After taking a trouncing in 2018, Best Buy’s stock has enjoyed a great start to the new year, rebounding 31 percent since January to nearly $70 a share on Friday, Barron’s reports.
Though shy of its all-time high of $84 a share, founder and chairman emeritus Dick Schulze used the bump from a winning fiscal fourth quarter — and a $3 billion stock buyback plan — to sell off large chunks of his Best Buy holdings this month.
See: Best Buy Scores Another Fourth-Quarter Touchdown
The sales, made through Schulze’s family foundation, a trust and other financial entities, came in two waves, Barron’s found, based on his Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings. The first, made between March 1 and March 4 at an average of $68.49 per share, was worth $35.4 million. The second sale, placed on March 11, totaled $33.2 million, at an average per-share price of $68.88.
Despite cashing out an even 1 million shares, Schulze still owns 74,380 shares in retirement accounts, 1.7 million shares in a personal account and 35.7 million shares through foundations and trusts, Barron’s said.
The onetime chairman and CEO lost his bid for control of the company when the board brought in current Best Buy head Hubert Joly, but nonetheless remains its largest shareholder with a 13.3 percent stake in the business, according to Barron’s calculations.
