Founder Profile
Richard M. Schulze
Last reviewed: October 2026 · By Swet Parvadiya
Who is Richard M. Schulze?
Richard M. Schulze is a founder of Best Buy, which was founded in 1966 with James Wheeler.
- Company founded
- Best Buy
- Founded
- 1966
- Co-founders
- James Wheeler
Founding Story
Richard Michael Schulze is an American billionaire businessman who founded Sound of Music in Saint Paul, Minnesota in 1966 with $800 in personal savings and a small bank loan. Schulze pioneered the big-box discount consumer electronics format in the 1980s, serving as Best Buy CEO from 1966 to 2002 and Chairman until 2012. He remains Best Buy's largest individual shareholder and Chairman Emeritus, having built the chain into a Fortune 100 enterprise.
Sources
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