If Best Buy
The consumer electronics giant is unloading its Napster music subscription service on rival Rhapsody. Best Buy will receive a minority stake in the company after handing over Napster's subscribers and other assets.
Do you think that Best Buy is finally getting the hint? It doesn't belong in the music business. The chain may as well be I Love Lucy's namesake comedic damsel, always trying to get into hubby Ricky Ricardo's musical act despite the lack of talent.
"But Ricky," she would whine, "can I be in your show?"
Lucy Ricardo was always denied the opportunity and paid the price when she would try to scheme her way into the musical spotlight.
Best Buy is the same way. It blew it with Musicland, figuring that it could make retail CDs thrive just as the platform was peaking a decade ago. It then went for the wrong horse -- in the wrong race -- when it snapped up Napster.
At least Best Buy got a good deal on Napster, paying just $122 million three years ago. Napster had more than half that sum in cash and short-term investments, making Best Buy's final out-of-pocket price considerably less than that.
However, just as RealNetworks
Pandora
So please, Best Buy, put the microphone down. Don't entertain the notion of ukulele lessons. Don't ask the karaoke DJ for some old-school Gloria Gaynor because you really don't have the chops -- or the track record -- to pull off "I Will Survive" on stage.
Add Best Buy to My Watchlist if you want to track the consumer electronics giant as it hits another bad note.