闹剧拉开百思买衰落序幕

    过去几年，无数科技零售商最终都痛苦的呻吟着走向了终结。环城百货（Circuit City）和美国电脑（CompUSA）等公司一度曾经是消费者购买最新科技产品的首选。就连Babbages也颇受欢迎。而现在，这些公司都成为了历史。虽然环城百货和美国电脑品牌均被电子产品零售商Systemax公司收购，却早已物是人非，再也无法重现往日的辉煌。

    直到不久之前，百思买（Best Buy）还一直乐于听到这样的消息。在明尼苏达州里奇菲尔德的百思买总部，这家公司一边笑看竞争对手挨个倒下，一边还找到了与亚马逊（Amazon）等在线零售商竞争的方法。例如，公司模仿苹果（Apple）零售店内的“天才”服务，扩展了奇客（Geek Squad）服务。但现在，百思买本身也陷入麻烦，难以自拔。与那些被外部力量摧毁的实体竞争对手不同，百思买的内部混乱、以及激烈的外部竞争正在将它推向四分五裂的命运。

    首先，让我们了解一下百思买的内乱。

    今年四月，时任CEO布莱恩•邓恩辞职，据说是因为他与“一位女性员工存在极为亲密的个人关系，对工作环境造成了极其负面的影响”。五月，公司审计委员会的调查报告披露，邓恩曾给该女性员工600美元，并“用手机与她联系了224次，其中包括33通电话、149条短信和42条彩信或视频信息。”

    审计委员会认为两人的关系“既不浪漫，也不能说不正当”，但它造成的影响并没有随着邓恩的离职而平息。审计委员会还发现，百思买创始人、时任董事会主席理查德•舒尔茨去年12月份就了解到了这种不正当关系的存在，却并未通知审计委员会、人力资源部或任何董事会成员。委员会认为，这种行为“很不合适”，并敦促舒尔茨辞去董事会主席的职位。

    随着临时CEO和新任董事会主席走马上任，百思买闹剧似乎迎来了大结局。但事实并非如此。

    《纽约时报》（The New York Times）六月份的报道称，拥有百思买20.1%股份的舒尔茨正在与银行谈判，希望夺回公司的控制权，并将其私有化。他会选择与主要投资者合作，收购剩余股份，还是将现有股份抛售给潜在买家，目前尚不明确。如果媒体说的没错，舒尔茨应该正在静静等待机会的到来。今年年初以来，百思买的股价已经下跌了24%，若从去年夏天算起，下跌幅度更是达到了惊人的38%。至发稿前，公司市值是60.4亿美元，最近的困境让这家公司身价大不如前。

    然而更糟糕的时，百思买还面临许多外部压力和财政困境，可能会导致股价持续下跌。乍一看，百思买的财务状况似乎颇为乐观。公司公布截至5月5日第一财季的总收入为116亿美元，比去年同期增加了约3亿美元，利润也达到1.58亿美元，但与去年同期的2.12亿美元相比，今年公司的利润明显减少。

    坏消息不止这一条。公司报告称，零售空间每平方英尺收入与去年同期相比没有变化，这是一个很严重的问题。而每家店铺的营业收入却减少了13%。临时CEO麦克•麦肯在向投资者提供收益报告的同时发表了一则声明，承认了公司目前的现状。他在声明中试图打消投资者的疑虑：“我们很清楚，公司必须更好地适用新市场形势，我们正在制定一个长期计划，目的是使百思买与消费者的联系更加密切，在未来几年保证公司获得持久的、有利可图的回报。”

    百思买的问题其实很简单——那就是成本过高。上个季度，百思买需要承担4，240万平方英尺零售空间的租金支出，而亚马逊、Overstock等在线零售商则根本不需要担心这笔开支。此外，为了保证利润，百思买又不得不将成本摊到产品当中，结果提高了产品价格，促使消费者选择网上购物。对百思买来说，成本过高并不是什么新问题，只是现在显得更加突出了而已。

    为了解决这个问题，今年早些时候，百思买曾宣布将关闭50家经营不善的店铺。截至5月12日，已经有41家店铺被关闭。百思买大规模重组措施还包括削减企业支持服务的成本和销售成本，而大批店铺的关闭是其中一部分。百思买希望截至2015财年，所有措施可以削减8亿美元开支。

    但公司到底会如何发展，继续保持上市公司身份，还是被私有化，仍有待观察。毕竟，实体科技零售商之前都经历了灾难性的滑坡，几乎无一幸免。然而，它们并没有经历百思买这么戏剧性的序幕。

    译者：刘进龙/汪皓

    Over the years, countless technology retailers have groaned their way toward death. Companies like Circuit City and CompUSA were once destinations for consumers looking for the latest tech goodies. Even Babbages was popular. Now, they're all gone. Although Systemax (SYX) bought the CompUSA and Circuit City brands, they're not the same. And they never will be.

