Best Buy Opens Probe Into CEO's Personal Conduct (wsj.com) 33
The board of Best Buy is investigating allegations that CEO Corie Barry had an inappropriate romantic relationship with a fellow executive (Warning: source paywalled; alternative source), who has since left the electronics retailer. The Wall Street Journal reports: The allegations were sent to the board in an anonymous letter dated Dec. 7. The letter claims Ms. Barry had a romantic relationship for years with former Best Buy Senior Vice President Karl Sanft before she took over as CEO last June.
"Best Buy takes allegations of misconduct very seriously," a spokesman told The Wall Street Journal. The Minneapolis company said its board has hired the law firm Sidley Austin LLP to conduct an independent review that is ongoing. "We encourage the letter's author to come forward and be part of that confidential process," the Best Buy spokesman said. "We will not comment further until the review is concluded." Ms. Barry didn't address the allegations and said she is cooperating with the probe. "The Board has my full cooperation and support as it undertakes this review, and I look forward to its resolution in the near term," she said in a statement.
"Best Buy takes allegations of misconduct very seriously," a spokesman told The Wall Street Journal. The Minneapolis company said its board has hired the law firm Sidley Austin LLP to conduct an independent review that is ongoing. "We encourage the letter's author to come forward and be part of that confidential process," the Best Buy spokesman said. "We will not comment further until the review is concluded." Ms. Barry didn't address the allegations and said she is cooperating with the probe. "The Board has my full cooperation and support as it undertakes this review, and I look forward to its resolution in the near term," she said in a statement.
Best Buy (Score:2)
Re: (Score:3, Informative)
As long as they were two consenting adults, I don't see the problem here.
Many companies have codes-of-conduct prohibiting relationships between supervisors and their subordinates.
Such a relationship is unfair to other subordinates who may be passed over for raises or promotions, and unfair to the subordinate partner if the relationship sours.
A CoC violation is not a crime, so no one is going to jail, but it is unethical, and termination is a reasonable remedy.
Re:I don't get it. (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: I don't get it. (Score:4, Insightful)
In a lot of companies dating coworkers isnâ(TM)t allowed either. It happens a lot though. They are probably trying to get rid of the ceo for other reasons
Re: I don't get it. (Score:1)
"In a lot of companies dating coworkers isnÃ(TM)t allowed either."
True. But corporate pseudo-law encroachments against the humanity and dignity of their workers, such as the policy you describe, ought to be proscribed be the public law.
It's just not good to have relationships at work (Score:3)
I worked with a married couple. The husband was my boss and I worked with his wife. It was scary as can be. She'd underperform and he'd ask me how her work was...am I brave enough to tell him his wife is a fuckup?...no...because I can't afford to get fired or retaliated against? I did all I
Re: (Score:2)
Her affair was within regulation?
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
consenting adults
Emphasis mine. When one party has overwhelming power over another it can be difficult to prove that the powerful party did not coerce (directly, or more frequently, IMPLIED) the other party into submitting. This opens up a field of landmines of endless litigation and even more misfortune misunderstandings, that's why many companies ban it and people abhor it.
Power imbalance causes lots of trouble even without malice - Imagine if a Junior staff gets invited for a date by her manager, during a retrenchment
Re: (Score:2)
I'm just adding to why this rule is made in general on top of what another already replied to you.
People sleeping into what they think is a power harassment incident is a minority, but I've indeed seen somewhat-successful men who acts like they think they're woman magnets even at middle age, probably just because "they're successful alphas that have money". People with hubris are prone to misjudgement. Also, one can harp all day long on why people should just say "no" or get a lawyer the day trouble start
There can only be so many CEO's (Score:1)
Therefore, we must forbid CEO's from having sex, period. This trend of firing CEO's for having sex with consenting co-workers is 100% legit.
Re: (Score:2)
I just read a scary article on the amount of background checking that companies will do when hiring executives. They interviewed a guy whose company is basically doing this as a service.
I shed few tears for our bonus-spending overlords, but the stuff they do was kind of scary, like FBI "top secret" level checking involving private investigators, "off the record" interviews with friends, associates, etc.
Basically they're trawling for this kind of thing, sexual peccadilloes, drinking habits, all kinds of per
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I think they have to do this to justify to investors that they're doing "due diligence" or whatever. You don't want to see your CEO in a news article about being found in a Vegas high roller suite with a mountain of coke and several not-their-spouses. Not to say that it's a guarantee it won't happen, but they need to at least show that they tried to find out about their past when it does.
Having done support work for execs in the earlier part of my career, I think these kinds of relationships develop simply
No overlap? (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:1)
An EVP and an SVP are not peers.
If the company's CoC prohibits the relationship, then they shouldn't have started it.
If the company's CoC doesn't prohibit the relationship, then why were they hiding it?
Re: No overlap? (Score:1, Insightful)
"If the company's CoC prohibits the relationship, then they shouldn't have started it."
Big corporations, and their reactionary-Progressive toadies, sure do love forcing their CoC down the throats of unconsenting workers.
Re: (Score:2)
Nothing was forced upon them...get over it. When you go to work somewhere, you either accept the company's terms, or go someplace else. Don't like it, leave and stop whining about how the evil corporate world is out to get you. There are plenty of places that wouldn't have cared.
Re: No overlap? (Score:1)
Lick those boots, Boomer!
Re: (Score:2)
Typical. You have no answer other than insults and whining.
To Human Resources. (Score:1)
Re: To Human Resources. (Score:2)
Heretic! Denialist! Nazi! I'm calling HR!
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OMG! You mean people have sex? (Score:1)
What a shitty thing to do (Score:2)
Let's assume this is true. She was cheating on her spouse with a co-worker. While they probably helped each other out, it doesn't sound like either held a position of supervision or authority or even any real quid pro.
So besides gossip, there's no harm, no foul to the corporation. Spare me the BS corporate policy details.
The real smear here is shitting on her marriage in public. Let's even assume all the parties including her husband knew. But now their private lives are made public when there's no und
So not just a Geek Squad (Score:2)
but also a Senior Stupper one.
This is a non-story (Score:2)
It's a well-known fact that CEOs and other high-level executives have these sorts of relationships going on all the time. This one even sounds consensual. On the whole it's a lot less creepy than other executive behavior. (Example, Google's chief counsel abandoning his wife and the woman he cheated on her with and got pregnant, or Mark Hurd hiring some model at HP as a marketing exec, then constantly stalking and pursuing her until she got him canned.)
Since this was an "anonymous letter," my assumption is t