Best Buy

public company

Best Buy

Industry Retail

A public electronics retailer selling computers, phones, appliances, repairs, installation, memberships, and recycling services. Best Buy scores above many big-box retailers on repair and e-waste programs, but remains shareholder-governed and tied to electronic-waste, warranty, data, and retail-labor concerns.

Why this matters: Electronics shoppers need a comparison that distinguishes useful repair/recycling infrastructure from ordinary big-box retail extraction.

Letter grade D Extractive Medium confidence (AI) Rubric gcd-rubric-v1

Final Score 14* D - Extractive

* Tentative scaffolding score. Not human-checked or final.

Base Material24
Bonus+1
Cap35Ownership <= 2 and Governance <= 2
After Cap25
Penalties-11
G
Private Government badge

Best Buy receives the Private Government badge because it combines large-scale private rule-setting over customers, workers, users, members, or counterparties with OpenLobby-documented lobbying of about $1.8M on public policy issues.

Evidence: [9]

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Evaluation Overview

D - Extractive

The score turns mainly on Product Integrity, with the largest penalty coming from Policy Capture.

Strengths

  • Product Integrity4/5
  • Extraction3/10
  • Loss-Bearing Fidelity3/7

Penalties

  • Policy Capture-5
  • Ecological Harm-2
  • Toxic Products-2
  • Surveillance Capture-2

Evidence state

  • ConfidenceMedium confidence (AI)
  • ThoroughnessDeveloped (AI)
  • Linked claims9
  • Direct axis claims8
  • Coverage7/14

Scoring Axes

Axis Score Why this score
Ownership
?
Control rights: shareholder-dominated at 0, worker cooperative control at 10.
2 / 10

Best Buy is a shareholder-governed public company, so formal control belongs to management and investors rather than workers or customers.

Linked evidence
  • Best Buy is a shareholder-governed public company, so formal control belongs to management and investors rather than workers or customers. [1]
Governance
?
Binding decision authority: centralized control at 0, democratic stakeholder control at 10.
2 / 10

Best Buy is a large specialty consumer-electronics retailer with more than 1,000 North American stores, digital sales, Geek Squad services, and repair operations.

Linked evidence
  • context Best Buy is a large specialty consumer-electronics retailer with more than 1,000 North American stores, digital sales, Geek Squad services, and repair operations. [2]
  • context Best Buy is a shareholder-governed public company, so formal control belongs to management and investors rather than workers or customers. [1]
  • context Best Buy runs repair, trade-in, and electronics recycling programs, reporting 144 million pounds of electronics and appliances collected for recycling in FY25 and approximately 288,000 annual device repairs at Geek Squad City. [3]
  • context Best Buy provides useful in-person electronics comparison, repair, trade-in, and recycling infrastructure that partly improves the customer deal relative to pure throwaway electronics retail. [4]
  • context Best Buy sells electronics and appliances whose manufacturing, energy use, and disposal carry ecological burdens, partly mitigated by repair, trade-in, and recycling programs. [5]
  • context Best Buy’s annual-report discussion of personalization, retail media, and Best Buy Ads shows that customer data fuels advertising and experience optimization as part of the business model. [6]
  • context Best Buy sells electronics and appliances that create e-waste and battery or component disposal risks, making toxic-product exposure material despite recycling mitigation. [7]
Extraction
?
Surplus allocation, wage share, CEO pay ratio, margins, and structured extraction judgment.
3 / 10

Best Buy is a large specialty consumer-electronics retailer with more than 1,000 North American stores, digital sales, Geek Squad services, and repair operations.

Linked evidence
  • context Best Buy is a large specialty consumer-electronics retailer with more than 1,000 North American stores, digital sales, Geek Squad services, and repair operations. [2]
  • context Best Buy is a shareholder-governed public company, so formal control belongs to management and investors rather than workers or customers. [1]
  • context Best Buy runs repair, trade-in, and electronics recycling programs, reporting 144 million pounds of electronics and appliances collected for recycling in FY25 and approximately 288,000 annual device repairs at Geek Squad City. [3]
  • context Best Buy provides useful in-person electronics comparison, repair, trade-in, and recycling infrastructure that partly improves the customer deal relative to pure throwaway electronics retail. [4]
  • context Best Buy sells electronics and appliances whose manufacturing, energy use, and disposal carry ecological burdens, partly mitigated by repair, trade-in, and recycling programs. [5]
  • context Best Buy’s annual-report discussion of personalization, retail media, and Best Buy Ads shows that customer data fuels advertising and experience optimization as part of the business model. [6]
  • context Best Buy sells electronics and appliances that create e-waste and battery or component disposal risks, making toxic-product exposure material despite recycling mitigation. [7]
Labor Sovereignty
?
Worker power: coercive conditions at 0, co-determination or ownership at 7. Employee dissatisfaction matters only when source-backed evidence shows concrete limits on worker agency, such as coercive scheduling, retaliation, wage theft, harassment, unsafe conditions, suppression of worker voice, or extreme turnover.
2 / 7

Best Buy is a large specialty consumer-electronics retailer with more than 1,000 North American stores, digital sales, Geek Squad services, and repair operations.

