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Co-founder Schulze thinks so, and in his case, the bright yellow tag reads "$6.9bn" for the 80% he doesn't yet control:
Best Buy founder offers to buy company, take it private

Frankly, I'm not sure what Best Buy can do as a private company that it can't already do now.

More likely, it's a cynical ploy to bump up the ASP of BB's shares before he dumps all of his stock.

Maybe they could quit caring about quarterly results and focus on long term sustainability and, well, not sucking?

How much money do people need anyways, just sell the shares he has now and be done with it, I actually hope he gets overly greedy and it all backfires on him.

Stick a fork in 'em, they're done. Just because the original owner was able to build a B&M electronics retailing powerhouse in the pre-Internet days doesn't mean he could build one today or can turn around the train wreck that Best Buy has become.

paulWTAMU wrote:

Maybe they could quit caring about quarterly results and focus on long term sustainability and, well, not sucking?

That would be something (that almost all US based companies could use).

Also, I feel like Best Buy is going to keep getting hit in a lot of areas thanks to the internet and digital distribution. I think it's nice to walk into a store and check/buy something, but especially in the games/movies/music scene, your reasons for going to Best Buy are going away. Maybe to stay relevant they need to make major changes and cuts, which would be much easier, again, if you weren't worried about quarterly and day-to-day results

just brew it! wrote:

Stick a fork in 'em, they're done. Just because the original owner was able to build a B&M electronics retailing powerhouse in the pre-Internet days doesn't mean he could build one today or can turn around the train wreck that Best Buy has become.

This is my consensus. One of my favorite stores 10 years ago, they are irrelevent and a dying dinosaur.

I'm sure the name will live on regardless. TigerDirect will no doubt snap up the rights to the name and web site, just like they did with CompUSA and Circuit City.

The only thing that's been keeping BB alive for years has been appliance sales, and Home Depot/Lowe's have been chipping away at that market for some time now. Yeah, I'm betting against them. They can take their overpriced media and cables and shove 'em.

Vrock wrote:

The only thing that's been keeping BB alive for years has been appliance sales, and Home Depot/Lowe's have been chipping away at that market for some time now. Yeah, I'm betting against them. They can take their overpriced media and cables and shove 'em.

I hear ya there,lol, sometimes I have wondered how they have lasted this long, up here we also have Future Shop, which Best Buy bought, so sometimes you can play the price match against each of them, the one in my area is next door to a Future Shop but even that is very rare now.

Last thing I grabbed from Best Buy was a 27 inch Samsung monitor that Canada Computers had on for quite cheap, low and behold Best Buy had the same, they tried to say we don't price match Canada Computers......................I blew a fuse as politely as I can and they changed their tune:)

They should just turn them into Amazon fulfillment centers and be done with it.

MethylONE wrote:

They should just turn them into Amazon fulfillment centers and be done with it.

I kind of wondered about that option. If Amazon finally sees the handwriting on the wall for state sales taxes, snapping up Best Buy might be the easiest way to gain immediate access to the accounting infrastructure as well as B&M distribution points for customers who want instant gratification on their order. But I'll bet they would have to close at least half of the existing store base to make it work.

Either way, Best Buy as we know it now would still vanish.

There is some need for a computer parts store you can run to when too desperate to wait for shipping.

However, I've noticed Home Depot and Lowe's have growing computer hardware sections, and I bet they could out-compete the computer section of Best Buy if they tried.

The remaining portions of Best Buy -- appliances and DVD's -- would be left to go head-to-head with Sears and Blockbuster. Neither choice sounds like a particularly exciting or profitable market to be in these days.

I wish there was a Fry's Electronics as close to me as Best Buy is.

sparkman wrote:

There is some need for a computer parts store you can run to when too desperate to wait for shipping.

I think Radio Shack fulfills that need about as well as Best Buy does. Though, I don't know how they're still around either.

There's a place for stores like Best Buy but Best Buy does it completely wrong. I was in one today, actually spent about $20 more on a router because I needed it right away. The laundry list of improvements is long. I'd start by reducing staff, transforming geek squad and focusing on demos. Sell TVs like furniture, not like produce. I think Apple's retail model could be done bigger and better.

