Best Buy

New York -- Richard Schulze, founder of Best Buy Co., may abandon a buyout bid and instead line up investors to take a minority position in the electronics retailer, Reuters reported.
 
Schulze informed the Best Buy board in August that he was interested in partnering with private equity partners to buy the struggling consumer electronics company. But he has been unable to get enough support from banks to finance a deal that would allow him to take it private, the report said.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — The Retail Industry Leaders Association (RILA) added five industry executives to its board of directors during its semi-annual meeting on Jan. 28 in Los Angeles, Calif. Also as a part of the meeting, Walmart president and CEO Bill Simon was re-elected to the board. Executives joining the board are elected to serve two-year terms. 

Joining the RILA board of directors are:

Minneapolis -- Best Buy Co. on Friday reported revenue of $12.8 billion for the nine weeks ended January 5, 2013, compared with $12.9 billion for the nine weeks ended December 31, 2011. Online revenue rose 10%.

Same-store sales were down 1.4%.  Domestic same-store sales were flat, but fell 6.4% internationally.

Los Gatos, Calif. -- BrightSign that LifeProof has deployed the company’s players in point-of-purchase displays in Best Buy retail stores. LifeProof, a manufacturer of rugged cases for iPhone and iPad, is using 1,600 inline displays in Best Buy’s 800 U.S.-based stores to engage customers and generate sales in the increasingly competitive iOS accessories market.

New York -- Two directors of Best Buy Co.  have resigned from the board of the retailer, the company disclosed in a regulatory filing Monday, the Wall Street Journal reported.

G. "Mike" Mikan, who served as Best Buy's interim CEO in the wake of CEO Brian Dunn’s resignation last April, has left the board to become president of ESL Investments Inc., the hedge fund run by Sears’ Edward Lampert. Mikan, whose appointment is effective Jan. 1, will report to Lampert, the firm said today in a statement.

NEW YORK — ESL Investments has appointed G. Mike Mikan as its new president. Mikan will report to Edward S. Lampert, founder, chairman and CEO of ESL Investments.

Mikan held various executive positions throughout a 14-year period at UnitedHealth Group, including serving as EVP and CFO, as well as CEO of its Optum subsidiary. Mikan has served on the board of directors of Best Buy Co. since 2008. He was appointed Best Buy’s interim chief executive in April 2012, and served until September 2012.

New York City -- A report issued Thursday by Experian Marketing Services found that online traffic to the top 500 retail sites on Christmas Day 2012 rose 27% compared to 2011.

The top retail sites received more than 115.5 million total U.S. visits, according to Experian. To date the holiday online traffic for the past 7 weeks to retail sites are up 10% for 2012 vs. 2011.

Other report key findings include:
    

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Symantec, a global leader in security, backup and availability solutions, has appointed Stephen Gillett as its EVP and COO.