Best Buy has not had the best 2012 so far. The large electronics retailer has already announced the closure of 50 of its stores. It has also seen its CEO resign due to allegations of poor "personal conduct" and Best Buy founder Richard Schulze resigned soon afterward.
Now the bad news continues as CNBC.com reports that Best Buy has confirmed it will lay off 2,400 team members. That"s about 1.4 percent of the total Best Buy workforce which numbers 167,000. These cuts are on top of the ones that the company announced as part of its plans to close 50 stores.
600 of those layoffs will come from the company"s Geek Squad tech repair and support service. The numbers represent about three percent of the total Geek Squad team members.
Best Buy has been struggling to stay afloat as more and more people turn to other retail stores, such as Walmart, to purchase items like PCs, game consoles, and televisions. The Wall Street Journal reports that the company is trying an experiment in 60 of its store locations. These test stores are smaller than the normal Best Buy store and focus on selling smartphones, tablets and e-readers. They also have a help desk that seems to be modeled on the Apple Store"s Genius Bar setup.
Source: CNBC.com