Electronics, Retail | featured news

A bevy of big-name retailers including Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Best-Buy Co. and Target Corp., are teaming up to create a company that will give customers another way to make purchases: with their cellphones.

Best Buy Co Inc founder and former Chairman Richard Schulze offered to take the struggling electronics retailer private on Monday in a deal that values the company at between$8.16 billion to $8.84 billion.

RadioShack Corp. said today that it’s eliminating its dividend to shareholders as it reported a second quarter loss. The Fort Worth-based consumer electronics retailer reported a net loss of $21 million, or 21 cents a share, compared with a profit of $24.9 million, or 24 cents a share a year ago. Total sales increased 1.2 percent from a year ago and same-store sales were flat.

Retail sales fell for a third straight month in June as demand slumped for everything from cars and electronics to building materials, a sign the economic recovery is flagging.

Electronics retailer Best Buy Co. is laying off 600 staffers in its Geek Squad technical support division and 1,800 other store workers as it seeks to restructure operations and improve results, the company said Friday.

Richard Schulze, the founder of Best Buy, is exploring putting together a bid to take the struggling electronics retailer private, according to people briefed on the matter. Mr. Schulze, who resigned from the company’s board this month, has been begun working with bankers from Credit Suisse to consider such a move, these people said. They said he would probably team up with a private equity firm or other deep-pocketed investor. With a 20.1 percent stake, he is the company’s largest shareholder.

The company’s founder, Richard Schulze, said he was leaving the board immediately and also said he was looking to sell his 20.1 percent stake in the retailer, worth about $1.3 billion.

Buying a smart phone from a third-party, discount online retailer might seem like a shrewd move, but a $50 discount could cost you $400 later if something goes wrong.

Microsoft Corp will invest $300 million in Barnes & Noble Inc's digital and college businesses in a deal that values the businesses at $1.7 billion.

Here's an interesting idea: that Barnes and should consider splitting the company. Separate the physical bookstores from the virtual business of the Nook and allow that digital business the room and capital to compete with Apple's iPad and Amazon's Kindle?