BEST BUY

The biggest consumer electronics outlet in the US is also the best -- Best Buy, that is. The company operates a chain of almost 785 stores in the US and Canada offering a wide variety of electronic gadgets, movies, music, computers, and appliances. In addition to selling products, the stores offer installation and maintenance services, technical support, and subscriptions for cell phone and Internet services. Covering an average of about 42,000 sq. ft., the big box stores are located in 49 states and five Canadian provinces. In addition to the Best Buy brand, the company operates under the names Magnolia Audio Video (20 stores in the US) and Future Shop (about 120 locations in Canada).RETURN

SONY

All eyes are on Sony -- or, more likely, on its high-profit PlayStation home video game systems. PlayStation 2 dominates the game console market with about 70% of global sales (Nintendo's GameCube and Microsoft's Xbox control about 15% each). Sony, one of the world's top consumer electronics firms, also makes a host of other products, including PCs, digital cameras, Walkman stereos, and semiconductors; these products account for more than 60% of the company's sales. Sony's entertainment assets include recorded music and video (Epic and Columbia), motion pictures (Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Pictures Classics), DVDs (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment), and TV programming (Columbia TriStar).RETURN