Linked evidence
  • context Best Buy is a large specialty consumer-electronics retailer with more than 1,000 North American stores, digital sales, Geek Squad services, and repair operations. [2]
  • context Best Buy is a shareholder-governed public company, so formal control belongs to management and investors rather than workers or customers. [1]
  • context Best Buy runs repair, trade-in, and electronics recycling programs, reporting 144 million pounds of electronics and appliances collected for recycling in FY25 and approximately 288,000 annual device repairs at Geek Squad City. [3]
  • context Best Buy provides useful in-person electronics comparison, repair, trade-in, and recycling infrastructure that partly improves the customer deal relative to pure throwaway electronics retail. [4]
  • context Best Buy sells electronics and appliances whose manufacturing, energy use, and disposal carry ecological burdens, partly mitigated by repair, trade-in, and recycling programs. [5]
  • context Best Buy’s annual-report discussion of personalization, retail media, and Best Buy Ads shows that customer data fuels advertising and experience optimization as part of the business model. [6]
  • context Best Buy sells electronics and appliances that create e-waste and battery or component disposal risks, making toxic-product exposure material despite recycling mitigation. [7]
Solidarity with the Unemployed
?
Treatment of exits and nonworkers, including severance, redeployment, and non-competes.
2 / 7

Best Buy is a large specialty consumer-electronics retailer with more than 1,000 North American stores, digital sales, Geek Squad services, and repair operations.

Linked evidence
  • context Best Buy is a large specialty consumer-electronics retailer with more than 1,000 North American stores, digital sales, Geek Squad services, and repair operations. [2]
  • context Best Buy is a shareholder-governed public company, so formal control belongs to management and investors rather than workers or customers. [1]
  • context Best Buy runs repair, trade-in, and electronics recycling programs, reporting 144 million pounds of electronics and appliances collected for recycling in FY25 and approximately 288,000 annual device repairs at Geek Squad City. [3]
  • context Best Buy provides useful in-person electronics comparison, repair, trade-in, and recycling infrastructure that partly improves the customer deal relative to pure throwaway electronics retail. [4]
  • context Best Buy sells electronics and appliances whose manufacturing, energy use, and disposal carry ecological burdens, partly mitigated by repair, trade-in, and recycling programs. [5]
  • context Best Buy’s annual-report discussion of personalization, retail media, and Best Buy Ads shows that customer data fuels advertising and experience optimization as part of the business model. [6]
  • context Best Buy sells electronics and appliances that create e-waste and battery or component disposal risks, making toxic-product exposure material despite recycling mitigation. [7]
Loss-Bearing Fidelity
?
Willingness to absorb costs to preserve values, workers, users, and public obligations.
3 / 7

Best Buy is a large specialty consumer-electronics retailer with more than 1,000 North American stores, digital sales, Geek Squad services, and repair operations.

Linked evidence
  • context Best Buy is a large specialty consumer-electronics retailer with more than 1,000 North American stores, digital sales, Geek Squad services, and repair operations. [2]
  • context Best Buy is a shareholder-governed public company, so formal control belongs to management and investors rather than workers or customers. [1]
  • context Best Buy runs repair, trade-in, and electronics recycling programs, reporting 144 million pounds of electronics and appliances collected for recycling in FY25 and approximately 288,000 annual device repairs at Geek Squad City. [3]
  • context Best Buy provides useful in-person electronics comparison, repair, trade-in, and recycling infrastructure that partly improves the customer deal relative to pure throwaway electronics retail. [4]
  • context Best Buy sells electronics and appliances whose manufacturing, energy use, and disposal carry ecological burdens, partly mitigated by repair, trade-in, and recycling programs. [5]
  • context Best Buy’s annual-report discussion of personalization, retail media, and Best Buy Ads shows that customer data fuels advertising and experience optimization as part of the business model. [6]
  • context Best Buy sells electronics and appliances that create e-waste and battery or component disposal risks, making toxic-product exposure material despite recycling mitigation. [7]
Market Conduct
?
Pricing fairness, switching costs, lock-in, and rent extraction.
3 / 5

Best Buy is a large specialty consumer-electronics retailer with more than 1,000 North American stores, digital sales, Geek Squad services, and repair operations.

