Good morning! There’s a new Fortune 500 chief, the firm behind Wall Street’s Fearless Girl statue cuts DEI, and Best Buy’s Corie Barry is a voice to pay attention to on Trump’s tariffs. Have a wonderful Wednesday.
– What to know. In late 2023, I interviewed Best Buy CEO Corie Barry at that year’s Fortune Most Powerful Women Summit. I came away from that conversation struck by just how much insight Barry’s position atop the $42 billion-in-revenue electronics retailer gives her into the global economy.
At the time, she described what was then a “contradictory” macroeconomic environment. Consumers were in a “good place” spending at record levels, but the way they spent was changing. Electronics have traditionally been categorized as discretionary spending—although Barry has argued they should be considered a necessity—giving her early insight into where, when, and why consumers are pulling back.
So Barry is one CEO I would listen to closely when looking for insight into another major shift: the implementation of President Donald Trump’s tariffs. Yesterday, a 25% tariff on goods from Mexico and Canada took effect; Canada responded with a plan to impose 25% retaliatory tariffs on $100 billion of U.S. imports. Meanwhile, the U.S. doubled tariffs on Chinese goods from 10% to 20%; China retaliated with a tariff on U.S. agricultural products. Mexico is expected to announce its own response this weekend.
Conveniently, Best Buy’s Q4 earnings call was scheduled for yesterday morning, during which Barry answered a slew of analyst questions about tariffs. Her responses gave us perspective on not just Best Buy’s business, but the entire consumer economy. “Trade is critically important to our business and industry. The consumer electronics supply chain is highly global, technical, and complex,” she explained. She called the tariffs a “highly dynamic situation” with uncertainty about their “duration, timing, amount, and countries involved” and the “potential reaction of American consumers.”
“Everyone in the industry is facing this—all the way to what gets passed on to the consumer,” Barry said. “It’s fair to say…that tariffs at this level will result in price increases.”
Best Buy only directly imports 2% to 3% of its own inventory, Barry explained. So tariffs’ impact on the consumer depend instead on the retailer’s entire supply chain and tariffs faced by its vendors. “This isn’t as simple as Best Buy decides to raise prices,” Barry said. “This is a full value chain that starts with the manufacturing and then works its way all the way through.” It will be a slowly felt impact depending on product category, she added. “These cost increases will slowly work their way into categories and then will also slowly work their way into price,” she said.
Consumers, however, can’t tell the difference between their go-to retailer raising prices and the costs of electronics components going up. “It’s a volatile environment for the consumer,” she added. “We’re watching that and trying to understand how best do we meet consumer needs in that environment.”
Best Buy’s shares fell 13% after its earnings report. There will surely be more news to come on tariffs—and Best Buy may be positioned to influence what comes next. Barry said the company is “engaging with policymakers to ensure they have our point of view.”
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
The Most Powerful Women Daily newsletter is Fortune’s daily briefing for and about the women leading the business world. Today’s edition was curated by Joey Abrams. Subscribe here.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Fortune 500 Power Move. Grocery store chain Albertsons (No. 53 on the Fortune 500) announced that Susan Morris will replace current CEO Vivek Sankaran, effective May 1, adding a new female CEO to the Fortune 500. Morris has served as COO of Albertson’s since 2018 and will lead the company following a failed merger with competitor Kroger. Reuters
- Another one. Starbucks (No. 116) announced that four-year CFO Rachel Ruggeri will leave in September and Nordstrom executive Cathy Smith will be her replacement. Smith has also previously served as CFO of Target, Walmart International, and Raytheon. Fortune
Every Friday morning, the weekly Fortune 500 Power Moves column tracks Fortune 500 company C-suite shifts—see the most recent edition.
- Senate stifles trans athlete ban. A bill that aims to ban transgender women from women’s school sports across the country has failed in the U.S. Senate after it failed to reach the 60 vote threshold. However, Congressional Republicans are still pursuing other avenues to enforce a similar ban. AP
- Not so fearless. Investment firm State Street is known as the business behind Wall Street’s Fearless Girl statue. Now State Street, which has pushed for female representation on boards of directors, is the latest to axe some of its diversity initiatives. Guardian
- Bueckers EDU. UConn women’s basketball start Page Bueckers is partnering with Intuit to provide free financial literacy programs to students and athletes around the country. Bueckers, who is expected to be the WNBA’s No. 1 upcoming draft pick, has signed more than 25 brand deals during her collegiate career. CNBC
MOVERS AND SHAKERS
Pantone added Sky Kelley as the company's new president. Kelley most recently served as co-global general manager, digital product innovation at Nike.
ASAPP appointed Priya Vijayarajendran as CEO. Vijayarajendran previously served as CTO and president of technology at the company.
WorkJam named Diane Randolph to the company's board of directors. Randolph formerly served as the chief information officer of Ulta Beauty and currently serves on the boards of companies such as Dollar Tree and Shoe Carnival.
ON MY RADAR
Elevation or evolution? Ganni's CEO outlines her mission Vogue Business
Sex traffickers in Colombia are using Facebook, Tinder and Airbnb to exploit minors Bloomberg
How Blackpink’s Lisa found her own voice Wall Street Journal
PARTING WORDS
“There are only two people you need to make proud in your life. Five-year-old you and 80-year-old you.”
— Amanda Nguyen, CEO of Rise and author of the Sexual Assault Survivors’ Rights Act, in her new memoir Saving Five
