Best Buy's Bad Year

WESTCHESTER COUNTY, NY (TheStreet) -- Best Buy(BBY) reported a defining quarter, but you wouldn't know it from reading most of the business media coverage that followed.

In terms of the electronic retailer's grinding disappointment, there are three essential elements at play: 1) they no longer have to deal with competition from Circuit City, which declared bankruptcy in 2008 and wound down their operations in the two years that followed. Business was supposed to get easier for Best Buy...not harder. 2) They cut prices, but not by choice. Competition has cornered Best Buy. Amazon(AMZN), Wal-Mart(WMT) and Target(TGT) are all offering either low prices, free shipping or both. Best Buy has no room to maneuver. 3) Best Buy kept their full-year numbers in tact. Considering, this is a stretch at best.

The Associated Press and CNNMoney, however, only give passing mention to competition. They mention none by name. That's quite a hairy oversight. Going up against Amazon and Wal-Mart is a whole lot worse than---well, just about anything. The AP deigned to mention the full-year numbers going unscathed, but didn't put it in the proper context.

Reuters, by contrast, did a great job. They mention Circuit City and competition by name, accurately terming it "cutthroat." That speaks to Best Buy's ongoing reality. This was not a one-quarter fluke. With that in mind, Reuters arched an eyebrow at the full-year numbers, noting that "despite" everything that happened, they kept the numbers the same.

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