Company Profile
Best Buy Co., Inc.
Company Overview
Best Buy Co., Inc. (NYSE: BBY), is North America’s number one specialty retailer of consumer electronics, personal computers, entertainment software and appliances, with more than $19 billion in sales in the fiscal year ending March 2002. The Fortune 200 company employs more than 90,000 people worldwide and operates more than 1,900 retail stores throughout North America under the names: Best Buy, Future Shop, Magnolia Hi-Fi, Media Play, On Cue, Sam Goody and Suncoast. Currently headquartered in Eden Prairie, Minn., Best Buy will open a new corporate campus in Richfield, Minn. in late 2002.
Company History
In 1966, Best Buy Founder and Chairman Richard M. Schulze founded Sound of Music, an audio component systems retailer. By the early 1980s, the company quickly expanded into video products and appliances, adopting the name Best Buy in 1983. The company became a public organization in 1985 and began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in 1987. In 1989, Best Buy was one of the first retailers in the nation to shift to a superstore concept, which placed all inventory on the sales floor with non-commissioned product specialist. In 2002, Richard Schulze elected to turn over his responsibilities as CEO to Bradbury Anderson.
Notable Products / Brands
Best Buy, Future Shop, Magnolia Hi-Fi, Media Play, On Cue, Sam Goody and Suncoast