Best Buy chooses new chief executiveAugust 20, 2012 - 11:31 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - Electronics retailer Best Buy has chosen a new chief executive as it grapples with lagging sales and a proposal to take the company private by its founder. Hubert Joly stepped down as CEO of hospitality and restaurant giant Carlson to lead the struggling electronics giant, CNET reported citing The Wall Street Journal. Best Buy touted Joly as having a record turning around companies in the media, technology and services sectors. Joly, who is French, is expected to assume his new position next month once he secures a visa, the Journal said. The appointment comes on the heels of a proposal by Best Buy founder and ousted chairman Richard Schulze to acquire the brick-and-mortar retailer and take it private. Schulze, who already owns about 20 percent of Best Buy, has proposed paying between $24 and $26 per share in cash to the company to acquire the outstanding shares he doesn't own -- a premium of 36 percent to 47 percent on its Friday closing price of $17.64. Schulze, who founded Best Buy in 1966 and served as the company's CEO until 2002, got caught up in a scandal involving former CEO Brian Dunn earlier this year. A Best Buy investigation found that Dunn had engaged in an "extremely close personal relationship with a female employee that negatively impacted the work environment." After that relationship was discovered, Dunn was asked to resign as chairman. During its investigation, the audit committee found that Schulze had learned of the relationship but didn't inform anyone, prompting the board to ask him to step down. With more than 1,400 stores, the company has been struggling to compete with online retailers. For the previous fiscal year, the Richfield, Minn.-based company posted a loss of $1.2 billion for its last fiscal year, which ended March 31, compared with a $1.3 billion profit for the previous year. Top stories Yerevan will host the 2024 edition of the World Congress On Information Technology (WCIT). Rustam Badasyan said due to the lack of such regulation, the state budget is deprived of VAT revenues. Krisp’s smart noise suppression tech silences ambient sounds and isolates your voice for calls. Gurgen Khachatryan claimed that the "illegalities have been taking place in 2020." Partner news Most popular in the section | Czech-Armenian military cooperation discussed in Yerevan A delegation led by the Director General for the Industrial Cooperation Division of the Ministry of Defence of the Czech Republic visited Armenia. U.S. welcomes efforts to define Armenia-Azerbaijan border The United States welcomes efforts to define the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan, says Vedant Patel. Biden honors resilience of Armenian people on April 24 U.S. President Joe Biden has issued a statement on the 109th anniversary of the Armenian Genocide. Ex-Karabakh leader moved to solitary confinement cell in Baku, his son says David Vardanyan is the son of former Karabakh leader Ruben Vardanyan who who is currently imprisoned in Azerbaijan. |