Best Buy CEO Corie Barry is stepping down: How she went from architect of a comeback to cautionary tale

When Corie Barry was named CEO of Best Buy seven years ago this month, hopes were high that the electronics retailer would build on a period of successful reinvention. After all, she was a key architect of that reinvention, as chief strategic transformation officer under her predecessor Hubert Joly. But it was not to be: Best Buy revenue is lower now than when she started as CEO, and the company is struggling to find its way. Barry, who has consistently been ranked among the Most Powerful Women in business by Fortune in recent years, announced today that she is stepping down as CEO in the autumn right before the key holiday season. She is being replaced by Jason Bonfig, a longtime Best Buy executive who is currently the company’s chief customer, product, and fulfillment officer. Barry has plenty to boast about from her tenure at Best Buy: She served as Joly’s right-hand person in pulling off one of the most dramatic reinventions of a major retailer ever, making Best Buy stores and web site appealing enough for loyal shoppers to choose them over Amazon and avoid the fates of now-defunct rivals such as Circuit City. In 2019, during her first analyst day as CEO, Barry said Best Buy was eyeing a $50 billion in revenue milestone by 2025 and betting that its nascent healthcare business would be a key engine of growth to get there. But last year, revenue came in at $41.7 billion and Best Buy wrote down some of its investment in Best Buy Health as that line of business has failed to live up to its promise. In the time she has been CEO, Best Buy shares have risen 6%, well below the 157% gain for the S&P 500. To be fair, Best Buy did at one point pass the $50 billion mark she was aiming for, but largely because of the COVID pandemic when the retailer’s sales soared as more people starting working and schooling at home, buying up laptops and home-entertainment systems. Sales in the year ended in early 2021 rose 21% to $51.8 billion. Barry won praise for managing the chaos of …