Best Buy Founder Offers to Buy Co, Take It Private

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Best Buy's founder says he wants to take the electronics retailer private by buying up all of its outstanding shares he doesn't already own for $24 to $26 each.

Best Buy shares jumped 22 percent on the news.

Richard Schulze also served as the Minneapolis-based company's chairman until resigning in June amid a scandal involving its CEO.  The offer represents a 36 percent to 47 percent premium over Best Buy's Friday closing stock price.

Schulze is Best Buy's largest shareholder, controlling about 20 percent of its shares.

He says he's developed a plan to deal with the company's challenges and has talked with private equity firms.

Schulze says he plans to finance the deal through a combination of private equity investments, about $1 billion of his own equity and debt.

(Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press.  All Rights Reserved)