renaissance center in durham north carolina . trading name best buy formerly called sound of music 1966 best buy co. superstores 1983 type public traded as nyse bby s & p 500 component industry retail founded august 22 1966 ; 50 years ago 1966 08 22 as sound of music 1983 1983 as best buy west st. paul minnesota u.s. founder richard m. schulze headquarters richfield minnesota u.s. number of locations 1 050 2016 areas served worldwide key people hubert joly chairman and ceo sharon mccollam cfo products consumer electronics revenue 42.568 billion 2016 operating income 2.375 billion 2016 total assets 14.421 billion 2016 total equity 4.977 billion 2016 number of employees 125 000 2016 divisions best buy canada best buy europe subsidiaries geek squad magnolia pacific sales future shop website www.bestbuy.com best buy is an american multinational consumer electronics corporation headquartered in richfield minnesota a minneapolis suburb . internationally it also operates in canada and mexico . it was formerly operational in china until february 2011 when the faction was merged with five star and in europe until 2012 . 1 the company was founded by richard m. schulze and gary smoliak in 1966 as an audio specialty store . in 1983 it was renamed and rebranded with more emphasis placed on consumer electronics . best buy s subsidiaries include geek squad magnolia audio video and pacific sales . best buy operates under the best buy best buy mobile geek squad magnolia audio video insignia and pacific sales brands in the united states ; the best buy geek squad and best buy mobile brands in canada ; best buy mobile and five star in china ; and best buy best buy express and geek squad in mexico . 1 best buy sells cellular phones with phones from verizon wireless at & t mobility sprint corporation boost mobile and t mobile us 2 in regular stores and standalone best buy mobile stores in shopping malls . best buy was named company of the year by forbes magazine in 2004 3 specialty retailer of the decade by discount store news in 2001 4 ranked in the top 10 of america s most generous corporations by forbes in 2005 based on 2004 giving 5 and made fortune magazine s list of most admired companies in 2006 . 6 hubert joly serves as best buy chairman and ceo . 7 contents 1 history 1.1 early history 1.2 2000s 1.3 2010s 2 corporate affairs 2.1 business operations 2.2 exclusive brands 3 criticism 3.1 warranty 3.2 pricing 3.3 analog televisions 3.4 environmental issues 4 references 5 external links history edit early history edit in august 1966 richard m. schulze and a business partner opened sound of music an electronics store specializing in high fidelity stereos in saint paul minnesota . 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 schulze financed the opening of his first store with his personal savings and a second mortgage he took out on his family s home . 16 18 in 1967 sound of music acquired kencraft hi fi company and bergo company . 18 sound of music earned 1 million in revenue and made about 58 000 in profits in its first year . 16 by 1969 schulze had bought out his business partner sound of music had three stores and the company became a publicly held company listed on the nasdaq exchange . 16 19 sound of music operated nine stores throughout minnesota by 1978 . 20 in 1981 the roseville minnesota sound of music location at the time the largest and most profitable sound of music store was hit by a tornado . 16 the store s roof was sheared off and showroom destroyed but the storeroom was left intact . 16 21 in response schulze decided to have a tornado sale of damaged and excess stock in the damaged store s parking lot . 16 he poured the remainder of his marketing budget into advertising the sale promising best buys on everything . 21 sound of music made more money during the four day sale than it did in a typical month . 17 in 1983 with seven stores and 10 million in annual sales sound of music was renamed best buy company inc. 20 21 the company also expanded its product offerings to include home appliances and vcrs in an attempt to expand beyond its then core customer base of 15 to 18 year old males . 21 later that year best buy opened its first superstore in burnsville minnesota . 21 the burnsville location featured a high volume low price business model which was borrowed partially from schulze s successful tornado sale in 1981 . 16 21 in its first year the burnsville store out performed all other best buy stores combined . 17 18 best buy debuted on the new york stock exchange in 1987 . 22 23 in 1989 the company introduced a new store concept dubbed concept ii . 18 22 concept ii replaced dimly lit industrial style stores with brighter and more fashionably fixtured stores . 18 stores also began placing all stock on the sales floor rather than in a stock room had fewer salespersons and provided more self help product information for its customers . 22 23 best buy also did away with commissioned salespeople . 16 22 the commission free sales environment created a more relaxed shopping environment free of the high pressure sales tactics used in other stores but was unpopular with salespersons and suppliers . 22 some suppliers such as maytag whirlpool and sony were upset that salespeople would no longer be pushing their products and stopped selling their wares in best buy stores . 16 17 the suppliers returned after best buy s sales and revenue grew following the roll out of concept ii . 21 in 1992 the company achieved 1 billion in annual revenues . 23 in 1995 best buy debuted concept iii stores which were larger than its previous stores . 