Best Buy, Inc. (BBY)

By Trevor Born

Fortune 500 rank: 66

Founder: Richard Schulze

CEO: Bradbury Anderson

Headquarters:
7601 Penn Ave. S.
Richfield, MN 55423

What it does:
Best Buy is the largest electronics retailer in the world, with several subsidiary brands and a constantly growing international presence.

Brands:
Geek Squad (Computer service)
Magnolia (Home theater)
Audio Visions (Systems integration)
The Carphone Warehouse (Mobile retailer)
Five Star Appliance (Appliances)
Future Shop (Canadian electronics retailer)
Speakeasy (Broadband services)
Pacific Sales (Kitchen and bath)

Stores: 923

Store square footage: 48,580,000

Employees: 150,000

Minnesota Employees: 7,000

S & P Data from October 2008. Chart by Denise Rath.

History:
Best Buy was founded by Richard Schulze, along with business partner James Wheeler, as the Sound of Music store. It grew from a home and car stereo retail store in St. Paul into a chain of stores with yearly revenue of almost $10 million when the company was renamed to Best Buy, Inc. in 1984.

In 1987, the company went public, and annual revenues reached $1 billion five years later.

With the launch of a new BestBuy.com in 2000, the company began expanding through acquisitions: Magnolia was purchased in 2000, Future Shop in 2001 and Geek Squad in 2002.

Best Buy first went international with Future Shop, Canada's biggest consumer electronics retailer. In 2003, they moved to China, and entered Europe in 2006 with the purchase of The Carphone Warehouse, Europe's biggest mobile phone retailer, with plans to open stores in 2009. Currently, the company is preparing to open stores in Turkey and Mexico.

Trevor Born is a sophomore journalism and African-American studies student at the University of Minnesota and owner of Purple Press Magazine. He has written for the Associated Press, the Star Tribune and the Minnesota Daily.