NEW YORK — Electronics retailer Best Buy Co. is laying off 600 staffers in its Geek Squad technical support division and 1,800 other store workers as it seeks to restructure operations and improve results, the company said Friday.
The cuts amount to about 1.4 percent of the company’s total staff of 167,000.
Best Buy is trying to combat the “showrooming” of its stores, as consumers test out products at its stores but go home and buy them cheaper online or at discounters. Interim CEO Mike Mikan has vowed the company is committed to fundamentally changing operations to improve results.
Best Buy spokesman Bruce Hight says the layoffs are part of the company’s “ongoing turnaround plan.”
In March, the company announced a restructuring aimed at improving results. At the time, the company said it would close 50 of its U.S. big box stores, cut 400 corporate jobs and trim $800 million in costs. Meanwhile, the company, which has about 1,400 U.S. locations, planned to open 100 smaller and more profitable Best Buy Mobile stores throughout the country.
In April, Best Buy announced it would close its store in Biddeford, Maine, with the doors finally closed for good in May. The electronics chain has stores in Augusta, South Portland, Topsham, Auburn and Bangor.
Shortly after the March plan was announced, Best Buy’s then-CEO Brain Dunn abruptly left the company and Best Buy said it was investigating his relationship with a female employee. The investigation found he had had an inappropriate relationship with the staffer, and it also led to the departure of founder and chairman Richard Schulze, who knew about the relationship and didn’t alert the proper channels.
Since then, Mikan, who is in the running for permanent CEO, has vowed there will be “no sacred cows” as the company reviews its business.
Shares ended Friday trading down 15 cents at $21.59. The stock has fallen 8 percent this year.
How’s that hopey changey thang workin’ out for ya?
The same way it worked out when Circuit City went belly up during the Bush administration.
This story is far from a snippet of some government effort to get more people employed. Read the story. Best Buy is competing with the internet prices and losing… Just like Circuit City did.
Best Buy is really not competitive in today’s world. Sears has it beat in the appliance price/service area, and gaming is now an on-line purchase exclusive.
There is no political tie-in here. If Best Buy were truly the “best buy,” consumers wouldn’t be buying the same items at cheaper venues.
Almost as well as that phrase’s relevance to the article above. Then again, I wouldn’t expect anyone who quotes that thing to have a relevant phrase ready.
This isn’t Hopey Changey!
This is the Rights “Beloved” Free Market Capitalism at work!
Everbody gets a Cheap Price,
Nobody gets a Job!
Don’t YOU just love it?
Ain’t it great?
You obviously don’t understand free markets. You probably also think health care or banking are a part of a free market.
I have a college degree that says otherwise.
What do you have a Book by Glenn Beck ?
The only comment I have on this story is that I had to click on it because the thumbnail photo looked like an old horse trailer surrounded by Queen Annes Lace and I couldn’t figure out the connection. Once I saw the larger photo, I could see it was a Best Buy. Better get my eyes checked!
Good riddance to the “Geek Squad employees. They are absolutely useless.
Another casualty of the Amazon conversion of America’s sidewalk shopping. I wonder how much longer Target can go? The palace on 494 will look good empty.