Best Buy’s founder and chairman, Richard Schulz, announced on Thursday that he is stepping down from the company’s board a bit earlier than originally planned, leaving many to wonder what he’s going to do with all the shares he currently owns.
It was announced last month that Schulz would resign following a scandal involving ex-CEO Brian Dunn’s affair with an employee, which Schulz knew about. He was scheduled to step down later this month, but his plans to leave early call into question whether he knows something we don’t about the struggling company’s immediate future.
Best Buy announced in March that they planned to close 50 of their stores after finding it difficult to compete with online stores like Amazon; their stock took quite a hit after the Dunn scandal, as well, leaving many to wonder about the fate of the company in coming months. Now that Schulz is gone, he has 69.78 million shares to get rid of.
“Even as depressed as their share price is right now, to (make an offer for) Best Buy, you’re talking about probably a $10 billion deal,” analyst Anthony Chukumba said. “That’s a much larger deal than I think is feasible in the current market environment.”
Investors are worried that such a huge sale will dilute the stock, but some think Schulz is gearing up to partner with a private investor for a takeover.