It appears that Best Buy founder Richard Schulze will not be resuming control of the struggling electronics retail giant any time soon. Negotiations between the Best Buy and Schulze’s investment group have concluded without an agreement for taking the company private, sources with knowledge of the matter told The New York Times, although they cautioned that talks could resume in the future. Schulze, who founded Best Buy in 1966 and served as CEO until 2002, still owns 20 percent of the company and had proposed paying between $24 and $26 per share in cash to acquire the outstanding shares he doesn’t own — a premium of as much as 40 percent over today’s closing price of $17.50. Schulze told the company’s board last August that he would pay up to $8.8 billion for the big-box electronics chain, saying he was “deeply concerned about the direction of the company.”
About Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with AI strategy, implementation and governance, as well as technology, media and marketing. Named one of LinkedIn’s Top Voices in Technology, he is a bestselling author, covers tech and business for Fox 5’s Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN, and writes the popular daily business blog Think About This. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.