Richfield-based Best Buy Co. Inc. and its founder Richard Schulze have reached an agreement that gives Schulze permission to review the company's financials and form an investment group to finalize an official takeover bid, Forbes reports. If the initial proposal is rejected, Schulze has agreed to wait until January 2013 to pursue his plan to buy the struggling electronics giant. Schulze has 60 days to present a fully financed definitive proposal to Best Buy's Board of Directors.

Best Buy founder Richard Schulze will likely make an initial offer to take the company private next week, the Star Tribune reports. That's after CEO Hubert Joly is expected to present his strategy to investors in New York. Joly had to postpone the meeting with Wall Street analysts after the destruction of Hurricane Sandy.

More than a week after he went public with his bid to take the Richfield-based electronics giant private, co-founder Richard Schulze sent a letter to the Best Buy Board of Directors requesting permission to form a group and conduct basic due diligence so that he can present a fully financed offer for the company. Schulze wrote, "you should know that I am not going away."

Best Buy Co. Inc. founder Richard Schulze has recruited four big-name private equity firms – KKR & Co., Leonard Green & Partners, TPG Capital and Apollo Global Management – to help bankroll his $8.8 billion plan to buy the company, the Star Tribune reports.

Best Buy founder Richard Schulze is reportedly looking to remove company board members who are fighting his attempt to purchase the struggling retailer. At the same time, Best Buy has resumed talks with Schulze about giving him access to their books as he and his fellow investors pursue their takeover bid.

Best Buy and its founder Richard Schulze continue to spar over Schulze's attempt to take the struggling Richfield-based electronics retailer private. The Star Tribune reports Schulze, Best Buy's largest shareholder with a 20% stake, rejected a proposal from the company's board of directors over the weekend. Best Buy says it offered to show Schulze the company's financial data in exchange for delaying any takeover attempt until 2013, should the board reject his bid.

Hubert Joly, Best Buy's new new president and CEO, officially joined the troubled Richfield-based consumer electronics giant on Tuesday, the Star Tribune reports. Joly, a native of France, is the first chief executive officer at Best Buy recruited from outside of the company. He most recently led the Minnetonka-based hospitality and travel company Carlson. Joly will begin his new role at Best Buy on the sales floor of several stores in the Twin Cities metro. He tells Reuters, "I want to not learn our businesses from the headquarters. I want to learn from the front line."

Richard Schulze is reportedly talking with banks and looking for potential buyout partners as he considers taking the beleaguered Richfield-based electronics retailer private, Bloomberg reports. Schuzle is Best Buy's largest shareholder -- controlling 20.1 percent of the company's stock. The 71-year-old abruptly step down as chairman of the board earlier this month to explore his options.