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.
But shortly after
that 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.
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