Best Buy to Cut 2,400 Jobs: Report

Best Buy Co Inc <BBY.N> plans to cut about 2,400 jobs, including 600 of its Geek Squad employees, as management tries to turn around the struggling electronics retailer, a spokesman for the company confirmed on Friday.

The cuts represent 1.4 percent of the company's 167,000 workforce and come on top of jobs associated with 50 store closings the company announced in March, the spokesman, Bruce Hight, said.

The Geek Squad cuts comprise about 3 percent of the unit, whose technicians install and service electronics in electronics in customers' homes.

The layoffs come as the world's largest electronics chain is trying to figure out how to stem nearly two years of quarterly declines in sales at stores open at least a year -- a key measure for retailers.

It has seen its stores used as a "showroom" for electronics where consumers come in to try them out and then by the products for less money elsewhere, often online from Amazon.com <AMZN.O> or other retailers.

Interim Chief Executive Mike Mikan told shareholders in June that he was working on a way to make the company "more relevant, more intelligent, more nimble" and said he would reveal the plan later this summer.

Mikan took over the CEO post after Brian Dunn exited during an internal probe that eventually found he had engaged in an improper relationship with a female employee.

Best Buy shares closed Friday down 15 cents at $21.59 on the New York Stock Exchange.