via Reddit

A Best Buy employee couldn't let this rare find go.

Two days ago, a Best Buy employee discovered that some nerd-illiterate Nintendo R.O.B. (Robotic Operating Buddy) owner had dropped the 1980s-era gaming system off for recycling.

The employee couldn't allow the rare toy robot to get scrapped. First, he asked his boss if he could take it home, but heard that, per corporate policy, he would get fired if he did. So he took to Reddit.

The post instantly went viral, attracting more than 5,000 comments and 31,000 "up votes." Inspired by the reaction, the employee decided to go rogue and hatch a plan to save robot R.O.B.

See Also:
- Best Buy to eliminate 400 good Twin Cities jobs
- Best Buy's Brian Dunn is the worst CEO of 2012, according to Bloomberg
- Chris Kluwe rickrolls Roger Goodell during Reddit Q&A
- The Soap Factory explores robots as metaphor More »

Image by Tatiana Craine

Gchat doesn't cut it for CEO Hubert Joly -- he wants his employees back in the office.

-- Update at bottom --

As it seeks to rebound from a disastrous 2012, Best Buy's leadership has decided to end a program that allowed corporate employees to work from home and maintain flexible schedules.

SEE ALSO: Best Buy: On the road to extinction?

Though some workers will still be allowed to maintain inconsistent schedules and work away from the company's Richfield headquarters, most will now be expected to put in traditional 40-hour in-the-office work weeks.

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Best Buy promised more layoffs are coming yet this year. Oh goodie!

Over the weekend, the Twin Cities' macroeconomy made headlines thanks to new data showing it has bounced back from the recession stronger than any other Midwest metro.

SEE ALSO: Minnesota's economic recovery driven by McJobs, not middle-class jobs

"Measures of output for the Twin Cities benefit from the relatively high proportion of better paying jobs at big companies like 3M and Medtronic," the Star Tribune reported. "For instance, if companies in each of three cities were to all add one employee... the city where the highest-paid workers are hired will see more economic growth than the others."

In light of that report, we bring you the news that Best Buy is eliminating 400 jobs at its Richfield headquarters.

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Why does Best Buy carry Amazon gift cards in the first place?

Talk about adding insult to injury. A Best Buy coupon mistake allowed at least one customer to spend $800 for $1,600 of value toward digging Best Buy's grave -- namely, buying Amazon gift cards.

SEE ALSO: Best Buy's Brian Dunn is the worst CEO of 2012, according to Bloomberg

The mistake was the result of a MasterCard promotion that didn't include enough fine print. Customers using a coupon and a MasterCard could spend $100 and automatically save $50, but the promotion put few limits on what people could buy and apparently no limit on how many times they could take advantage of the promotion.

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Target, at least, doesn't seem particularly concerned about the threatened boycott.

A few days before Christmas, The Journal News, A Gannett-owned newspaper covering Westchester and Rockland counties in suburban New York City, used public information to publish an interactive online map with the names and addresses of NYC-area handgun permit holders.

SEE ALSO: Minnesota law already allows teachers to carry guns in classrooms

Believe it or not, the continued online existence of that map prompted the New York State Rifle & Pistol Association to call for a boycott of Target and Best Buy.

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Poor performance and scandal combined with a rough environment for big box retailers equals the worst CEO of the year.

A couple months ago, Bloomberg Businessweek did a cover story where Best Buy was characterized as a "Big Box Zombie." Now, Bloomberg is dinging former CEO Brian Dunn for being one of the people primarily responsible for the company's zombified state.

SEE ALSO: Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn: Is this his mystery woman? [PHOTO]

In "The Worst CEOs of 2012," Dartmouth business professor and author Sydney Finkelstein puts Dunn at the top of his third-annual list of the worst executives in the world.

More »

Image by Tatiana Craine

New commercials from Best Buy are Target have been critically acclaimed.

Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Overdrawn Thursday... it's that time of the year again, folks.

SEE ALSO:
-- MN Blue Cross' new anti-obesity ads spark controversy: Do they shame fat people? [VIDEO]
-- Target fires ad agency Wieden & Kennedy [VIDEO]

Which means, among other things, new commercials from retailers, including Best Buy and Target, that would like nothing more than to take some of your money in exchange for holiday gifts.

More »

After eating brains, this zombie heads to Best Buy for his electronics needs.

Zombies like to pub crawl, eat brains... and shop at Best Buy?

SEE ALSO:
-- Best Buy's profits down 90 percent
-- Best Buy announces $1.7 billion loss, plans to close 50 stores and cut 400 jobs
-- Best Buy: On the road to extinction?

That's apparently the case, according to the cover of this week's Bloomberg Businessweek, which shows the undead emerging from a Best Buy store with a box of electronics (or maybe Geek Squad brains) in tow. The headline? "Big Box Zombie."


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The bleak earnings report comes just a day after Hubert Joly was named CEO.

SEE ALSO:
-- Best Buy founder Schulze announces immediate resignation; move may signal major shake-up
-- Best Buy CEO Brian Dunn: Is this his mystery woman? [PHOTO]
-- Best Buy announces $1.7 billion loss, plans to close 50 stores and cut 400 jobs

Best Buy has been taking a PR beating all year long, and the damage is now starting to manifest itself in dollars and cents.

A new earnings report shows that the company's profits fell a whopping 90 percent during the second quarter this year, from $130 million in 2011 to just $12 million this year. The news prompted Best Buy to announce it won't forecast profit for the second half of this fiscal year and will suspend its share buy-back program.


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Schulze founded Best Buy in 1966.

This morning, Best Buy founder and chairman Richard Schulze announced his immediate resignation, two weeks earlier than planned when Schulze went public with his exit strategy last month.

But the big news is that Schulze also announced plans "to explore all available options" for his 20.1 percent ownership stake in the company.

The Star Tribune's Tom Lee writes that Schulze's announcement may signal his intention "to possibly take the struggling consumer electronics retailer private with new owners and management."

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