    Until recently, that had been good news for rival Best Buy (BBY). From headquarters in Richfield, Minnesota, the company watched competitors fail and found ways to compete with online retailers like Amazon (AMZN). It branched out, for example, into services like the Geek Squad, a sort of roving version of Apple's (AAPL) in-store "geniuses." Still, Best Buy is now itself in deep trouble. And unlike its old brick-and-mortar competitors, which died mainly from external forces, it appears that internal chaos -- as much as tough competition -- is tearing it apart.

    Let's start with the chaos.

    In April, then-CEO Brian Dunn resigned from his post after he allegedly engaged in "an extremely close personal relationship with a female employee that negatively impacted the work environment." An investigation by the company's Audit Committee revealed in May that Dunn had given the person $600 and had contacted her "by cell phone at least 224 times, including 33 phone calls, 149 text messages, and 42 picture or video messages."

    The fallout from that relationship, which the audit committee said was "not romantic or otherwise improper," didn't end with Dunn's dismissal. The audit committee also found that Best Buy founder and then-chairman, Richard Schulze, knew of the relationship last December, and failed to inform the audit committee, human resources, or any board member. That conduct, the committee argued, was "inappropriate," and prompted Schulze to step down as chairman.

    With an interim CEO and new chairman in place, Best Buy's soap opera appeared to be over. Or not.

    The New York Times reported in June that Schulze, who still owns 20.1% of Best Buy, was in talks with bankers to seize control of the company and take it private. Whether he'd team with major investors to acquire remaining shares or dump his current holdings to enter into a deal with would-be buyers remains unclear. If nothing else, media reports suggested Schulze may be lurking, waiting for an opportunity that may be around the corner. Best Buy shares are down 24% since the beginning of the year and a whopping 38% since last summer. With a market capitalization of $6.04 billion as of this writing, its woes have made it more affordable than ever.

    Worse yet, the company is facing all kinds of external pressures and financial struggles that could send its share price lower still. At first glance, Best Buy's financial performance might not appear to be so concerning. During the company's first fiscal quarter ended May 5, it posted a profit of $158 million on revenue of $11.6 billion. Its revenue was up nearly $300 million over the same period last year. However, Best Buy's profit was down from the $212 million it generated in the prior year.

    That wasn't the only sour note. The company reported that its revenue per square foot of retail space remained unchanged year-over-year -- a major problem -- and its operating income per store was down 13%. It was that reality that interim CEO Mike Mikan acknowledged in his statement to investors accompanying the earnings report. "We know we have to better adapt to the new realities of the marketplace, and we are creating a long-term plan designed to make Best Buy more relevant with customers and position the company for sustained, profitable returns in the years ahead," he tried to reassure investors.

    The issue for Best Buy is its costs are simply too high. Best Buy was paying for 42.4 million square feet of retail space last quarter – a figure that Amazon, Overstock, and other online retailers obviously don't need to worry about. And in order to generate a profit, Best Buy is forced to incorporate that cost into its products, pushing prices up and prompting consumers to go online. It's not a new issue, for sure, but it's an increasingly worrisome one.

    To combat that, Best Buy announced earlier this year that it would close 50 of its underperforming stores. As of May 12, the company had closed 41 of those retail locations. The store closures are part of a broader restructuring that includes reducing costs in its corporate support function and cutting its cost of goods sold. All told, Best Buy hopes to save $800 million by fiscal 2015.

    But exactly what the company will look like – and whether it'll be public – by then remains to be seen. After all, brick-and-mortar tech retailers have slid down a slippery slope before, crashing and burning in nearly every case. All without the theatrical preamble of an ousted founder.