The two major Minnesota-based companies have watched stock prices drop dramatically as they struggle to grow sales. Some analysts believe the Richfield-based electronics retail giant and the Eden Prairie-based supermarket operator could be a prime target for cheap leveraged buyouts. The Star Tribune explains...

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."

Minneapolis-based Target is teaming up with Richfield-based Best Buy to test a tech-support program. The Denver Post reports more than two-dozen Target stores in the Denver metro will start featuring Best Buy’s Geek Squad agents this fall. One store in the Twins Cities will also take part in the pilot project. The trained technicians will offer in-store gadget repairs to home-theater delivery and installation.

Standard & Poor's says the Richfield-based company needs to make changes to its business model to improve performance. Last week Best Buy unveiled plans to close 50 big-box stores, including five in Minnesota.

The troubled Eden Prairie-based grocery-store chain is expected to provide prospective buyout firms financial information later this week, the Wall Street Journal reports. Last week, Supervalu hired Goldman Sachs to explore selling either part or all of its supermarket operations after it reported a plunge in quarterly profit.