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FORTUNE.COM // MAY.1.
RETAIL
Can Best Buy
Keep Winning?
The blue-and-yellow big box turns to a trusted
lieutenant of its turnaround CEO. By Phil Wahba
BEST BUY’S best guy is stepping down.
Frenchman Hubert Joly, who has over-
seen a remarkable transformation at the electronics
retailer, will be succeeded by its chief financial officer
Corie Barry on June 11.
A 20-year veteran of Best Buy, Barry has been
an instrumental part of the executive team that has
helped Joly pull off one of the most dramatic rein-
ventions of a major retailer, ever. Joly will stay on as
executive chairman and advise Barry on matters
of strategy.
Joly took a com-
pany posting quarter
after quarter of sales
declines and carved
out a new place for
Best Buy in shoppers’
routines. He pushed
the retailer to add
many services, giving
customers a reason to
come to stores, and,
in a show of pragma-
tism, teamed up with
brands, most notably
Amazon, to have
shop-in-shops.
His strategies, for
which Barry was a
key architect, have
paid off handsomely:
On his watch, shares
have more than qua-
drupled in value, with
Best Buy’s market
capitalization reach-
ing nearly $20 bil-
lion. In February,
Best Buy reported its
eighth straight quar-
ter of comparable
sales growth.
To build on that
momentum, Best
Buy will need to
continue to diversify
its business. Barry
was the force behind
its entry into digi-
tal health care and
wearables, an area
of potential growth,
especially as a retir-
ing population gets
increasingly tech-
savvy. More plays
like that will be
needed to maintain
a strong pulse.
Barring changes
at other companies,
Barry will be the 30th
woman serving as a
Fortune 500 CEO.
MAY’S HALLOWEEN
NIGHTMARE
After failing to meet
an extended deadline
for Brexit, Theresa May
has been given until
Oct. 31 to deliver one of
these three outcomes.
BREXIT
Revoking Article 50—formally ending Brexit—would tear
May’s Conservative Party apart. But it may be her last
option to save the British economy if no deal is agreed to.
Favored by hardliners but considered economic suicide
by the mainstream, a “No Deal” Brexit would cause
national chaos. As such, it’s the unlikeliest outcome.
NO DEAL
REVOKE
DEAL
May needs the support of the opposition Labour Party,
which favors a “soft Brexit,” to deliver her preferred
outcome. The risk? Her own party ousts her first.
Hubert Joly
hands over the
keys to Corie
Barry in June.
BEST BUY: LEIL A NAVIDI
—M
INNE APOLIS STAR TRIBUNE VIA ZUM
A W
IRE; M
AY: AURELIEN M
EUNIER
—GETTY IM
AGES