23 24 the concept iii stores included expanded product offerings interactive touchscreen kiosks that displayed product information for both customers and employees and demonstration areas for products such as surround sound stereo systems and videogames . 24 25 best buy launched its concept iv stores with its expansion into new england in 1998 . 23 26 concept iv stores included an open layout with products organized by category cash registers located throughout the store and slightly smaller stores than concept iii stores . 27 the stores also had large areas for demonstrating home theater systems and computer software . 23 28 in 1999 best buy was added to standard & poor s s & p 500 . 23 2000s edit former best buy store located in shanghai china now closed and merged with five star . best buy corporate headquarters is located in richfield minnesota a suburb of minneapolis this best buy logo has appeared at mall of america since 2008 . best buy opens its 800th store in chicago illinois . in 2000 best buy formed redline entertainment an independent music label and action sports video distributor . 29 the company acquired magnolia hi fi inc. an audio video retailer located in california washington and oregon in december 2000 . 23 in january 2001 best buy acquired musicland stores corporation a minnetonka minnesota based retailer that sold home entertainment products under the sam goody suncoast motion picture company media play and oncue brands . 23 30 best buy purchased the company for 425 million in cash and the assumption of 271 million of musicland debt . 23 30 later that year best buy acquired the british columbia canada based electronics chain future shop ltd. marking its entrance to the international marketplace . 23 31 under the deal future shop was purchased for approximately 377 million and continued to operate as subsidiary independent from best buy canada . 32 33 brad anderson succeeded richard schulze as best buy ceo in july 2002 . 34 anderson had begun working at best buy in 1973 while attending seminary school . 34 he was promoted to vice president in 1981 and executive vice president in 1986 . anderson had most recently served as president and coo of best buy a position he had held since 1991 . 34 in september of that year best buy opened the first canadian best buy branded store in mississauga ontario . 35 in october best buy acquired minneapolis minnesota based geek squad then a 24 hour residential computer repair business with offices in minneapolis chicago illinois los angeles california and san francisco california . 34 best buy stores in the u.s. surpassed the 600 store mark and the company opened its first global sourcing office in shanghai china in 2003 . 36 37 in june best buy divested itself of musicland in a deal with sun capital partners under which sun capital received all of musicland s stock and debt . 38 best buy launched its reward zone loyalty program in july following an 8 month test of the program in san diego california . 39 also in 2003 best buy s corporate offices were consolidated into a single campus in richfield minnesota . in january 2004 best buy hired virtucom group to revamp best buy s website and handle all of the company s online content . 40 in may the company launched its customer centricty program which segmented its stores according to customer profiles . 41 the program also called for employees to focus on specific customer groups rather than product categories . 41 in october best buy completed rolling out geek squad precincts in every american best buy store . 42 in april 2005 best buy began eliminating mail in rebates in response to negative customer reaction against them and instead started giving out instant rebates via notebook computers . 43 in may 2006 best buy acquired a majority interest in chinese appliance retailer jiangsu five star appliance for 180 million . 44 at the time of the deal jiangsu was the fourth largest appliance chain in china with 193 stores across eight chinese provinces . 44 in june the company opened geek squad precincts at office depot in orlando florida . 39 the market test was later expanded to denver colorado . 45 in january 2007 the first best buy branded store in china officially opened in shanghai china . 46 in march 2007 best buy acquired speakeasy a seattle washington based broadband voip data and it services provider . 47 the acquisition was worth 80 million and under terms of the deal speakeasy began operating as a wholly owned subsidiary of best buy . 47 the company s products also became part of best buy s for business program . 47 best buy also expanded its geek squad market tests in march opening geek squad precincts in fedex kinkos stores located in indianapolis indiana and charlotte north carolina . 48 in october 2007 best buy became the first consumer electronics retailer to exit the analog television market carrying only digital products that became mandatory in june 2009 by the fcc . 49 in february 2008 best buy opened its first store in san juan puerto rico . 50 best buy s geek squad market tests in office depot and fedex kinkos stores ended by march . 51 also in march the company began promoting the blu ray optical disc format over the hd dvd format a move which ultimately contributed to toshiba s decision to drop hd dvd . 52 in may the company agreed to buy 50 % of the retail division of the carphone warehouse a london england based mobile phone retailer . 53 54 the deal was worth 2.1 billion . 54 in july 2008 best buy announced that it would start selling musical instruments and related gear in over 80 of its retail stores making the company the second largest musical instrument distributor in the us