Finance & Capital Management

Secaucus, N.J. – The Children’s Place Retail Stores has expanded its existing franchise agreement with Fawaz A. AlHokair & Co. SJSC covering retail stores in Saudi Arabia, to include opening a total of approximately 25 stores in Egypt and the Commonwealth of Independent States (C.I.S. Region) of Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia and Kazakhstan, beginning in mid-2014.

New York – Barnes & Noble, Inc. has appointed president Michael P. Huseby to CEO. Immediately, in his role, Huseby will be responsible for all of the company’s business units including Barnes & Noble Retail, Barnes & Noble College and Nook Media.

He will report to the board of directors and has been elected to serve on the board. Huseby joined Barnes & Noble as CFO in March 2012, and was promoted to president in July 2013.

Brentwood, Tenn. -- Tractor Supply Company is renewing its Revionics Price Optimization license for three years and expanding the partnership to include the use of Revionics Markdown Optimization. Tractor Supply has used Revionics Price Optimization for regular price management and optimization during the past three years to drive regionalized, shopper-centric everyday value pricing.

The phrase “massive data breach” is the last thing any retailer wants to see their name associated with, but when bad things happen to good retailers Target's response to the situation is a blueprint for other retailers.

Plano, Texas -- J.C. Penney issued a brief statement on Wednesday saying that it was "pleased” with its performance for the holiday selling period, and reaffirmed its fourth quarter fiscal 2013 guidance for increased same-store sales. But the retailer did not provide any specific sales data.

New York -- MPI — Mall Properties, Inc., a private owner, developer and operator of commercial real estate — has changed its name to Olshan Properties.

Cincinnati -- Macy’s on Wednesday said that it plans to close five underperforming stores in early spring 2014 and cut 2,500 jobs in “organizational changes” to sustain its profitability. The cost-reduction initiatives are expected to save the retailer about $100 million annually, beginning in 2014.

The nation’s largest arts and crafts retailer plans to go public this year and the launch of a new ecommerce platform that gives Michaels Stores long overdue online sales capabilities is a key element of its growth strategy.