Best Buy puts $2.1 billion into European cell phone retailer

St. Paul, Minn. — (AP) - U.S. consumer electronics giant Best Buy is taking a beachhead in the European market.

It's paying $2.1 billion for a 50 percent stake in a joint venture with Europe's largest cell phone retailer.

The deal will allow Richfield-based Best Buy to start rolling out its trademark big box stores in Europe, while the London-based Carphone Warehouse Group will place its 2,400 Carphone Warehouse and Phone House stores in Europe into the new joint venture.

Executives of both companies note that they'd already been collaborating for two years.

The two companies worked on developing the Best Buy Mobile concept for Best Buy stores in the United States. And they're collaborating to expand Best Buy's Geek Squad, a 24-hour computer support task force, in Europe.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)