Best Buy Co

Best Buy Co. said it was testing the possibility of selling Apple Computer Inc.'s full line of computers in its stores.

Customer satisfaction has become such a scarce commodity in the business world, it's now a selling point at a time when companies are increasingly desperate for shoppers' dollars. This week, electronics heavyweight Best Buy launched a nationwide marketing campaign under the banner "They'll be happy, you'll be happy, we'll be happy." What they're saying is that the company will bend over backward to help you shop for gifts this holiday season and will do whatever it takes to ensure that gift recipients are pleased with what they get. This, in turn, will warm the hearts of Best Buy shareholders.

Best Buy Co. plans to open about 130 stores in the United States, Canada and China during its fiscal year beginning March 4, the company said. The Richfield, Minn.-based retail chain said it expected global retail square footage of about 46 million square feet, representing growth of 10%.

Walking between rows of DVDs at the Best Buy store in West Hollywood, Brandy Moore admits that she doesn't always buy the shiny discs anymore since she started downloading movies and TV shows from Apple's iTunes Store. There's just one problem: She hasn't figured out how to watch them on her TV. "I have a friend who's going to come over and set that up for me," the 34-year-old Los Feliz resident says. "I'm not a computer nerd." Moore and legions of the technologically challenged like her represent the next frontier for Best Buy, which is not only the nation's largest electronics retail chain but also the second-biggest seller of DVDs, behind Wal-Mart.

Connecticut's attorney general announced a lawsuit against Best Buy Co., accusing it of denying deals on www.BestBuy.com. Atty. Gen. Richard Blumenthal said store employees charged customers higher prices found on a look-alike internal website. The lawsuit seeks refunds for consumers, civil penalties, court costs, a ban on the practice and other remedies. Richfield, Minn.-based Best Buy denied Blumenthal's allegations.

The Sopranos have put a legal hit on Best Buy Co. Actors playing America's favorite dysfunctional gangsters are suing the Minnesota-based electronics chain in Los Angeles County Superior Court for allegedly misappropriating their likenesses in a newspaper ad supplement last year. Best Buy representatives could not be reached for comment.

Dell Inc. will sell notebook and desktop PCs through Best Buy Co., expanding its push into retail to challenge larger rival Hewlett-Packard Co. The computers will go on sale at more than 900 U.S. stores in the next few weeks, Dell said. Best Buy is the biggest U.S. consumer-electronics retailer. Chief Executive Michael Dell has put his PCs into more than 10,000 stores since retaking command of the company in January.

Best Buy Co., the nation's largest consumer-electronics retailer, said its fiscal third-quarter earnings jumped to $54.4 million, or 52 cents a share, from $26.4 million, or 29 cents, a year ago, as revenue climbed 18% to $2.49 billion. The results beat analyst forecasts by two cents. Sales at stores open at least a year jumped 12%. Prices for newer products, such as digital cameras and DVD, have fallen in the last year, spurring consumer demand.

Best Buy Co. jettisoned its money-losing Musicland division, turning it over to closely held Sun Capital Partners Inc. two years after buying the music and video chain for $696 million. No cash was involved in the transaction. Sun Capital assumed all liabilities, including leases, of the operator of 1,137 Sam Goody, Suncoast and Media Play stores, said Lisa Hawks, a Best Buy spokeswoman. The liabilities will be disclosed when Richfield, Minn.-based Best Buy releases quarterly results Wednesday.

One of the nation's biggest sellers of DVDs is making a leap into movie downloading. Best Buy Inc. is expected to announce today that it is partnering with online video provider CinemaNow to create a movie downloading service that would be integrated into most devices the electronics retailer sells that can be connected to the Internet, including televisions, DVD players, computers and phones. Facing an industrywide decline in sales of physical media such as DVDs and CDs, Best Buy has been making an aggressive push into digital delivery.

Best Buy Co. narrowed its fiscal 2009 earnings forecast Friday and said it would take an approximately $60-million fourth-quarter charge related to some employee buyouts. The nation's No. 1 electronics retailer is trying to control costs and inventory as consumer anxiety grows amid the worsening recession and job losses. The pullback by shoppers, which has hurt a wide swath of retailers, has been so sharp that Best Buy hasn't been able to take advantage of its largest rival's bankruptcy woes.

Best Buy Co. said Tuesday that its second-quarter profit slid 19% as it spent money to boost cellphone sales by completing the rollout of its Best Buy Mobile concept to nearly 1,000 North American stores. Revenue rose, however, as consumers bought more flat-panel TVs, laptops and cellphones, ahead of forecasts. The nation's largest consumer electronics retailer earned $202 million, or 48 cents a share, for the three months ended Aug. 30. That's down from $250 million, or 55 cents, a year earlier.

Hoping to cater to everyone from the garage guitarist to the recording artist, Best Buy Co. is announcing plans to set aside store space for an array of musical instruments and gear in dozens of sites nationwide. The nation's largest consumer electronics retailer will announce Tuesday that it plans to open as many as 85 music centers inside its stores by the end of the year and could add more locations in the future, executives said.

Best Buy Co. said its fiscal first-quarter profit dropped 7%, but what its management didn't say seemed to bother Wall Street more. Executives at the nation's largest consumer electronics retailer did not predict a larger-than-expected full-year profit or a turnaround in the economy. They did not forecast a big boost from the economic stimulus checks that went out just before the end of the quarter. Best Buy shares dropped 5%.

Best Buy Co. said Friday that its annual profit would be smaller than expected, hurt by a slowing economy as shoppers held back on purchasing TVs, digital music players and cameras. But the nation's largest consumer electronics retailer bet on a rebound by saying it would keep investing in new stores, including as many as 25 in China. That's a move that could widen its lead over rival Circuit City Stores Inc. -- or hurt it if the slowdown persists. Its shares fell $1.15, or 2.5%, to $44.62.

Best Buy Co., the largest U.S. consumer-electronics retailer, stopped selling analog televisions this month in advance of the transition to digital broadcasts in 2009. The Richfield, Minn., company is the first national retailer to pull analog TVs from its shelves. It said it would stock digital-TV converter boxes starting in 2008. Best Buy is trying to fend off Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Best Buy Co., the largest U.S. consumer-electronics chain, said December sales growth at stores open at least 14 months grew at the slowest pace in five years, sending the shares down the most since June. So-called same-store sales rose 1.5%, the smallest increase since the 0.4% gain in December 2002. In the year-earlier period, sales climbed 7%. December sales results from electronics retailers are an indicator of how they fared in the fourth quarter, when most of their annual profits are earned.

The Connecticut attorney general's office sued Best Buy in May, charging the electronics heavyweight with using deceptive in-store websites to trick customers into paying higher prices than available on the company's actual site. "We thought Best Buy had addressed this," Connecticut Atty. Gen. Richard Blumenthal told me the other day. "That's what they said to us. Apparently that's not the case." Apparently not.