Following an independent investigation, Richard Schulze, the founder and chairman of Best Buy, has resigned. Schulze's resignation involves information the chairman knew regarding Best Buy's former CEO's actions which led to his resignation as well.
According to a press release the company released earlier today, the investigation found that Schulze was aware of the fact that former Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn had an inappropriate relationship with an employee. Schulze failed to report the misconduct, a decision which led to his forced resignation. According to the press release, the following key findings were revealed in the independent investigation:
- The CEO violated Company policy by engaging in an extremely close personal relationship with a female employee that negatively impacted the work environment.
- The CEO's relationship with the female employee demonstrated extremely poor judgment and a lack of professionalism, but the inquiry revealed no misuse of Company resources. The inquiry also revealed no misuse of aircraft.
- In addition, as part of the investigation, it was determined that the Chairman of the Board of Directors acted inappropriately when he failed to bring the matter to the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors in December 2011, when the allegations were first raised with him.
Schulze stated that he confronted Dunn about his misconduct, saying "I confronted him with the allegations (which he denied), told him his conduct was totally unacceptable and contrary to Best Buy's policies and everything I, and the Company, stand for." Despite his claims, Schulze never reported the misconduct to the company or its board of directors.
Best Buy's board of directors has elected Hatim Tyabji to replace Schulze as the board's chairman. Tyabji currently serves as the company's chairman of the audit committee and has been a board director since 1998. In addition to his role at Best Buy, Tyabji has been chairman and CEO of Bytemobile since 2001.
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