Finance & Capital Management

Paris -- The Carrefour SA board of directors on Tuesday approved a plan for its CEO Lars Olofsson to also assume the role of chairman. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Olofsson will take over as current chairman Amaury de Seze announced Tuesday that he would step down.

"The time has come to reunite the two functions," De Seze said. He will remain on Carrefour's board.

Dallas -- Web-based hiring assessment provider PeopleAnswers said Tuesday that The Cheesecake Factory will use the PeopleAnswers HR solution in its 164 restaurants to pre-screen and select hourly staff.

The objective is to fill each position with individuals who will help maintain The Cheesecake Factory’s quality brand.

Boston -- A survey released Tuesday by the Boston Consulting Group found that a growing number of consumers around the world are growing more anxious about the future, and are planning to reduce or maintain -- but not increase -- their spending.

New York City -- Barnes & Noble reported Tuesday that its loss for the quarter ended April 30 widened to $59.4 million, from a loss of $32 million in the year-ago period. The book seller said its results were hurt by liquidation sales by bankrupt Borders, as well as impacted by ongoing investment in the Nook.

Revenue rose 4% to $1.37 billion from $1.32 billion in the prior year, missing Wall Street’s estimate of $1.39 billion in revenue.

Same-store sales dropped 2.9%.

Deerfield, Ill. -- Walgreen Co. said Tuesday it will terminate a $5.3 billion-per-year relationship with Express Scripts.

Walgreen reported that contract negotiations with Express Scripts have failed, and it will stop participating in the St. Louis company's prescription plans starting Jan. 1. Express Scripts processes about 90 million prescriptions that will be filled at Walgreen stores in fiscal 2011, which will bring Walgreen about $5.3 billion in revenue.

Los Angeles -- Guess announced Monday that its co-founder and chairman Maurice Marciano will retire as chairman in January 2012, at the end of the company’s fiscal year.

Marciano will continue as non-executive chairman of Guess' board of directors, and the company will retain him for two years as a consultant.

Marciano, who hails from southern France and with his brothers founded Guess in 1981, was CEO and co-CEO from 1993 to 2007.

Pittsburgh -- GNC Holdings announced Monday that its president and chief merchandising and marketing officer Beth Kaplan has resigned the company.

After three-and-a-half years in the position, Kaplan cited a desire to pursue personal interests as reason for the departure. She will also resign as a director of the company.

Joe Fortunato, CEO, will reassume the title of president of GNC.

In related news, Amy B. Lane has joined GNC Holdings’ board of directors, replacing Kaplan.

Minneapolis -- Best Buy Co. said Tuesday that it will buy back $5 billion of its common stock and raise its quarterly dividend by 7%.

The retailer said that the buyback replaces a $5.5 billion repurchase program that had about $800 million left as of May 28. The announcement came just ahead of its shareholders meeting in Richfield, Minn.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Wal-Mart Stores announced that it has completed its investment for a 51% stake in South African-based Massmart Holdings Limited for ZAR148 per Massmart ordinary share.

Massmart will continue to trade on the JSE Limited to provide Massmart shareholders with the ability to participate in the growth opportunity of the combined entity.  

PLANO, Texas — Last week, RetailingToday.com reported that former Apple executive Ron Johnson would succeed Mike Ullman as CEO of JCPenney. Today, JCPenney announced that Ullman, who was originally slated to remain on the company's board of directors indefinitely, will now be leaving the company on Feb. 1, 2012.