Plano, Texas — Rent-A-Center, Inc. has appointed two new senior executives. The company named Guy J. Constant as executive VP finance, CFO and treasurer, and Jody Diaz as senior VP HR and chief people officer, both effective June 16, 2014.
Fort Myers, Fla. — Chico’s FAS Inc. is reportedly considering taking itself private. According to Financial Times, the women’s apparel retailer has been holding talks with several private equity firms in recent weeks.
Minneapolis — Christopher & Banks Corp. more than quadrupled its net income to $2.6 million in the first quarter of fiscal 2014 compared to $0.6 million in the same quarter the prior year. The women’s apparel chain also plans to open six new outlet stores and three new stores in its MPW (Missy, Petite, Women) format during the fiscal year.
Minneapolis — Target Corp. has named Brad Maiorino as senior VP, chief information security officer, a new position added as the chain overhauls its security department in the wake of its data breach. Maiorino comes to Target from General Motors, where he was the company’s chief information security and information technology risk officer. Prior to that, he was the chief information security officer at General Electric.
According to a Reuters report, Amazon is making headway into the online payments arena, which has long been dominated by PayPal.
The article says Amazon will start managing subscription payments for startups and other companies as soon as Monday. The service, according to the report, will allow the company's more than 240 million active users to use credit card details stored on Amazon.com to pay for services such as a monthly phone bill or a digital music subscription — for a fee on each transaction payable to Amazon.
Matthews, N.C. — Family Dollar Stores has adopted a one-year shareholder rights plan to prevent investors from gaining sizable control of the company. The move follows the disclosure on Friday that activist investor Carl Icahn has amassed a 9.39% stake in the retailer over the past two months, making him its largest shareholder.
In the filing on Friday, Icahn said he plans to push Family Dollar management to explore strategic changes, and that he might also seek board seats.
New York — Sycamore Partners announced Monday that it bought the going-out-of-business Coldwater Creek brand and other intellectual property through an affiliate company during the apparel chain’s bankruptcy proceedings. The private equity firm said it plans to re-launch Coldwater Creek as an independent portfolio company, but it did not give a timeline for the launch.
