Best Buy to take over Best Buy Mobile

LONDON, Nov. 7 (UPI) -- Electronics retailer Best Buy said it would buy Carphone Warehouse Group out of its U.S. portion of a joint cellphone venture for $1.3 billion.

The deal gives Best Buy full control of Best Buy Mobile and is expected to increase pre-tax profits by up to $140 million in 2013, The New York Times reported Monday.

"We wanted to use the Best Buy Mobile team to sell connections to consumers. There's no doubt we can go faster in the U.S. and Canada to unleash the team," said Best Buy Chief Executive Officer Brian Dunn in a conference call.

In a statement, Dunn said, "We are aggressively ramping up our growing connections capability to support consumers' increasingly connected lives across the entire range of devices entering the marketplace."

Carphone, which reported April through September profits down 78 percent on an annual basis, has blamed the European economy for its recent woes.

Best Buy has also lost its affection for the business environment in Europe, announcing it would close its 11 stores in Britain, at a loss of 1,000 jobs.

Best Buy previously said it would open 100 large stores in Britain -- plans that have now been scrapped.