Laid off from Best Buy.
Best Buy's filings put a dollar figure on each restructuring, $171 million for the one announced in February 2024 and $117 million for the one begun in mid-2025, and give no headcount for either. The job counts on record come from WARN notices, led by Best Buy Health's 161-job closure in Carlsbad in July 2025.
At a glance
What's known about Best Buy severance and layoffs
- 3, covering 267 jobs, all in California · Best Buy WARN filings in our tracker since 2025
- 161 jobs, Best Buy Health, Carlsbad, July 2025 · Largest Best Buy filing in our tracker since 2025
- 31 · Best Buy WARN filings in our tracker, all time
- $171 million, all termination benefits · Best Buy's February 2024 restructuring charges
- $117 million, $71 million in termination benefits · Best Buy's 2025 labor and store program charges
- Two weeks per service year, 6 to 26 weeks · Best Buy nonexempt severance under the 2023 plan
- More than 90,000 · Best Buy employees in the U.S. and Canada, January 2023
Recent Best Buy layoffs
Best Buy reversed $15 million of restructuring charges in the half-year ended August 1, 2026
Best Buy's filing for the six months ended August 1, 2026 shows $15 million of restructuring charges reversed, $11 million of it from the labor and store program begun in 2025, credited mainly to higher-than-expected employee retention. $26 million of that program's termination benefits was still accrued, with payment expected mostly in fiscal 2027 and 2028.
Previous rounds
Best Buy layoff history
A Best Buy layoff tends to leave you guessing how big the cut around you was. The company's restructurings come with a dollar figure attached and a headcount left off. It wouldn't give a number for its April 2024 cuts, and its 10-K prices each program without saying how many jobs went. The job counts on record come from state notices instead. Our tracker of state WARN notices holds 31 Best Buy filings in all and 3 filings covering 267 jobs since the start of 2025. California holds all three, Best Buy Health's 161-job notice from July 2025 and two for 60 and 46 jobs dated January 16, 2026.
In April 2023 hundreds of U.S. store jobs went, specialists who sold computers and smartphones among them, by the Wall Street Journal's account, each with a choice to reapply for an open role or take severance. In February 2024 CEO Corie Barry of the Minnesota-based retailer laid out a restructuring that would include terminations, mostly in the first half of 2024 and across the company. The 10-K booked $171 million for it in fiscal 2024, all of it termination benefits. In April, current and former employees told the Star Tribune that Geek Squad field agents, home-theater technicians and phone support specialists had been let go, unverified accounts Best Buy didn't attach a number to. By January 2026 that program's running total had dropped to $146 million as Best Buy cut its accruals for higher-than-expected employee retention.
2025 brought two programs in quick succession. Early in the year Best Buy began reworking Best Buy Health, exited a component of it by the second quarter, and booked $101 million, $30 million of it termination benefits. Barry told investors in May that the in-home health work Best Buy did with provider partners had been slower to scale than anticipated, and in July Best Buy Health filed its Carlsbad closure notice. By midyear a second program had started to realign field staff with how customers shop, close select non-traditional stores and redirect corporate resources, at a cost of $117 million, $71 million of it termination benefits. In September, Bloomberg reported another cut in customer care and in-home field teams that took Geek Squad roles.
Best Buy's restated severance plan covered regular U.S. employees notified on or after August 7, 2023 whose jobs ended involuntarily through a job elimination, reduction in force or restructuring, unless a union contract or a personal severance agreement applied instead. If that's you, find the class your paperwork uses, since the plan calculated nonexempt severance by years of service and set flat months for exempt grades. Only full years since your last hire date counted, and a week meant 20 hours of base pay for part-timers and 40 for full-timers, with anyone listed full-time during the final 30 days treated as full-time. Eligibility hinged on signing a separation agreement with a comprehensive release of claims by the stated deadline and staying in good standing through the date Best Buy set, so get both dates in writing. The plan copy and agreement you're handed set the number, so read both slowly before you sign.
Every Best Buy filing our tracker holds since 2025 came from California, which makes its rules the ones to know. A notice there has to list the job titles affected and how many people hold each, and starting in 2026 it has to say whether the employer will work with the local workforce board. Once EDD processes a notice, the Local Workforce Development Area contacts the employer to set up Rapid Response, which offers job search help, training and explanations of unemployment benefits. If your store or site got one, ask HR whether it named a workforce board, and call that office yourself rather than waiting to be found.
Reporting on previous Best Buy layoff rounds
January 2026, two California locations · Santana Row in San Jose, about 60 jobs after a 23-year run, and 46 jobs at 11160 Rancho Carmel Dr. in San Diego, both notices effective March 17
September 2025, Geek Squad and customer care · Customer care and in-home field teams, Geek Squad roles among them, in a number reported as small
Severance packages for eligible employees, with no amounts on record.
July 2025, Best Buy Health in Carlsbad · 161 jobs in a permanent closure at 2200 Faraday Ave, effective September 12, 2025
April 2024, Geek Squad and phone support · Geek Squad field agents, home-theater repair technicians and phone support specialists, by the accounts of current and former employees, unverified. Best Buy gave no count.
