Best Buy cuts wages, jobs in its stores

Minneapolis A reorganization that Best Buy Co. is rolling out will lead to job cuts and lower pay for thousands of Best Buy store employees, an analyst said Wednesday, according to a Reuters report.

In a note to investors, Bernstein research analyst Colin McGranahan said Best Buy has implemented a reorganization over the past week that includes consolidating supervisory roles and reducing store labor costs.

He estimated about 1,000 salaried assistant store managers could be cut and 8,000 senior associates could receive pay cuts as they are essentially demoted to regular sales associates.

Supervisors who are cut will have 30 days to reapply to both supervisory and non-supervisory roles, while senior sales associates who will become regular sales associates will receive their pay differential in quarterly payment for three quarters before they transition to a lower hourly rate, he said.