Best Buy Co (BBY) Risk Analysis

We have, or expect to have during fiscal 2026, wholly-owned legal entities registered in various foreign countries, including Bermuda, Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, Luxembourg, the Republic of Mauritius, the United Kingdom and Vietnam. Additionally, most of our exclusive brand products are manufactured by contract manufacturers based in China, Mexico and Southeast Asia. During fiscal 2025, our International segment generated approximately 8% of our consolidated revenue. In general, the risk factors identified above also have relevance to our international operations. Our international operations expose us to additional risks, such as risks related to: ?political conditions and geopolitical events, including war and terrorism;?economic conditions, including monetary and fiscal policies and tax rules, as well as foreign exchange rate risk;?rules governing international trade and potential changes to trade policies or trade agreements and ownership of foreign entities;?government-imposed travel restrictions or warnings and differing responses of governmental authorities to pandemics and other global events;?cultural differences that we may be unable to anticipate or respond to appropriately;?different rules or practices regarding employee relations, including the existence of works councils or unions;?difficulties in enforcing intellectual property rights; and ?difficulties encountered in exerting appropriate management oversight to operations in remote locations. These factors could significantly disrupt our international operations and have a material adverse effect on our revenue and profitability and could lead us to incur material impairments and other exit costs.

The risk and actual occurrence of various catastrophic events could have a material adverse effect on our financial performance. Events that affect our properties, supply chain, partners, workforce or customers may consist of, or be caused by, for example: ?natural disasters or extreme weather events (such as storms, blizzards, extreme temperatures, earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, fires and droughts), including those related to, or exacerbated by, climate change;?diseases or pandemics;?power loss, telecommunications failures, or software and hardware malfunctions; and ?terrorism (including related cyber threats), civil unrest, violent acts or other conflicts. The number and severity of certain catastrophic events is increasing in many of our markets. Such events can adversely affect our workforce and prevent employees and customers from reaching our stores and properties. Catastrophic events can also disrupt portions of our supply chain, distribution network and third-party services, and may impact our ability to procure goods or services required for operating our business. Such events can also affect our information technology systems, resulting in disruption to various aspects of our operations, including our ability to transact with customers and fulfill orders. The adverse effects of any such catastrophic event would be exacerbated if experienced at the same time as another unexpected and adverse event, such as a pandemic. Three of our largest states by total sales (California, Texas and Florida) are particularly vulnerable to natural disasters and extreme weather conditions. Natural disasters and climate-related events in these states, and other areas where our sales and operations are concentrated, could result in significant physical damage to, or closure of, our facilities and may require upgrades to our facilities and infrastructure. Additionally, heightened violence and crime in or around our stores, customer homes or businesses where we are performing services may further jeopardize the safety and security of our workforce and customers as well as the general operation of our stores. Further, social unrest/tension, and any related potential for violence, may impact our workforce, customers, properties and the communities where we operate. If our customers, employees and shareholders do not perceive our response to be appropriate or adequate, we could suffer damage to our reputation and brand, which could adversely affect our business. As a consequence of these catastrophic events, we may experience interruptions to our operations or losses of property, equipment and/or inventory, which could adversely affect our revenue and profitability.