Severance for affected and eligible employees, with some offered a transfer or a chance to reapply.
April 2023, store sales specialists · Hundreds of jobs across U.S. stores, including workers who sold computers, smartphones and other complex products
A choice to reapply for open positions or take severance, per the Wall Street Journal's reporting.
What to do after being laid off from Best Buy
- File for unemployment in the state where you worked. Benefits run from your filing date, and severance usually doesn't block you. Best Buy's biggest hubs: California, Minnesota. Somewhere else? Every state is here.
- Apply for financial and hardship assistance. Unemployment supplements income, but food benefits, health coverage and utility help are often available as well. Here's some of what Best Buy's hub states run: California, Minnesota, and every other state is here.
- Mind the health insurance window. Losing coverage opens a 60-day special enrollment period, and an ACA plan usually beats unsubsidized COBRA. Compare your options before the employer coverage lapses, and read how the COBRA clocks run if you are weighing it seriously.
- Get your real runway number. Severance plus savings divided by reality. The calculator takes five minutes.
- Know which clocks are already running. Severance review windows, COBRA election, visa grace periods, and 401(k) rollovers all run on federal deadlines that started at termination. All five deadlines are here.
Best Buy layoff and severance questions
Is Best Buy laying off employees in 2026?
Two California locations are the 2026 cuts on record. Our tracker holds 2 filings covering 106 jobs in 2026, both dated January 16, matching 60 jobs in San Jose and 46 at 11160 Rancho Carmel Drive in San Diego, effective March 17. Best Buy's filing for the half-year ended August 1 shows restructuring charges running a net $15 million in reverse, largely because more employees stayed than planned. Nothing in the reporting we track describes a newer round.
What severance does Best Buy give laid-off employees?
The formula on record is Best Buy's severance plan as restated for employees notified on or after August 7, 2023. For a qualifying layoff it set nonexempt pay, commissioned salespeople included, at two weeks' base pay for each year of service, with a 6-week floor and a 26-week cap, six months of base pay for exempt grades 1 to 10, nine months for grades 11 to 15, 12 months for Enterprise VPs, 18 for Enterprise SVPs and 24 for Enterprise EVPs. Union-represented staff, seasonal and temporary workers, and anyone with a personal severance agreement fell outside it. No severance amount paid in any individual round is on record, so hold the plan up against the papers you're handed.
What happened to Best Buy Health?
In late June 2025 Best Buy sold Current Health, the home care firm it bought for about $400 million in 2021, back to a co-founder, and a spokesperson said the health segment kept Lively and its emergency response devices. On July 8 Best Buy Health filed notice of a permanent closure at 2200 Faraday Ave in Carlsbad, 161 jobs ending September 12. The 10-K describes exiting a component of the health business in its second quarter and booking $30 million of termination benefits for that program, without naming the component or any site.
How much notice does Best Buy have to give before a layoff in California?
Sixty days in writing, where California's WARN law applies. It covers any site that has had 75 or more full- and part-time employees within the prior 12 months, and reaches a closure of any size or a layoff of 50 or more within 30 days. If you think a notice came late or didn't arrive, EDD sends enforcement questions and possible violations to the Department of Industrial Relations.
Where do I file for unemployment after being laid off from Best Buy?
In the state where you worked, not where the company is headquartered. Best Buy's biggest U.S. hubs are California, Minnesota. Severance usually doesn't block you from filing, and benefits run from your filing date, so file the same week.
Is it OK to file for unemployment after a layoff at Best Buy?
Yes. Unemployment insurance is funded by payroll taxes employers pay on wages, the claim never appears on credit reports or background checks, and future employers cannot see it. If the hesitation itself is the obstacle, whether filing is OK has its own article.
What happens to my health insurance after a layoff at Best Buy?
Your plan sets the end date rather than the law, so the separation packet is where that date actually lives, and it is often the last day of the month rather than your last day of work. After coverage ends, COBRA lets you keep the identical plan by paying the whole premium yourself, up to 102 percent of what the plan really costs, which lands as several times the payroll deduction you were used to. You get 60 days to elect, counted from the later of coverage ending or the election notice arriving, and electing reaches the coverage back to the day the old plan stopped so no gap exists. How continuation coverage works walks the timing, and whether to take it rather than a marketplace plan is a separate decision.
Should I sign the severance agreement right away?
First pin down how much review time you actually have. If you're 40 or older, federal law gives you 21 days to consider an agreement that waives age claims, 45 in a group layoff, and a waiver signed under a shorter deadline can be invalid. If you're under 40, no federal window applies and the deadline in your packet may be real, so confirm it in writing and ask for more time if you need it. Use whatever window you have to read the release terms, especially non-disparagement and no-lawsuit clauses, and don't stall past a real deadline, because offers can be withdrawn.
Can I collect unemployment if I got severance from Best Buy?
Usually yes, though some states delay benefits until severance pay periods end, and lump sums are treated differently than salary continuation. Check your state's rules on our state benefit pages, and file immediately either way so your claim date is locked in.