RadioShack & Best Buy: Marriage Made In Mobile Phone Heaven?

According to a recent report, the folks at RadioShack are looking to either sell themselves off to the highest bidder or find another retailer to merge with. Among the companies being discussed, the one getting the most attention is Best Buy.

According to the NY Post, Best Buy’s interest is in using RadioShack as a way to reach the cellphone/PDA market, which is currently dominated by the service providers and their licensed retail outlets.

Best Buy has already opened a handful of smaller, Best Buy Mobile retail stores around the country and plans on launching another 75-100 more this year. Adding the over 6,000 RadioShack stores to their roster would make them an instant powerhouse in the mobile market.

“This is all about handheld devices,” The Post quotes a banking source as saying. “A whole new wave of these products are coming out and they’re going to break the monopoly of the carriers.”

Of course, this is all just rumor right now. But it’s a rumor that’s certainly worked to RadioShack stockholders’ advantage. The stock price of the battery/cable/phone-charger chain soared 9% on Friday.

Radioshack search [NY Post]

RadioShack surges on merger speculation [CNN Money]

Report: RadioShack considering sale, Best Buy merger

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