Our performance is highly dependent on attracting, retaining and engaging appropriately qualified employees in our stores, service centers, distribution centers, field and corporate offices. Our strategy of offering high-quality services and assistance for our customers requires a highly trained and engaged workforce, which is reliant on the creation and maintenance of a positive culture that is attractive to all qualified employees and beneficial relationships between employees and the enterprise. The turnover rate in the retail sector is relatively high, and there is an ongoing need to recruit and train new employees. Factors that affect our ability to maintain sufficient numbers of qualified employees include, for example, employee engagement, our reputation, our ability to train and develop our employees, our ability to connect with and promote available talent pools, our development and maintenance of employer-desired policies and practices, unemployment rates, competition from other employers, availability of qualified personnel and our ability to offer appropriate compensation and benefit packages. Our policies and practices may be affected by, or require changes in response to, legal and regulatory restrictions on policies related to inclusion and belonging, employee engagement and climate change, which may further impact our ability to retain and engage qualified employees. Failure to recruit or retain qualified employees may impair our efficiency and effectiveness and our ability to pursue growth opportunities. In addition, significant turnover of our executive team or other employees in key positions with specific knowledge relating to our operations and industry may negatively impact our operations and financial results. We operate in a competitive labor market and there is a risk that market increases in compensation and employer-provided benefits could have a material adverse effect on our profitability. We may also be subject to continued market pressure to increase employee hourly wage rates and increased cost pressure on employer-provided benefits. Our need to implement corresponding adjustments within our labor model and compensation and benefit packages could have a material adverse impact on the profitability of our business. Additionally, increasingly prevalent legal and regulatory restrictions on the terms or enforceability of non-competition, employee non-solicitation, confidentiality and similar restrictive covenant clauses could make it more difficult to retain qualified personnel.

As discussed above, our revenues are susceptible to volatility from various sources, which can lead to periods of flat or declining revenues. However, some of our operating costs are fixed and/or are subject to multi-year contracts. Some elements of our costs may be higher than our competitors' because of, for example, our extended retail footprint and structure, our hourly pay structure, our differentiated service offerings or our levels of customer service. Accordingly, our ongoing drive to reduce costs and increase efficiency represents a strategic imperative. Failure to successfully manage our costs could have a material adverse impact on our profitability and curtail our ability to fund our growth or other critical initiatives.

For information about our legal proceedings, see Note 10, Contingencies , of the Notes to Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements, included in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q.

Our business involves the collection, use and storage of personal information, including payment card information and protected health information, as well as confidential information regarding our employees, customers, vendors and other company information. We also share personal and confidential information with suppliers and other third parties and we use third-party technology and systems that process and transmit information for a variety of activities. We have been the target of attempted cyber-attacks and other security threats, and we may be subject to breaches of our information technology systems. While we engage in significant data-protection efforts, criminal activity, such as cyberattacks, lapses in our controls, impersonation of individuals with proper access controls, or the intentional or negligent actions of employees, business associates or third parties, may undermine our privacy and security measures. As a result, unauthorized parties may obtain access to our data systems and misappropriate company, employee, third-party or customer information, or authorized parties may use or share personal information in an inappropriate manner or otherwise seek to extract financial gain based on access to, or possession of, company, employee, customer or vendor information. Furthermore, because the methods used to obtain unauthorized access change frequently and may not be immediately detected, and, given the potentially disruptive nature of emerging technologies (including AI), we may be unable to anticipate such attacks or promptly and effectively respond to them. Any compromise of our customer information or other confidential information could have a material adverse impact on our reputation and/or our relationships with our customers and partners, which may in turn, have a negative impact on our revenue and may expose us to material costs, penalties and claims. Sensitive customer data may also be present on customer-owned devices entrusted to us for service and repair. Vulnerable code on products sold or serviced, including our exclusive brands, may also result in a compromise of customer privacy or security. If our efforts to protect against such compromises and ensure appropriate handling of customer data on devices we manufacture, sell and service are not effective, this may result in potential liability and damage to our customer relationships. Increasing costs associated with information security and privacy, such as increased investment in technology and qualified staff, costs of compliance, costs resulting from fraud or criminal activity and costs of cyber and privacy insurance, could cause our business and results of operations to suffer materially. Additionally, newly applicable and potential new or significantly revised state, provincial and federal laws and regulations in the jurisdictions in which we do business are expanding our obligations to protect and honor the privacy and security of customer data, requiring additional resources and creating incremental risk arising from a potential breach or compliance failure. In addition, any compromise of our data security may materially increase the costs we incur to protect against such breaches and could subject us to additional legal risk.

