Best Buy names Asia operating chief

Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy Co., Minneapolis, Minn., named Redmond Yeung president and chief operating officer of Best Buy Asia, effective May 8. In this newly created position, Yeung will be responsible for overseeing all of Best Buy's operations in Asia, including Best Buy China, Jiangsu Five Star Appliance (Five Star), and the company's global sourcing office in China. Yeung will report to Robert Willett, chief executive of Best Buy International.

Yeung previously served as senior vice president for Ports Design Ltd., an upscale fashion retail chain in China, managing the company's worldwide retail and wholesale operations, including more than 280 multi-brand stores in China and an additional 100 international locations.

Jianguo Wang will continue in his current role of chairman of Five Star, the Nanjing-based chain of appliances and consumer electronics stores. Weimin Lu, senior vice president and chairman of Best Buy China, will now focus on identifying and developing new business opportunities and serving as a liasion with government and community leaders as well as vendors in China.

Best Buy entered China in 2003 with the establishment of the company's first global sourcing office in Shanghai, and acquired Jiangsu Five Star Appliance in 2006. At the beginning of 2007, the company opened its first Best Buy-branded store in Shanghai, and expects to open between 20 and 23 new Five Star stores during its fiscal 2008 and two to three new Best Buy locations there in the next 12 to 18 months.