Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn has unexpectedly announced his resignation and the company has named G. Mike Mikan, who currently serves on the retailer's board of the director, as interim CEO while a search for a new CEO is underway.
The retail chain has struggled in recent quarters, missing some sales targets as it faced increased competition from online retailers.
In its most recent earnings announcement, Best Buy said it would close some 50 stories over the next year and had posted a loss of $1.7 billion in its fourth quarter ending March 3, 2012, down from a profit a year earlier of $651 million.
The Minneapolis-based Star Tribune is now reporting that Dunn resigned following an probe into his "personal conduct."
"Certain issues were brought to the board's attention regarding Mr. Dunn's personal conduct, unrelated to the company's operations or financial controls, and an audit committee investigation was initiated. Prior to the completion of the investigation, Mr. Dunn chose to resign," said Claire Koeneman, an external spokeswoman for Best Buy. She declined to provide additional details.
The probe was not mentioned in the company's earlier announcement.
In a release announcing the resignation the company contended that "there were no disagreements between Mr. Dunn and the company on any matter relating to operations, financial controls, policies or procedures. There was mutual agreement that it was time for new leadership to address the challenges that face the company."
Richard Schulze, the founder of Best Buy, continues to serve as chairman.
"I have enjoyed every one of my 28 years with this company, and I leave it today in position for a strong future," Dunn noted in a statement.
Mikan has been a Best Buy director since April 2008. He formerly served as executive vice president and chief financial officer of UnitedHealth Group Incorporated and CEO of Optum, a health care services company and affiliate of UnitedHealth.
"The Best Buy team and I will be extremely focused on successfully managing this period of transition," Mikan noted in a statement. "I want to assure our employees, customers and other key stakeholders that we will work together to achieve our company's growth and profitability goals."
The stock rose over 3% on news of the resignation but then declined and was down more than 2.5% to 22.08 at 11:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday.
