Best Buy to Acquire Carphone Warehouse U.S. Mobile Stake

Best Buy, the world’s largest consumer electronics retailer, agreed to buy Carphone Warehouse Group’s stake in its U.S. mobile phone joint venture for 838 million pounds ($1.34 billion) and close the U.K. stores it opened less than two years ago. The purchase of Carphone Warehouse’s interest in a profit- sharing agreement for the Best Buy mobile business in the U.S. and Canada will boost earnings next year, excluding items, the Richfield, Minn.-based retailer said today in a statement. Carphone Warehouse will return almost all of the proceeds to shareholders, according to a separate statement.