Best Buy said Wednesday that CEO Corie Barry will step down at the end of the third quarter and be succeeded by Jason Bonfig on Oct. 31.
Bonfig, Best Buy’s chief customer, product, and fulfillment officer, will also take Barry’s seat on the board, the company said. Barry will remain a strategic adviser for six months after the transition.
Bonfig joined the company in 1999 as an inventory analyst, the same year Barry did.
The leadership change comes as Best Buy works through weaker sales and broader industry pressures. Same-store sales fell 0.8% in the fourth quarter, missing Wall Street expectations, as consumers reduced holiday spending.
Bonfig now oversees Best Buy’s supply chain and marketing business. He also led the launch of the company’s U.S. online marketplace and its retail media network, Best Buy Ads, which the retailer has identified as part of its growth strategy.
“He’s the right person, with the vision to accelerate the company’s strategy and take Best Buy into the future,” Barry said. In a note to employees, she called Bonfig a leader with “maniacal customer focus, innovative thinking and thoughtful decision-making.”
In a separate note to employees, Bonfig said, “We need to do more, and we need to do it quicker.” He said the rollout of Marketplace in the U.S. and the expansion of Best Buy Ads showed what the company could do by working “with more agility and creativity, embrace new ideas, and really live up to our value of taking on challenge and change.”
Bonfig added that he wants the team to be “even more aggressive in our mindset and approach.”
Best Buy shares have risen 4.5% since Barry became CEO on June 11, 2019, compared with a 145% gain for the S&P 500 benchmark. The stock rose 16% from 2020 to 2021, then fell 20% in 2022 as demand weakened. Over the past year, the stock rose about 7% as the company managed higher tariffs with vendors, but spending pullbacks and higher memory chip costs have kept shares flat this year.