Best Buy lost $1 billion in value on the news of Amazon’s Geek Squad competitor

On Monday morning, Recode reported that Amazon was quietly building out its own competitor to Best Buy’s Geek Squad gadget repair and installation service.

Almost immediately, investors reacted by selling out of Best Buy’s stock in a big way — the stock was down more around 7 percent as of 11:30 am ET on Monday. That drop works out to a loss of more than $1 billion in market cap for the brick-and-mortar electronics retailer.

The new Amazon offerings include free 45-minute in-home consultations focusing on how best to use the Amazon Alexa voice assistant. Amazon is also offering paid installations of “smart home” gadgets like Ecobee thermostats that respond to Alexa voice commands.

Best Buy already offers similar services through Geek Squad, the tech assistance service it acquired 15 years ago. But any time Amazon enters a new market, the stock price of competitors usually suffers — and since Geek Squad has played a critical role in Best Buy’s turnaround story, today’s stock moves are no surprise.

Amazon’s rival services are already live in seven West Coast cities and Amazon job listings are signaling a wider rollout across the country to cities like Las Vegas, Dallas and Miami.

A Best Buy spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Update: Best Buy sent this statement:

Today’s news reflects what we know: Consumers love technology but frequently need help getting the most out of it. This belief is central to our strategy as we work to help customers pursue their passions and enrich their lives through technology. We are excited about the range of initiatives we have previously announced that do just that and feel uniquely positioned to serve consumers by offering products, services and support wherever the customer wants it, including in one of our 1,000 stores, on BestBuy.com and in homes millions of times a year. Additionally, our 20,000 Geek Squad agents serve tens of millions of customers annually, taking a brand agnostic approach to virtually any technology need people may have, just as we do online and in our stores.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple of big issues with relying on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on:

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. And we can’t do that if we have a paywall.

So even though advertising is still our biggest source of revenue, we also seek grants and reader support. (And no matter how our work is funded, we have strict guidelines on editorial independence.)

If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today? Any amount helps.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via