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May 14, 2012

Best Buy chairman steps down over CEO's rendezvous with co-worker

Chairman was aware of Dunn’s misconduct and failed to notify the board about his unethical actions.

The tech giant’s founder and chairman Richard Schulze has resigned from his position after internal investigations reveal that he was aware of former CEO Brian Dunn’s scandalous love affair with a female co-worker.

In light of these revelations, Schulze ‘acted inappropriately,’ by failing to bring the matter to the company’s audit committee.
While Best Buy made it clear that Dunn did not use the company’s resources to facilitate his relationship with the female employee, the internal probe found that Dunn’s behavior showed ‘extremely poor judgment and a lack of professionalism.’

In April, Dunn abruptly decided to call it quits as the Richfield, Minnesota-based company further investigated his relationship with the subordinate employee. The internal probe was initiated by the firm’s audit committee and completed by an outside law firm.

Dunn is expected to walk away with a severance package worth up to $6.6 million from the embattled consumer electronics chain.

There is still no word on who will succeed him.  

Schulze said in a statement that when he questioned Dunn about his actions, they were denied and now he accepts the audit committee findings.

The company’s incoming chairman Hatim Tyabji will begin in his new position after its annual meeting on June 21.

Aarti Maharaj

Aarti is deputy editor at Corporate Secretary magazine