Best Buy

According to a filing by Best Buy, former CEO Brian Dunn may receive $3.3 million or zero in termination payments following his highly publicized resignation. The payout is dependent on whether Dunn is determined to have left voluntarily on April 9. In the filing, Best Buy said it's reviewing Dunn’s compensation pending its investigation into his personal conduct. The company also said it will make the results of the probe publicly available and will disclose the final terms of his departure once resolution is reached. Dunn is accused of using company resources to conduct an improper relationship with a female employee.

We picked 23 of Internet Retailer's top 25 companies (from the IR 500) and looked at 50 brands that these companies own to find the best overall inbox delivery and open rates over the last 90 days. Piperlime.com, with 99 percent inbox delivery, and Banana Republic and iTunes at 98 percent, were at the absolute top of the inbox delivery range. Kmart, HP, Gap, Netflix, Old Navy, Best Buy and Bath & Body Works all follow closely behind with delivery in the 97th percentile.

Barry Judge, Best Buy's global chief marketing officer, has stepped down. An executive close to Best Buy confirmed the departure. Mr. Judge's former Twitter handle @BestBuyCMO is now blank, and he is tweeting from @barryjudge. The retailer did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Best Buy is pulling the plug on a rent-to-own pilot program it launched last year with Rent-A-Center. Dow Jones reports that the Richfield, Minn.-based retailer pulled Rent-A-Center kiosks from a Chicago-area store and confirmed that Best Buy wouldn't pursue the program any further. Rent-A-Center executives said in March that the program was going well. Best Buy started the rent-to-own program last summer.

Struggling big-box retailer Best Buy yesterday released a list of 42 store closures. Richfield, Minn.-based Best Buy announced a round of 50 store closures in late March, but at that time didn't identify the stores that would close. Since then, it's closed two stores (one in Kansas City, Mo. and one in Scottsdale, Ariz.) and has notified five Twin Cities stores and one San Antonio store that they'll close later this year. 

Best Buy's probe into former Chief Executive Officer Brian Dunn's personal conduct remains open after the electronics retailer's interim CEO told employees the disclosure of Dunn's departure was confusing. Best Buy announced Dunn's resignation yesterday, saying that the change was part of a "mutual agreement" that new leadership was needed. The company later said a board committee was investigating Dunn's "personal conduct, unrelated to the company's operations or financial control."

The board of directors for Best Buy announced that Brian Dunn has resigned as chief executive officer and director. There were no disagreements between Dunn and the company on any matter relating to operations, financial controls, policies or procedures. A mutual agreement was reached that it was time for new leadership to address the challenges that the company faces. Director G. Mike Mikan, a Best Buy director since April 2008, has been named interim CEO to lead the company while a search for a new CEO is underway.

Retail needs to adapt or die. That was the call to action sounded by Eddie Lampert, founder of ESL Partners, which controls about 60 percent of Sears Holdings. Lampert said changes in the retail industry have been great for consumers, but there's a question about whether they've been great for businesses. “J.C. Penney is in need of reinvention, Sears is in need of reinvention, Best Buy [is] in need of reinvention,” he said. “And that means that you’re going to have to try new things. That doesn’t mean you're going to be successful, but you have to try to change.”

Best Buy last week gave details of its "Connected Store," a slightly smaller format which CEO Brian Dunn described as "remodeled big-box stores that focus on connections, services and an enhanced multichannel experience." As part of a test, two full markets in the Twin Cities and San Antonio will be reset with the new format later this year. 

Best Buy has announced as part of its dismal quarterly earnings report that it's closing 50 of its 1,100 U.S. stores this year, while testing smaller tech support-centric "connected stores" in San Antonio and Minneapolis. As part of its restructuring, it will also lay off 400 corporate and support workers in order to slash $800 million in costs and turn around its struggling business model.