Best Buy Savior Joly to Step Down as Executive Chairman

(Bloomberg) -- Hubert Joly, who engineered Best Buy Co.’s successful turnaround after arriving in 2012, will step down as executive chairman, the company said in a statement.

Lead director Patrick Doyle will replace Joly as chairman after the company’s shareholder meeting on June 11. The electronics retailer has an agreement with Joly for him to serve as a consultant to the company for a year, with an option for the arrangement to be renewed. He will be considered an independent contractor.

The length of Joly’s tenure as executive chairman has been up in the air since he handed over the chief executive officer role to Corie Barry last year. When he took the role last year, he agreed to notify the board this month whether he would extend his employment any further, according to company filings.

After arriving at Best Buy, Joly, who was an outsider from the hotel industry, helped to revive the world’s largest electronics chain with a focus on improving customer service and strengthening relationships with key vendors like Apple and Samsung.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jonathan Roeder in Chicago at jroeder@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anne Cronin at acronin14@bloomberg.net, Matthew Boyle

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