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Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitchesFind Drivers →Clear out junk files and repair common Windows errorsFree Scan →Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteDriver Scan →Best Buy confirmed layoffs and role changes in June 2024, with reporting focused on its Design and Consult workforce—especially employees who made in-home sales visits. Some workers were reportedly reassigned or moved into redesigned roles, while others lost their jobs. Best Buy did not disclose how many employees were affected. The episode was part of a broader restructuring as sales weakened, not a newly announced 2026 layoff round.
What happened to Best Buy employees?
The Verge reported on June 11, 2024, that Best Buy had carried out changes the prior week in its Design and Consult sales workforce. The report described a mix of layoffs, transfers, revised roles and compensation changes—not a single action affecting every employee in the group. The Verge’s June 2024 report said Best Buy confirmed that employees had been moved into areas or roles where customers needed them most.
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Designers, consultants and the Premium Designer role
- Designers were field sales employees who visited customers at home to help identify suitable products or configurations.
- Consultants primarily advised customers and sold products in stores.
- Premium Designer was a new or revised role that some members of the Design and Consult workforce were expected to enter.
Some designers were reportedly moved into different, largely in-store positions. The reporting also described revised pay structures for some consultant roles, but did not establish a universal pay cut or publish detailed compensation terms.
What was not disclosed
Best Buy did not publish a headcount for the June changes. The available reporting also did not establish how many people were laid off versus reassigned, where reductions occurred, whether transferred employees retained seniority or benefits, or what severance terms applied. The restructuring charges Best Buy later reported cannot be used to calculate a layoff count: they do not specify the number of employees or the terms of individual departures.
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- Good at Bestbuy.com and in any US Best Buy location, Best Buy Mobile stores or Puerto Rico locations.
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Why was Best Buy reshaping its workforce?
Best Buy’s companywide restructuring began in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024. In its Q4 FY24 results, the company said the initiative was intended to align field labor with customer shopping patterns, redirect corporate resources toward its strategy, and right-size resources for its expected FY25 revenue outlook.
The operating context was a prolonged slowdown in consumer-electronics demand following unusually strong pandemic-era spending. Best Buy’s sales had declined for multiple quarters. Its stated rationale was broader than a shift to online shopping alone: the company cited customer behavior, labor alignment, corporate resources and its revenue outlook.
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How much had sales fallen?
For the 13 weeks ended May 4, 2024, Best Buy reported lower revenue and comparable sales in Q1 FY25. Comparable sales measure sales at locations and channels open for at least a year, helping show changes in underlying sales rather than growth from new locations.
| Q1 FY25 measure | Reported result | Comparison or context |
|---|---|---|
| Enterprise revenue | $8.847 billion | $9.467 billion in Q1 FY24 |
| Enterprise comparable sales | Down 6.1% | Year-over-year change |
| Domestic comparable sales | Down 6.3% | Year-over-year change |
| Domestic online comparable sales | Down 6.1% | Year-over-year change |
| Domestic online share of revenue | 30.8% | 30.5% in Q1 FY24 |
Best Buy identified appliances, home theater, gaming and mobile phones as the largest weighted contributors to the domestic comparable-sales decline. Services and laptops partially offset those declines. These figures come from the company’s Q1 FY25 results.
Rank #3
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How large was the broader restructuring?
Best Buy’s reported restructuring charges show the financial scale of the initiative, but not the number of people affected.
| Period or estimate | Amount | What it represents |
|---|---|---|
| Q4 FY24 | $169 million | Restructuring charges, primarily related to employee termination benefits |
| Q1 FY25 | $15 million | Additional restructuring charges |
| Expected additional FY25 charges | Approximately $10 million to $30 million | Best Buy’s estimate at the time of its Q4 FY24 results |
| Expected FY25 termination-benefit payments | Up to $135 million | Best Buy expected to pay this amount during FY25, with the remainder in FY26 |
The Q4 FY24 figures and estimates were disclosed in Best Buy’s Q4 FY24 results; the $15 million Q1 FY25 charge was reported in its Q1 FY25 results. A charge may cover costs beyond a particular set of layoffs, and the company did not provide a per-employee figure that would allow a reliable headcount estimate.
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Did the sales decline mean Best Buy was near collapse?
The available Q1 FY25 figures show sales pressure, but not evidence of imminent insolvency or a nationwide shutdown. For the 13 weeks ended May 4, 2024, Best Buy reported GAAP operating income of $312 million and a GAAP operating margin of 3.5%, compared with 3.3% a year earlier. GAAP diluted earnings per share were $1.13, versus $1.11 a year earlier. The company also left its FY25 non-GAAP diluted EPS guidance unchanged at $5.75 to $6.20.
Those results are consistent with a retailer trying to control costs and protect profitability while demand was weaker. They do not establish that every part of the business was healthy, but the layoffs alone should not be treated as proof that Best Buy was going bankrupt.
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- Good at Bestbuy.com and in any US Best Buy location, Best Buy Mobile stores or Puerto Rico locations.
- Redemption: Instore and Online
- No returns and no refunds on gift cards.
Were Geek Squad employees affected too?
The Verge placed the June Design and Consult changes in the context of earlier reports of significant Geek Squad layoffs. That context suggests restructuring concerns extended beyond one sales function, but the June 2024 changes described in the report centered on Design and Consult. The cited reporting does not establish a verified Geek Squad headcount for the earlier cuts.
What did Best Buy say, and what remains unclear?
Best Buy’s public explanation, as reported by The Verge, was that many team members were moved into new areas or roles where customers needed them most, with some Design and Consult employees transitioning to Premium Designer positions. The company did not provide a detailed role-by-role headcount or compensation breakdown. Its earnings releases described the broader restructuring in operational and financial terms rather than detailing the June employment changes.
- The total number of jobs eliminated and the number of workers transferred were not disclosed.
- The geographic distribution of the changes was not established in the cited coverage.
- Severance terms, benefits and seniority treatment for transferred employees were not detailed.
- The available sources do not quantify the effect on store staffing or longer-term customer service.
Best Buy’s SEC filings page includes later filings, but those filings do not by themselves establish that the June 2024 Design and Consult changes continued unchanged through 2026. The headline refers to a specific 2024 event, not a current announcement.
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