While we constantly strive to offer consumers the best value, the retail sector is highly competitive. Price is of great importance to most customers, and price transparency and comparability continues to increase. Digital technology enables consumers to compare prices on a real-time basis, putting additional pressure on us to maintain competitive prices. We compete against many local, regional, national and international retailers (both online and brick and mortar), as well as against some of our vendors and mobile network carriers that market their products directly to consumers. Competition is becoming increasingly diverse, including in the advertising revenue space and with the proliferation of marketplace platforms offering products at increasingly lower prices. Diverse competition may also arise from new entrants into the markets we serve, including unexpected players who could more aggressively leverage technologies such as AI and platform integrations. The retail sector continues to experience increased sales initiated online and using mobile applications, as well as online sales for both in-store or curbside pick-up. Online and multi-channel retailers continue to focus on delivery services, with customers increasingly seeking faster, guaranteed delivery times and low-cost or free shipping. Our ability to offer competitive delivery times and delivery costs depends on many factors and our failure to successfully manage these factors and offer competitive delivery options could negatively impact the demand for our products and our profit margins. Because our business strategy is based on offering superior levels of customer service and a full range of services to complement the products we offer, our cost structure might be higher than some of our competitors, and this, in conjunction with price transparency, could put pressure on our margins. Further, as our competitors develop and expand their strategic use of AI, our operations and profitability could be adversely impacted if we fail to execute or maintain our own focused AI strategy enabling technology advancement and innovation. As these and related competitive factors evolve, we may experience material adverse pressure on our revenue and profitability.

If the products we sell fail to meet, or are alleged to fail to meet, applicable safety standards or our customers' expectations regarding safety and quality, we could be exposed to increased legal risk and damage to our reputation. Failure to take appropriate actions in relation to product-related issues (for example, product recalls) could lead to violations of laws and regulations and leave us susceptible to government enforcement actions or private litigation. Recalls of products, particularly when combined with lack of available alternatives or difficulty in sourcing sufficient volumes of replacement products, could also have a material adverse impact on our revenue and profitability. Our ability to find qualified vendors who can supply products that meet our internal standards of quality and safety in a timely and efficient manner can be difficult, especially with respect to goods sourced from outside the U.S. Risks such as political or economic instability, cross-border trade restrictions or tariffs, merchandise quality issues, product safety concerns, work stoppages, human rights violations, port delays, foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, transportation capacity and costs, inflation, civil unrest, natural disasters, outbreaks of pandemics and other factors relating to foreign trade are beyond our control. These and other related issues could have a material adverse impact on our financial results. We have greater exposure to product-related risks in our exclusive brand category, including: ?exposure and responsibility to consumers for warranty replacements and repairs as well as product liability claims (including bodily injury or death), some of which may require us to take significant actions, such as product recalls;?inventory obsolescence as we do not generally have return-to-vendor rights;?disruptions in manufacturing or logistics due to inconsistent and unanticipated order patterns;?our inability to develop long-term relationships with key manufacturers;?claims by technology or other intellectual property owners if we inadvertently infringe upon their patents or other intellectual property rights or if we fail to pay royalties owed on our exclusive brand products;?inability to obtain or adequately protect patents and other intellectual property rights on our exclusive brand products or manufacturing processes; and ?failure to maintain consistent quality, availability and competitive pricing, which could have a material adverse impact on the demand for exclusive brand products and the profits we are able to generate from them. Most of our exclusive brand products are manufactured by contract manufacturers in China, Mexico and Southeast Asia. This arrangement exposes us to the following additional potential risks: ?inability to seek recourse from manufacturers may be limited in foreign jurisdictions;?inability to conform in a timely manner to new rules or interpretations of developing and often-changing labor and environmental laws for the manufacturing of products in foreign countries; and ?inability to source alternatives quickly enough to avoid interruptions in product supply due to disruptions, such as trade disputes or excessive tariffs. Our expanding third-party Marketplace, including our existing Canadian platform and our soon-to-launch U.S. platform, could present additional risks. Should the products sold on our Marketplace fail to meet quality, safety or regulatory standards, it could erode customer trust and damage our reputation. Moreover, unsettled laws regarding retailer responsibility for product liability and intellectual property claims related to third-party products sold on marketplace platforms compound our marketplace risk.