But eh... they're probably just on the slow crawl of death.

it is more than likely that internet tax will become a norm in few short years. That will eliminate some price advantage the online retailers enjoy over B&M shops like best buy.

But the biggest problem with best-buy is their poor store experience. Whereas their local presence where a person can go see, touch, and buy stuff should be an advantage, the best-buy manages to make it a dis-advantage via way of indifferent, and somtimes rude and certainly not kowledgeable, floor staff, and long lines at check-out, not to mention hideous prices particularly on cables and accessories.

It should be possible to make best-buy, and for that matter any B&M chains, a good place to buy stuff by training staff to become knowledgeable and courteous and also putting more personel at checkout stands. It will also help to spruce-up store image if they try not to gauge customers with inflated prices on accessories.

The problem then is you ahve to spend money to train staff...something retail (IME as a retail drone for a few years) is totally not going to do.

Anarchist wrote:

not to mention hideous prices particularly on cables and accessories

$19.99 for something you can get elsewhere for $2.18 isn't just hideous, it is completely divorced from reality. OK, so they throw in free shipping. But even taking shipping charges into account, I can get 5 of them from Monoprice for what I'd be paying Best Buy for just 1.

Being an employee from Best Buy I can personally see all the problems the company is facing first hand. The employees lack motivation, the prices are outrages and Geek Squad (Where I work) keeps getting restructured to be more and more like sales which we are not. Competitors like Tiger-direct are murdering the company. I tend to buy things from there because their prices even beat employee discount.

My store just underwent a restructuring and had a few layoffs. GS was untouched because we are already at the bare minimum to have at least one employee there at all times. IMO I believe the company has at most 8 years left before it gets bought out buy someone or goes completely belly up.

Castle wrote:

IMO I believe the company has at most 8 years left before it gets bought out buy someone or goes completely belly up.

I suspect the end will come quickly and without much warning. Unless there's a miraculous turnaround I'd be surprised if they last 8 more years; I'd give 'em only 4. My advice to you is to start working on your exit strategy if you haven't already.

absurdity wrote:

I think Radio Shack fulfills that need about as well as Best Buy does. Though, I don't know how they're still around either.

Because RadioShack emphasizes customer service. Some stores are better at it than others, but in general, if your tech-mystified great aunt showed up with a 15yo cordless phone handset, RadioShack will cross reference the battery to a current stock number, install it for her at no additional charge, and then tell her some useful things such as "Be sure to put the handset on the base when you get home and leave it there overnight, and it will be ready to use again in the morning." People will keep going back for that.

You might get an employee at Best Buy who is that committed, but in general (a) no, you won't and (b) the big-store atmosphere is more intimidating than the small-store model RadioShack uses.

just brew it! wrote:

Anarchist wrote:

not to mention hideous prices particularly on cables and accessories

$19.99 for something you can get elsewhere for $2.18 isn't just hideous, it is completely divorced from reality. OK, so they throw in free shipping. But even taking shipping charges into account, I can get 5 of them from Monoprice for what I'd be paying Best Buy for just 1.

This needs to be put in global context of what you get in exchange for the privilege of having high-priced goods offered in pricey-looking shops. In an advanced economy with a growing population, defending high average margins is crucial to maintaining decent, high-paying jobs. There is a structural type of economy where private firms are worked hard to extract viable long-term profits from low-margin sales, and mainland China with its low wage structures and manufacturing terms pretty much owns that setup. I would complain about these things before, but once I began on purchasing missions to the PRC my premises went sideways.

Most asians outside of Japan and Singapore get by with little because they expect little. Even aspiring Chinese in the coastal regions don't usually enjoy spacious and clean stores in which they can try stuff on the shelves and demo things and game the warranty and promo systems as they please. Even in modern Singapore (from what I remember) and Hong Kong, most people walk or ride public transit to shopping streets or category-specific malls full of tiny shops selling mostly identical and oftentimes shoddy goods in more restrictive settings while watched over by pushy staff or shopowners.

