Best Buy to spend $1.2 billion supporting businesses owned by people of color

Best Buy says it will spend at least $1.2 billion by 2025 supporting businesses owned by people of color as it works to diversify its business, from its supply chain to how it advertises.

In addition to financial support, the electronics retailer also plans to provide access to its business resources in areas such as sourcing and product development to the companies run by people of color. The support will range from feedback to using Best Buy's distribution network and helping to house inventory.

The new commitments, announced Thursday, continue the Richfield-based retailer's recent efforts to encourage more diversity within the tech industry.

"We better serve our customers, employees and communities when there are more diverse voices at the table, businesses we work with and stories being told, and we're committed to taking the necessary actions to support, grow and reduce the barriers faced by BIPOC [Black, Indigenous and people of color] entrepreneurs and businesses," said Best Buy CEO Corie Barry, in a statement. "There is more work to do to make the kind of systemic permanent changes necessary to achieve racial and social equity in our company and our communities, and we are just getting started."

A big part of the pledge is Best Buy's plans to invest financially in partner organizations such as venture capital firms that work to provide access to funding for minority entrepreneurs.

In terms of marketing, Best Buy said that by 2025 it would dedicate nearly 10% of its annual media budget to media owned by people of color. A minimum of 30% of its paid advertising, it said, will feature diverse casts and family structures and be made by diverse production crews. Best Buy also said it plans to host a media summit for diverse businesses in partnership with the Starcom media and advertising company by next spring.

Thursday's announcement comes after a string of commitments Best Buy has made in the past year to better support Black-owned businesses, Black team members and Black youth following the killing of George Floyd, as well as pushes for more equity within the business community.

For example, last month Best Buy announced it would spend $10 million to launch a new network of teen tech centers as it works to reach thousands of teenagers who live in disinvested communities. In December, Best Buy unveiled a five-year plan that outlined efforts to hire more people of color at its company and expand college prep scholarships to participants at its teen tech centers and to students attending historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).