Finance & Capital Management

Tewksbury, Mass. – Demoulas Super Markets Inc., parent company of the Market Basket grocery chain, has reportedly fired some employees in the wake of inventory problems during the weekend of July 19-20. According to the Boston Globe, several managers were fired the evening of Sunday, July 20 after the company noticed thinning inventories of perishable items.

Former CVS, Macys and Sears executive Mark Cosby has a new role at Office Depot where he will serve as president of the company’s North American business.

San Francisco -- Continuing its global growth, Gap Inc. on Monday announced that it will introduce the Gap brand to Slovenia and Austria through agreements with new and existing franchise partners. Magistrat International, a new partner, has been selected for the launch of Slovenia. Gottex, which currently manages the Gap franchise business in Israel and Hungary, will launch Austria.

Stamford, Conn. -- General Electric is spinning off its Synchrony Financial consumer credit business in an initial public offering (IPO) and seeking a market valuation as high as $22 billion. Synchrony offers store credit cards for retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and J.C. Penney Co.

San Francisco - DHgate.com, an e-commerce marketplace focused on cross-border trade of Chinese goods, has hired several new executives. These include COO Noah Herschmann, who previously held management roles at Amazon, Groupon, Asia, Staples China and Tweeter.

PPG Industries, a leading coatings and specialty materials company, has elevated EVP Michael H. McGarry to chief operating officer, effective Aug. 1. He will remain based at PPG’s global headquarters in Pittsburgh and continue to report to chairman and CEO Charles E. Bunch.

McGarry will have executive oversight responsibility for all of PPG’s strategic business units and operating regions and for the information technology (IT), environment, health and safety (EH&S) and purchasing functions.

Electrolux president and CEO Keith McLoughlin reflected on the company's progress during the second fiscal quarter, pointing to prospects for growth.

However, net sales decreased by about 4.9% year-over-year, totaling $26.3 billion for the three-month period. That decrease was slightly smaller for the six-month period — 2%.

Meanwhile, the company posted a net loss of $92 million for the quarter. For the first six months, the company's net income of $339 million compares to net income of $1.003 billion for the same six-month period last year.