Finance & Capital Management

Gigwalk, a leading provider of crowdsourced solutions to retailers and CPG companies, just surpassed the 500,000th member of its mobile workforce and celebrated the occasion by securing an additional $10 million in funding.

Guess? may be a global brand, but worldwide diversification wasn’t enough to help the company avoid a fourth quarter sales decline and weakness at North American retail locations.

Unlike other retailers, Guess? made no mention of horrible winter weather when it reported a decline in fourth quarter sales and profits that were especially evident in North America.

Fremont, Calif. -- The Men's Wearhouse has extended the expiration date of its tender offer for all outstanding common shares of Jos. A. Bank, in accordance with terms of the March 11 merger agreement. The offer and withdrawal rights are now scheduled to expire on April 9, 2014, unless further extended.

Charlotte, N.C. – The Cato Corporation cited weather, holiday promotions and a 53rd week in fiscal 2012 as impacting its net income during the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013. The retailer also said it plans to open 64 new stores and close 17 existing stores during fiscal 2014.

Net income fell 52% to $3.8 million from $7.9 million in the same period the prior year, within previously announced guidance range, while sales dropped 7% to $215.2 million from $232 million.

Playing in the value priced fashion space is a challenging proposition and one of the leaders in the segment doesn’t expect conditions to get easier this year.

The Cato Corporation, operator of 1,320 stores focused on value conscious shoppers, had a challenging fourth quarter like a lot of retailers and chairman, ceo and president John Cato expects the pain could linger this year.

Eden Prairie, Minn. – Supervalu plans for a streamlined independent business organization. As part of the new structure, Supervalu’s independent business will consolidate from three regions to two regions, forming new East and West teams.

The new East and West independent business regions will be located in Mechanicsville, Va. and Hopkins, Minn. To lead the new organizations, Supervalu has named Kevin Kemp president of the East region and Bill Chew president of the West region.

Tiffany & Co. has appointed Ralph Nicoletti as its next EVP and CFO, effective April 2. He steps into the CFO role following current chief operating officer and CFO James N. Fernandez’s plans to retire in July.

Nicoletti will be based in New York and responsible for the company’s worldwide financial functions and information technology. He will report to chairman and CEO Michael J. Kowalski

New York -- As part of minority eBay shareholder Carl Icahn’s ongoing battle to separate eBay from sister company PayPal, the activist investor on Wednesday urged fellow eBay shareholders in an open letter to sell 20% of its PayPal unit in an IPO.

The latest move, which Icahn said would prompt a stand-alone PayPal while preserving the synergies between the pair of companies, is softer than Icahn’s January announcement that he wanted a full spinoff of PayPal from eBay.