Best Buy (BBY 0.98%) reported in an SEC fling yesterday that founder, former CEO, and chairman emeritus Richard Schulze has adopted a plan to sell an undisclosed amount shares of the company's common stock on the open market between Oct. 1, 2013, and March 2014. Shares of the company were down 2.21% today, but the stock has risen almost threefold since the beginning of the year, closing yesterday at $35.81.
The filing said the reason for Schulze's sale was "part of his personal long-term strategy for asset diversification and liquidity." Schulze owns 66 million shares of Best Buy (19.6% of the company), and at today's market prices, his holding is worth approximately $2.3 billion. Schulze will have not have control surrounding the timing of the sales over the course of the plan.
Last June, when the stock was trading around $20, news surfaced that Schulze was considering taking the company private, following its reporting its first annual net loss since 1991. However, he did not ultimately make a bid by the Feb. 28, 2013, deadline.
Best Buy is the world's largest retailer for specialty consumer electronics and Schulze founded the company in 1966 in West Saint Paul, Minn.
