Best Buy CEO Bounced for 'Personal Conduct'

Mystery builds over Brian Dunn's sudden resignation
By Mark Russell,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 11, 2012 3:08 AM CDT
Updated Apr 11, 2012 6:15 AM CDT
Best Buy CEO Bounced for 'Personal Conduct'
Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn speaks at a Google conference in San Francisco in 2010. Dunn resigned mysteriously yesterday for what Best Buy calls "personal conduct."   (AP Photo/Paul Sakuma, File)

Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn has resigned amid a mysterious investigation into his "personal conduct," said company officials, who offered no other details. Initially, the company said Dunn was leaving by "mutual agreement," but late in the day Best Buy issued a second statement to clarify, but that only raised further questions, reports the Wall Street Journal. "Certain issues were brought to the board's attention regarding Mr. Dunn's personal conduct, unrelated to the company's operations or financial controls, and an audit committee investigation was initiated," Best Buy said in its second statement. "Prior to the completion of the investigation, Mr. Dunn chose to resign."

Dunn just introduced a restructuring plan to slash $800 million in costs late last month. "All of a sudden, days later, they can the guy," said a retail analyst with Consumer Edge Research. "Something else must have happened." Best Buy has suffered from major competition with online retailers, as Amazon and others are able to undercut its prices across the board. Just the third CEO in Best Buy's history, Dunn got his start on the floor as a salesman 28 years ago, and never attended a university. (More Best Buy stories.)

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