Linked evidence
  • context Best Buy is a large specialty consumer-electronics retailer with more than 1,000 North American stores, digital sales, Geek Squad services, and repair operations. [2]
  • context Best Buy is a shareholder-governed public company, so formal control belongs to management and investors rather than workers or customers. [1]
  • context Best Buy runs repair, trade-in, and electronics recycling programs, reporting 144 million pounds of electronics and appliances collected for recycling in FY25 and approximately 288,000 annual device repairs at Geek Squad City. [3]
  • context Best Buy provides useful in-person electronics comparison, repair, trade-in, and recycling infrastructure that partly improves the customer deal relative to pure throwaway electronics retail. [4]
  • context Best Buy sells electronics and appliances whose manufacturing, energy use, and disposal carry ecological burdens, partly mitigated by repair, trade-in, and recycling programs. [5]
  • context Best Buy’s annual-report discussion of personalization, retail media, and Best Buy Ads shows that customer data fuels advertising and experience optimization as part of the business model. [6]
  • context Best Buy sells electronics and appliances that create e-waste and battery or component disposal risks, making toxic-product exposure material despite recycling mitigation. [7]
Product Integrity
?
Preservation of quality rather than degradation for monetization.
4 / 5

Best Buy is a large specialty consumer-electronics retailer with more than 1,000 North American stores, digital sales, Geek Squad services, and repair operations.

Linked evidence
  • Best Buy is a large specialty consumer-electronics retailer with more than 1,000 North American stores, digital sales, Geek Squad services, and repair operations. [2]
  • Best Buy runs repair, trade-in, and electronics recycling programs, reporting 144 million pounds of electronics and appliances collected for recycling in FY25 and approximately 288,000 annual device repairs at Geek Squad City. [3]
Scale Integrity
?
Whether growth improves or degrades fairness and accountability.
3 / 5

Best Buy is a large specialty consumer-electronics retailer with more than 1,000 North American stores, digital sales, Geek Squad services, and repair operations.

Linked evidence
  • context Best Buy is a large specialty consumer-electronics retailer with more than 1,000 North American stores, digital sales, Geek Squad services, and repair operations. [2]
  • context Best Buy is a shareholder-governed public company, so formal control belongs to management and investors rather than workers or customers. [1]
  • context Best Buy runs repair, trade-in, and electronics recycling programs, reporting 144 million pounds of electronics and appliances collected for recycling in FY25 and approximately 288,000 annual device repairs at Geek Squad City. [3]
  • context Best Buy provides useful in-person electronics comparison, repair, trade-in, and recycling infrastructure that partly improves the customer deal relative to pure throwaway electronics retail. [4]
  • context Best Buy sells electronics and appliances whose manufacturing, energy use, and disposal carry ecological burdens, partly mitigated by repair, trade-in, and recycling programs. [5]
  • context Best Buy’s annual-report discussion of personalization, retail media, and Best Buy Ads shows that customer data fuels advertising and experience optimization as part of the business model. [6]
  • context Best Buy sells electronics and appliances that create e-waste and battery or component disposal risks, making toxic-product exposure material despite recycling mitigation. [7]

Penalties

Penalty Applied Why this penalty
Ecological Harm
?
Footprint, trajectory, irreversibility, culpability, and scale, including whether ecological harm is central to the model and continued after credible notice. Range: -30 to 0.
-2

Best Buy sells electronics and appliances whose manufacturing, energy use, and disposal carry ecological burdens, partly mitigated by repair, trade-in, and recycling programs.

Linked evidence
  • Best Buy sells electronics and appliances whose manufacturing, energy use, and disposal carry ecological burdens, partly mitigated by repair, trade-in, and recycling programs. [5]
Policy Capture
?
Private-interest attempts to bend law, regulation, subsidies, taxes, enforcement, trade, labor, safety, competition, environmental, healthcare, housing, surveillance, civil-liberties, or consumer policy against workers, customers, citizens, affected communities, or ecological life. Public-interest advocacy is not penalized merely because it is lobbying. Range: -15 to 0.
-5

OpenLobby records BEST BUY CO.

Linked evidence
  • OpenLobby records BEST BUY CO. INC. lobbying on trade, tax, healthcare, education, consumer protection, economic development, and other issues with about $1.8M in spending across 33 filings; the reviewed filings document private institutional lobbying over public rules rather than a public-interest advocacy role. [8]
Toxic Products
?
Current sale of products whose ordinary use, exposure, ingredients, residues, packaging, or formulation creates toxic, addictive, or consumer-safety risk. Food products receive at least light scrutiny for artificial colors, artificial flavors, petro-derived additives, pesticide residues, contaminants, endocrine-disrupting packaging, and ultra-processed formulation. Ordinary adult nightlife or alcohol service is not penalized by itself without evidence of predatory marketing, youth targeting, addiction-extractive design, or unusual product-safety misconduct. Range: -5 to 0.
-2

Best Buy sells electronics and appliances that create e-waste and battery or component disposal risks, making toxic-product exposure material despite recycling mitigation.

