Best Buy reports 3% decline in entertainment revenue in the second quarter

Erik Gruenwedel

29 August 2024

Best Buy on Aug. 29 reported entertainment revenue of $517.4 million for the second quarter (ended Aug. 3) on total domestic revenue of over $8.6 billion. That's down 3% from entertainment revenue of $533.4 million on total revenue of nearly $8.9 billion in the year-ago period.

In the entertainment segment, which includes products such as DVD and Blu-ray Disc movies (sales of which will be discontinued at the end of the year), video game hardware and software, books, music CDs and computer software, comparable-store sales fell 7.4%, compared with a 9% increase in the same period last year.

The main reasons for the lower entertainment revenues included the decline in video game console sales and the resulting lack of new releases, as well as the previously announced decision to stop selling packaged media.

From a retail perspective, the biggest drivers of the comparable sales decline were household appliances (minus 14.9%), consumer electronics (minus 6.2%), home theater and games. These drivers were partially offset by growth in the categories tablets, computers (plus 3.9%) and services (e.g. Geek Squad) (plus 8.5%).

“We delivered strong results in our domestic tablet and computer categories, which together delivered comparable sales growth of 6% year over year,” CEO Corie Barry said in a statement.

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