New chairman named at Best Buy, results of Dunn investigation revealed

MINNEAPOLIS — A new era is emerging at Best Buy as the company tries to come back from the fallout over disgraced former CEO Brian Dunn and re-establish itself is the dominant player in the CE space. To that end, the company's board of directors has elected Hatim Tyabji to succeed Richard Schulze as chairman of the company, effective at the conclusion of the annual meeting on June 21. Tyabji, currently chairman of the audit committee, has served as a director of Best Buy since 1998.



When Schulze steps down as chairman, he will become founder and chairman emeritus, an honorary position. Schulze will serve out the remainder of his term as director through June 2013.



“Hatim’s history of leadership combines technology, retail, financial and mobile experience at the most senior levels,” said lead independent director Matthew Paull. “He has founded companies, chaired and served on boards and successfully led enterprises through long-term growth and change. The board is grateful for his many years of service and is pleased to expand his role to chairman.”



In regards to Dunn, an independent investigation revealed that the former CEO violated company policy by engaging in "an extremely close personal relationship with a female employee that negatively impacted the work environment." And while the report did find the relationship to be poor judgment on Dunn's part, he was not found guily of misusing company resources or of the company aircraft. In addition, as part of the investigation, it was determined that the chairman of the board of directors acted inappropriately when he failed to bring the matter to the audit committee of the board of directors in December 2011, when the allegations were first raised with him.



“In December, when the conduct of our then-CEO was brought to my attention, I confronted him with the allegations (which he denied), told him his conduct was totally unacceptable and contrary to Best Buy’s policies and everything I, and the company, stand for. I understand and accept the findings of the audit committee,” said Schulze.



The full report can be viewed at www.bby.com.