Linked evidence
  • Best Buy sells electronics and appliances that create e-waste and battery or component disposal risks, making toxic-product exposure material despite recycling mitigation. [7]
Surveillance Capture
?
Invasive surveillance, unreasonably non-optional tracking, facial recognition, biometric identification, or AI behavior scanning of customers, workers, bystanders, or the public. Range: -5 to 0.
-2

Best Buy’s annual-report discussion of personalization, retail media, and Best Buy Ads shows that customer data fuels advertising and experience optimization as part of the business model.

Linked evidence
  • Best Buy’s annual-report discussion of personalization, retail media, and Best Buy Ads shows that customer data fuels advertising and experience optimization as part of the business model. [6]

Bonus Credits

Bonus Credit Why this credit
Good Deal
?
Credit for unusually fair value: durable quality, fair pricing, low lock-in, and clear customer surplus.
1 / 3

Best Buy provides useful in-person electronics comparison, repair, trade-in, and recycling infrastructure that partly improves the customer deal relative to pure throwaway electronics retail.

Linked evidence
  • Best Buy provides useful in-person electronics comparison, repair, trade-in, and recycling infrastructure that partly improves the customer deal relative to pure throwaway electronics retail. [4]

Confidence Basis

Confidence Basis

Confidence is computed from the evidence trail and review state, not typed into the profile by hand.

Medium 72/100

8 verified linked claims 8 direct axis claims 0 disputed claims 7/14 components covered

This confidence label measures the source-backed evidence trail. AI-scaffolded scores remain tentative until human review.

Claim confidence 17/20

8 verified linked claims

Source quality 12/18

Best source per verified claim, weighted by institutional reliability

Direct axis-specific claims 9/18

8 direct claims across 14 active components

Dispute load 12/12

0 disputed claims on this entity

Recency 10/10

Newest accepted timestamp: May 13, 2026

Reviewer status 7/12

Human-reviewed components score higher than AI scaffolding

Component coverage 5/10

7/14 evidence-bearing components have direct support

Evidence State

Evidence State

Profile stateAI draft / human-pending
VerificationUnverified
ConfidenceMedium confidence (AI)
ThoroughnessDeveloped (AI)
Correction routeUse “Challenge this rating” for factual errors, missing counterevidence, source problems, or calculation mistakes.
Company responseCompany representatives can submit source-backed corrections; payment never changes scores or reviewer authority.

Claims and Sources

Claims are the evidence record. Each claim needs a source link, axis category, status, confidence level, and timestamp before it can support a score.

* Tentative scaffolding score. Not human-checked or final.
1Best Buy is a shareholder-governed public company, so formal control belongs to management and investors rather than workers or customers.

Ownership Verified High confidence AI-generated / human-pending

AI scaffold

2Best Buy is a large specialty consumer-electronics retailer with more than 1,000 North American stores, digital sales, Geek Squad services, and repair operations.

Product Integrity Verified High confidence AI-generated / human-pending

AI scaffold

3Best Buy runs repair, trade-in, and electronics recycling programs, reporting 144 million pounds of electronics and appliances collected for recycling in FY25 and approximately 288,000 annual device repairs at Geek Squad City.

Product Integrity Verified High confidence AI-generated / human-pending

AI scaffold

4Best Buy provides useful in-person electronics comparison, repair, trade-in, and recycling infrastructure that partly improves the customer deal relative to pure throwaway electronics retail.

Good Deal Verified High confidence AI-generated / human-pending

AI scaffold

5Best Buy sells electronics and appliances whose manufacturing, energy use, and disposal carry ecological burdens, partly mitigated by repair, trade-in, and recycling programs.

Ecological Harm Verified High confidence AI-generated / human-pending

AI scaffold

6Best Buy’s annual-report discussion of personalization, retail media, and Best Buy Ads shows that customer data fuels advertising and experience optimization as part of the business model.

Surveillance Capture Verified Medium confidence AI-generated / human-pending

AI scaffold

7Best Buy sells electronics and appliances that create e-waste and battery or component disposal risks, making toxic-product exposure material despite recycling mitigation.

Toxic Products Verified Medium confidence AI-generated / human-pending

AI scaffold

8OpenLobby records BEST BUY CO. INC. lobbying on trade, tax, healthcare, education, consumer protection, economic development, and other issues with about $1.8M in spending across 33 filings; the reviewed filings document private institutional lobbying over public rules rather than a public-interest advocacy role.

Policy Capture Verified Medium confidence AI-generated / human-pending

AI scaffold

9Best Buy receives the Private Government badge because it combines large-scale private rule-setting over customers, workers, users, members, or counterparties with OpenLobby-documented lobbying of about $1.8M on public policy issues.

Private Government Verified Medium confidence AI-generated / human-pending

AI scaffold

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