Best Buy Sees 77% Drop in Earnings, Looks to Lose Employees
Best Buy Sees 77% Drop in Earnings, Looks to Lose Employees
Posted 12/17/2008 at 6:22am
| by Paul Lilly
4
Comments
Print
Better than expected Black Friday sales weren't enough to offset what has been a supremely disappointing third-quarter for Best Buy. For Q3 2008, Best Buy reported earnings of $52 million, or 13 cents per share on revenue of $11.5 billion. Wall Street was expecting much better numbers to the tune of 24 cents per share. The disappointing earnings represent a 77 percent tumble from the same quarter last year.
"The historic slowdown in the economy and its effect on our business over the past 90 days have been the most challenging consumer environment our company has ever faced," Best Buy CEO Brad Anderson said in a statement. "We believe that there has been a dramatic and potentially long-lasting change in consumer behavior as people adjust to the new realities of the marketplace."
Moving forward, Best Buy will look to restructure starting with offering voluntary buyouts to most of its 4,000 corporate employees, followed by possible layoffs if the buyouts aren't taken.
Rival electronics retailer Circuit City has also been going through financial woes of its own, recently entering into bankruptcy and closing many of its stores.
Image Credit: Flickr insanehank
More like this
Sebie Kay
January 07, 2010 at 9:44am
Really, did anyone NOT see this coming? After all, you can only sell so many TV's, DVD players, Computers, etc in store.
Thankfully, I never spent much money at best buy. Terrible customer service, high prices (esp. compared to online retailers like newegg and tigerdirect), and even lying sales reps.
Just for kicks, I asked a sales rep if I could run Windows on a mac using boot camp. His 'professional' recommendation? 'Don't run windows. Too many viruses. Stick with mac, they can't catch a virus'. Oh, really, Mr. Geek Squad? I proceeded to go into the next aisle and locate a copy of Norton Antivirus for... MAC! Wow, imagine that!
Throw in the fact that their Geek Squad service is a rip off ('optimization' for HOW MUCH...?! Just to delete a few programs?) and you have a recipe for disgruntled customers.
Best Buy, I will you the way of drive-in movie theaters! You shall not be missed.
Cry of SOMNUS
December 17, 2008 at 10:19am
I have bought many things from Best Buy in the past, but their immature sales associates have been the sole reason for me not spending a majority of my money there. There really isn't a difference between them and fast food workers when it comes to technical knowledge. Every time I give them a try, some kid who thinks he/she knows it all always has to drive me away as a customer.
The economy may be slowing down, but people are still buying PCs. Although people who rely heavily on the "expert knowledge" of Best Buy employees may not be shopping for any new trends, gimmicks, or pretty tech, we business owners still have investments to make.
I was preparing to spend thousands on software and hardware for my business two weeks ago, and I made a point to shop around locally...although I have built all of my computers and assembled my own laptops...simply because I wanted to spend my money locally with times the way that they are. But, after a rude sales associate spoke briefly to me, and then refused to help me for 45 minutes, I decided that stimulating the local working force with my money wasn't worth it for that kind of inconvenience.
I am still buying DVDs, CDs, games, and software. My clients still need computers. Better service would have earned them our money...plain and simple.
kleinkinstein
December 17, 2008 at 9:39am
Don't forget they stock washers, dryers, coffee makers and vacuums too!
captrespect
December 17, 2008 at 9:25am
Is it the economy or is it because everyone already owns an xbox/ps3/wii, big screens and dvd players? Also with netflix, redbox and blockbuster, itunes etc, why buy cds or dvds anymore?
Connect with MaximumPC
Featured Content
We introduce Intel's latest class of tablet killers and review 4 of the first Ultra...
Where have all the memorable videogame enemies gone?
This month's issue
Feature
11 Hardware Hacks
Feature
Overclock Your CPU
How-To
Supercharge Your Smartphone
Build It
A Powerful $830 Rig
Most Commented Articles
Latest Max PC Tweets
- maximumpc: Analysts: 9-Inch Kindle Fire This Summer http://t.co/QDYApwCZ5 hours 37 min ago
- maximumpc: Micron: DRAM Prices Likely as Low as They're Going to Get http://t.co/fFUWuFOm8 hours 34 min ago
- maximumpc: Yar, Mateys! All Of Pirate Bay Made Available As A Single 90MB Zip File http://t.co/j5LHlXEZ9 hours 48 min ago
