The family silver

Carphone Warehouse has some explaining to do. The UK telecom operator is selling half of its retail unit to US rival Best Buy for £1.1bn. The new company aims to jointly accelerate the roll out of larger format consumer electronics stores across Europe. Yet Carphone, which is left with just its broadband business, is giving away control of its old core business without a premium. The Best Buy deal implies Carphone’s retail business is worth £2.2bn. The valuation of 6.5 times estimated 2008 ebitd...