Best Buy Inc CEO sets goals

The meeting took place against the backdrop of a potential buyout offer from founder and former CEO Richard Schulze, who is expected to make an offer as soon as next month.

I spend no time worrying about what our corporate structure will be, Joly told reporters after the event. I tend to focus on decisions I can influence rather than decisions I can't influence.

A representative for Schulze did not immediately respond to a request seeking his thoughts on Joly's plan.

Joly said it would have been ridiculous to offer more concrete details after only a few weeks on the job. He said this meeting was more about setting the record straight and reassuring investors about the company's future.

The perception was that Best Buy was dying, Joly said.

MARGIN TARGETS

In a statement on Tuesday, the company said its short-term goal will be to stabilize and then begin increasing its comparable-store sales and operating margin. Over time, it is aiming for a return on invested capital of 13 percent to 15 percent, in addition to a 5 percent to 6 percent adjusted operating margin target.

On a comparable basis, its operating margin in the last fiscal year was 4.7 percent. Over the past four quarters, the margin was 4.2 percent.

Joly said a mixture of excessive costs and price competition hurt margins, and that the retailer would turn to a wider variety of higher-margin, private-label products to

... contd.