Best Buy plans sale of China retail business

RICHFIELD, Minn. — Best Buy is getting out of the retail business in China as it tightens its focus on North America.

The sale of its 184 Five Star stores comes almost four years after Best Buy closed all of the stores it ran under own brand.

Best Buy will continue to run its private label business in China, which makes products for brands like Dynex, Insignia and Rocketfish.

The company took a majority stake in the Five Star in 2006. The sale of the business, to the Chinese real estate firm Jiayuan Group, is expected to close in the first quarter of fiscal 2016, which ends next April. The sale is not expected to have a material impact, the company said.

Terms of the sale were not disclosed.

The Richfield, Minnesota, company has been cutting costs and revamping stores to boost sales as it faces increased competition from online retailers and discount stores.

Late last month, Best Buy posted third-quarter sales that caught almost everyone off guard and it topped Wall Street expectations on both revenue and profit.

Shares of Best Buy Co. rose 1 percent before the opening bell Thursday. Shares are down nearly 10 percent this year. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index, meanwhile, has climbed about 12 percent.