Some may think this distributed operational pie is an economic and environmental advantage, but it doesn't seem so at point-of-sale if you purchase lots of stuff or a biggie requiring paid delivery. Retail purchases throughout China are normally settled in cash unless it's some flagship store like Apple. Electronics warranties can be numbered in weeks and returns are hassle free only at the more tourist-oriented shops. It can be a cool experience for the sociable and many promos and bargains do abound for those who know what they want. But an efficient and carefree retail experience it rarely is, and this is what piddly margins race down to absent market-distorting interventions like stiff regulations or shortsighted bailouts.

sparkman wrote:

There is some need for a computer parts store you can run to when too desperate to wait for shipping.

There are very few cases where I would be desperate enough to pay their extreme price markups to get something 2-3 days sooner. In a lot of cases you could even pay for next day shipping online and still get it cheaper than Best Buy. Best Buy as a "computer parts" store is somewhat limited as well. They don't sell motherboards or processors at all for example, and the parts they do carry have a limited variety.

I'm just glad I have a Microcenter near me. It makes Best Buy look like a joke (when it comes to computer parts anyway).

paulWTAMU wrote:

The problem then is you ahve to spend money to train staff...something retail (IME as a retail drone for a few years) is totally not going to do.

They often turn away potential employees who are already knowledgeable as well, if they don't think they'll be good salespeople. It's all about SALES SALES SALES, and they don't seem to care about knowledge or expertise at all. I guess it makes sense though. Inform your customers too much and they'll realize what a bad deal they are getting.

Because of the silly pop on this news, it might be a good short.

I'm not sure how the founder could get good enough funding terms to privatize Best Buy at the price he stated.

@trackerben -

If everything costs more because retailers are "defending high average margins", then the wages from those "decent high paying jobs" are an illusion since they don't translate into additional buying power. All you've done is cause inflation. I fail to see how keeping margins artificially high just so you can pay high wages to people who add little value makes any sense at all.

The rise of online shopping and online product reviews has turned the traditional retail paradigm for most consumer goods on its head (major appliances and automobiles being the exceptions). The battle isn't big B&M retailers versus China-style marketplaces, it is B&M retailers versus online retailers. The genie is out of the bottle; there's no going back.

travbrad wrote:

They often turn away potential employees who are already knowledgeable as well, if they don't think they'll be good salespeople. It's all about SALES SALES SALES, and they don't seem to care about knowledge or expertise at all. I guess it makes sense though. Inform your customers too much and they'll realize what a bad deal they are getting.

I wanted to work there once...I was turned away because I said straight-up I wouldn't let customers buy something they didn't need. That ended my thoughts of ever working there.

ludi wrote:

Because RadioShack emphasizes customer service. Some stores are better at it than others, but in general, if your tech-mystified great aunt showed up with a 15yo cordless phone handset, RadioShack will cross reference the battery to a current stock number, install it for her at no additional charge, and then tell her some useful things such as "Be sure to put the handset on the base when you get home and leave it there overnight, and it will be ready to use again in the morning." People will keep going back for that.

My first retail job was Radio Shack, and even though it was over 20 years ago I still remember how good it made me, and not just the customer, feel to know I sold them good service as well as a product off the shelf. And you're right- people will come in and ask for you by name if you treated them well. Back in the days when we got paid commission, that was always a good thing.

MethylONE wrote:

They should just turn them into Amazon fulfillment centers and be done with it.

NOW, there's a really cool idea!

just brew it! wrote:

@trackerben -

If everything costs more because retailers are "defending high average margins", then the wages from those "decent high paying jobs" are an illusion since they don't translate into additional buying power. All you've done is cause inflation. I fail to see how keeping margins artificially high just so you can pay high wages to people who add little value makes any sense at all.

The rise of online shopping and online product reviews has turned the traditional retail paradigm for most consumer goods on its head (major appliances and automobiles being the exceptions). The battle isn't big B&M retailers versus China-style marketplaces, it is B&M retailers versus online retailers. The genie is out of the bottle; there's no going back.

(OFFTOPIC WARNING! this is my same argument against minimum wage... Any further replies should be done in R&P! )

aranarth wrote:

(OFFTOPIC WARNING! this is my same argument against minimum wage... Any further replies should be done in R&P! )