Squad division to covertly work for them flagging potential targets. In one incident, a customer brought in his computer for troubleshooting, which a Best Buy employee flagged as containing images of child pornography and reported to the FBI. The customer was indicted for possession of child pornography, although the judge in the case later threw out nearly all the evidence against the defendant due to "false and misleading statements" made by an FBI agent while trying to secure a search warrant for the customer's house, and the government ultimately dropped the case.[97]
Privacy
On October 20, 2023, CBC News released the results of a Marketplace investigation which found that that Best Buy technicians had viewed private files, such as intimate photos, on customer devices. One technician was also caught copying photos onto a USB flash drive.[98]
LGBT issues
In March 2024, following threats of shareholder-related action from conservative advocacy groups, Best Buy agreed to block donations by employee resource groups to eight LGBT organizations, over their support for access to gender affirming care for trans minors. This was met with criticism by a number of groups, including GLAAD and the Human Rights Campaign.[99]