Best Buy digital chief quits to become Symantec COO

(Reuters) - Stephen Gillett, the head of Best Buy Co Inc's digital business, is leaving the world's largest consumer electronics chain to become chief operating officer of data protection software company Symantec Corp .

Gillett worked at Best Buy for less than a year. The well-respected technology veteran was hired by former Best Buy chief executive Brian Dunn in March to improve the retailer's digital strategy and marketing, entertainment offerings, multi-channel capabilities and business development.

At Symantec, Gillett is the first major hire by Steve Bennett, who was named CEO in July.

Best Buy, which is not replacing Gillett, reassigned his responsibilities to senior executives including Chief Financial Officer Sharon McCollam, e-commerce chief Scott Durchslag and Shawn Score, the head of its U.S. retail business.

Gillett will start at Symantec on Friday. In his new role, he will be in charge of marketing and communications, among other duties.

He has been a member of Symantec's board since January 2012 but will step down immediately.

Before joining Best Buy, Gillett served as chief information officer at both Starbucks Corp and Corbis, and also held positions at Yahoo Inc , CNET Networks and Sun Microsystems.

(Reporting by Dhanya Skariachan in New York; editing by Gary Hill and Matthew Lewis)