We operate in a highly and increasingly dynamic industry sector fueled by constant technological innovation and disruption, including most recently by the proliferation of artificial intelligence ("AI") technologies. These factors manifest in a variety of ways: the emergence of new products and categories, the rapid maturation of categories, cannibalization of categories, changing price points, and product replacement and upgrade cycles. This rapid pace of change can be hard to predict and manage. If we fail to interpret, predict and react to these changes in a timely and effective manner, the consequences may include, but are not limited to: ?failure to offer, or inability to secure an adequate supply of, the products and services that our customers want;?excess inventory, which may require heavy discounting or liquidation;?delays in adapting our merchandising, marketing or supply chain capabilities to accommodate changes in product trends; and ?damage to our brand and reputation. Vendors may also fail to adequately invest in new technology, design, production or distribution facilities and may reduce their customer incentives, advertising and promotional activities or change their pricing policies. These and other similar factors could have a material adverse impact on our revenue and profitability.

We utilize complex information technology platforms to operate our websites and mobile applications. If we fail to secure these systems against attacks, or fail to effectively configure, upgrade and maintain our hardware, software, network, and system infrastructure and improve the efficiency and resiliency of our systems, it could cause system interruptions and delays. Disruptions to these services, such as those caused by unforeseen traffic levels, malicious attacks by foreign governments, criminals or other non-state actors, other technical difficulties or events outside of our control, such as natural disasters, power or telecommunications failures or loss of critical data, could prevent us from accepting and fulfilling customer orders for products or services, which could have an adverse impact on our revenue, incur material costs and could adversely affect our reputation. If a cybersecurity event is related to data that is regulated, such as under HIPAA, GDPR or California Consumer Privacy Act, in addition to the direct business risks noted, we could be subject to additional regulatory investigations, penalties and fines. The integration of AI into our operations increases cybersecurity and privacy risks (including unauthorized or misuse of AI tools) and could lead to potential unauthorized access, misuse, acquisition, release, disclosure, alteration or destruction of company and customer data or other confidential or proprietary information and challenge the stability of our platforms. Further, threat actors may leverage AI to engage in automated, targeted and coordinated attacks of our systems.

The effective and efficient operation of our business is dependent on our information technology systems and those of our information technology vendors. We rely heavily on these information technology systems to manage all key aspects of our business, including demand forecasting, purchasing, supply chain management, point-of-sale processing, services fulfillment (including, for example, our Urgent Response service provided by Best Buy Health), staff planning and deployment, financial management, reporting and forecasting and safeguarding critical and sensitive information. Our information technology systems and those of our partners are subject to damage or interruption from power outages, computer and telecommunications failures, computer viruses, worms, other malicious computer programs, denial-of-service attacks, security breaches (through cyber-attacks and other malicious actions, including ransomware and phishing attacks), catastrophic events (such as fires, tornadoes, earthquakes and hurricanes) and configuration or usage errors by our employees. While we have adopted, and continue to enhance, business continuity and disaster recovery plans and strategies, there is no guarantee that such plans and strategies will be effective, which could interrupt the functionality of our information technology systems or those of third parties. The failure or interruption of these information systems, data centers, cloud platforms or their backup systems could significantly disrupt our business and cause higher costs and lost revenues and could threaten our ability to remain in operation. As we continue to expand our use of software as a service (SaaS) providers, we may face additional risks that may compromise our security or disrupt our business capabilities, including ensuring the proper configuration and dependencies on our service providers' cybersecurity practices. Further, as our online interactions and sales have increased and have become critical to our growth, and as many employees now use hybrid or full-time remote-working arrangements, the risk of any interruption of our information technology system capabilities is heightened, as well as the risk that customer demand exceeds the capacity of our online operations. Any such interruption or capacity constraint could result in a deterioration of our ability to process online sales, provide customer service or perform other necessary business functions.