Finance & Capital Management

Seattle – Chinese e-commerce company Alibaba Holding Group Ltd. has disclosed it holds a 9.3% stake in online retailer Zulily. Alibaba has purchased about 4.8 million class A shares for $56 million. This represents about 17% of Zulily’s Class A stock.

New York -- Andy Dunn, the founder of the hot online menswear retailer Bonobos, is transitioning from CEO to executive chairman. Dunn, who founded the company in 2007, has named retail veteran Francine Della Badia to serve as CEO starting June 1.

Della Badia most recently served as president of North American retail at Coach, leaving in February. She also held positions with Victoria’s Secret, J.Crew and Gap Inc.

Alibaba Holding Group Ltd. went on a buying spree at Zulily this month, but the Chinese Internet retailer wasn't buying baby shoes.

Alibaba purchased about 4.8 million class A shares in Zulily, about 17% of Zulily’s Class A stock. The stake, valued at more than $150 million, was disclosed in a securities filing that showed Alibaba this month spent $56 million buying Zulily stock as the U.S. company’s shares plunged following a disappointing earnings report.

Asheville, N.C. – A significant increase in gain from the disposal of assets helped boost net income 37% at Ingles Markets Inc. in the second quarter of fiscal 2015 to $14.3 million, from $10.5 million in the same quarter a year earlier. Lower gasoline prices helped reduce net sales 3% to $915.3 million, from $947.76 million.

Excluding gasoline, same-store sales rose 1.2%.

Both first-time and repeat customers were on the rise for Wayfair in the first quarter, suggesting the company is doing what it takes to grow into a powerful player in e-commerce.

Washington, D.C. -- The National Retail Federation has released an op-ed article by association president and CEO Matthew Shay strongly urging Congress to pass Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) legislation. Congress is expected to debate the bill this week.

Here is the article by Shay:  

New York -- Commercial real estate services firm DTZ, which is backed by private-equity firm TPG, has entered into a deal to acquire rival Cushman & Wakefield Inc. for $2 billion.

The combined company will have 43,000 employees, annual revenues of more than $5.5 billion and manage more than 4 billion square feet of real estate globally.  It will operate under the Cushman & Wakefield name.

Surging sales at Old Navy helped Gap Inc. offset sales declines at its namesake division and its Banana Republic stores in the first quarter.

Gap Inc. reported that for the first quarter of fiscal 2015, Gap Inc.’s net sales decreased 3% to $3.66 billion compared with $3.77 billion for the first quarter last year.