New Outsider CEO at Best Buy Faces Numerous Challenges
Electronics and appliance retailer Best Buy has tapped outsider Hubert Joly to take over as chief executive officer. This will be Joly’s first foray into retail, but the Frenchman is known for his ability to fix struggling companies, a group in which Best Buy currently finds itself. Joly not only will have to deal with Best Buy’s competitive position in a category dominated by the likes of Amazon and other online discounters, but there is the ongoing drama with Best Buy’s founder Richard Schulze, who is fighting to acquire the company and take it private. The efforts by the founder could prove to be a major distraction for the company’s third new CEO in six months. Joly joins 213 other replacement CEOs tracked this year who came from outside the organization, according to global outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. Through July, retail firms have seen 23 CEO changes so far this year. Will Joly’s lack of experience in retail be a detriment to his ability to improve Best Buy’s situation? How might Richard Schulze’s efforts to buy the company impact the new CEO? What changes can be expected within the ranks of top management with the arrival of Joly?
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