Best Buy gives more time for buyout bid

Best Buy says it will give founder Richard Schulze additional time to prepare his bid to buy the struggling U.S. electronics retailer. Best Buy's board of directors, which in August gave Schulze a Dec. 16 deadline to come up with a fully financed deal, said Friday it has agreed to extend the deadline to Feb. 28. "Both parties believe that allowing Mr. Schulze to bring his offer after the holiday season and fiscal year end is in the best interests of shareholders and provides Mr. Schulze and his potential partners with an opportunity to include the company's full year results as part of their due diligence review.," Best Buy said in a statement. The board will have 30 days to review any offer made by Schulze. Shares of Best Buy, which rallied Thursday ahead of reports of an imminent bid, tumbled 15 percent Friday morning after the announcement was made. Analysts are now wondering if Schulze is having problems finding private equity partners to support a bid, CNN Money said.