Best Buy Shareholders Should Fire Board of Directors
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Sports fans spew discontent in many directions -- players, coaches, owners. I have even heard a few blame the media or an apathetic fan base for their team's problems.
Investors have a habit of focusing on the CEO when things go wrong. That's often the correct move. Rarely, however, do you hear investors calling for the board of directors' collective head. It should probably happen more often.
I have questioned Bill Gates's sanity for not doing anything about the circus Steve Ballmer runs at Microsoft (MSFT). Inversely, Yahoo!'s (YHOO) board deserves chest bumps for making the bold move and naming Marissa Mayer CEO.
I touch on these situations in many previous articles, including Monday's CEOs Who Will Get Fired In 2013. If you're reading this before 10:20 a.m. Eastern time, Tuesday, you can see me discuss that story on CNBC's Squawk On The Street. After the fact, check my Twitter feed (@rocco_thestreet) for the link.
In that article, I call for Best Buy (BBY) CEO Hubert Joly to lose his gig after just a few months on the job. A reporter from The Minneapolis-St. Paul Business Journal tweeted that I was being a bit harsh. I asked why. Before observing that I didn't include JCPenney (JCP) CEO Ron Johnson on my list (get with program man!), he hit the nail on the head regarding Joly: "Overall, more of an indictment of original hire than his performance so far?" Right on. Don't get me wrong, his performance has been bad. He hasn't done anything. One look at and listen to Best Buy's recent Analyst and Investor Day makes it painfully obvious: The company could have -- and probably should have -- hired a consultant to do what Joly is doing. The dude came in and conducted what amounts to a SWOT analysis. Then he recites the results -- in wholly uninspiring fashion -- from the stage in New York City. I'm headed to TheStreet this week for some meetings; I will tell you this right now. If I perform as poorly as Joly did that day for Best Buy, I would ask to be terminated. You have got to come to play or don't bother coming at all.Select the service that is right for you!
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