Circuit City: Why the Electronics Giant Fired Its Best Salespeople, Then Died

Circuit City helped invent the electronics superstore, and by 2000 it had more than 60,000 employees across 616 locations. But Best Buy had already overtaken it. In 2003 Circuit City fired 3,900 commissioned salespeople and replaced them with 2,100 hourly staff, then laid off 3,400 more higher-paid workers in 2007. It spent almost $1 billion buying back shares at about $20 each; by the end of 2007 they were worth $4.20. After a $321 million loss, a withdrawn Blockbuster bid and nervous suppliers, it filed for Chapter 11 in November 2008 and closed all 567 remaining stores, ending 34,000 jobs. Here is the full rise and ruin, with charts from its SEC filings. 0:00 Intro 1:03 Part 1: The rise 2:22 Part 2: Best Buy takes the lead 2:58 Part 3: The cracks 4:55 Part 4: The fall 8:04 Why Circuit City really failed 8:55 Lessons for your business SOURCES (all charts and timelines are our own, made from these): SEC EDGAR: Circuit City Stores Form 10-K for fiscal year ended Feb 29, 2008 https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/00... SEC EDGAR: Circuit City Stores Form 10-K for fiscal year ended Feb 28, 2006 https://sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/104599... Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Econ Focus: The Rise and Fall of Circuit City https://www.richmondfed.org/publications/r... CNN Money: Circuit City to shut down https://money.cnn.com/2009/01/16/news/comp... NBC News (AP): Circuit City to liquidate remaining U.S. stores https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna28691963 NBC News (AP): After 60 years, Circuit City finally powers down https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna29586797 HeraldNet (AP): Circuit City powers down after 60 years https://www.heraldnet.com/?p=236500 Minnesota Public Radio (AP): Circuit City files for bankruptcy https://www.mprnews.org/story/2008/11/10/c... Richmond BizSense: Circuit City bankruptcy headed for conclusion after nearly 13 years https://richmondbizsense.com/2021/08/30/ci... Law360: Circuit City's Ch. 11 plan gets court OK https://law360.com/articles/192497 Wikipedia: Circuit City (pointer only) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circuit_City Figures are in nominal US dollars unless stated, and come from the filings and reports above. Some series mix restated years; see the sources for detail. This video is commentary and education, not financial advice. Narration uses an AI voice. #CircuitCity #BusinessHistory #RiseAndRuin