Best Buy said Wednesday that Corie Barry will step down as chief executive at the end of the third quarter, ending a run that began in 2019. Jason Bonfig, the company’s chief customer, product and fulfillment officer, will succeed her on Oct. 31.
Barry will remain as a strategic adviser for six months after Bonfig takes the reins, and her board seat will be filled by him. She was Best Buy’s first female CEO and steered the chain through the COVID-19 pandemic and President Trump’s tariffs. On the company’s latest call, she said Bonfig is the right person to accelerate Best Buy’s strategy and take it into the future.
The handoff comes as Best Buy is still trying to shake loose from a stretch of uneven results. Same-store sales fell 0.8% in the fourth quarter, and the stock has risen just 4.5% since Barry joined the company on June 11, 2019, far behind the S&P 500’s 145% gain over the same span. The shares gained 16% from 2020 to 2021, fell 20% in 2022 and are up about 7% over the past year, leaving them flat year to date.
Bonfig is not an outsider brought in to reset the business. He joined Best Buy as an inventory analyst in 1999 and now leads its supply chain and marketing business, including Best Buy Ads. He also oversaw the launch of the retailer’s online U.S. marketplace, two moves the company has pointed to as signs it can move faster when it chooses.
That speed is part of the challenge now. Best Buy has been facing sluggish sales across entertainment and appliances, along with pullbacks in discretionary spending and higher memory chip costs. It has also been trying to prove it can keep pace in the new world of artificial intelligence, even after successfully navigating higher tariffs with vendors over the past year.
Bonfig said the company needs to do more and do it quicker, and he held up the U.S. marketplace launch and the growth of Best Buy Ads as examples of what more agility and creativity can produce. He said he wants the team to be even more aggressive in its mindset and approach. For Best Buy, the transition is less a break with Barry’s tenure than a bet that the next phase requires a faster hand.