Best Buy U.S. Sales Halt Decline, Helping Schulze’s Bid

Best Buy Co.’s sales stabilized in the U.S. during the holiday season after three quarters of declines, bolstering founder Richard Schulze’s bid to take over the consumer-electronics retailer. The shares climbed.

Sales at domestic stores open at least 14 months were unchanged in the nine weeks ended Jan. 5, the Richfield, Minnesota-based company said today in a statement. Global comparable sales fell 1.4 percent, less than the 2 percent decline projected by analysts Mike Baker at Deutsche Bank AG and Scott Tilghman of B. Riley & Co.