Finance & Capital Management

Minneapolis -- Best Buy Co. has named Hubert Joly, the former chief executive of global hospitality company Carlson, as the chain's new CEO and president. Carlson, which operates such businesses as Radisson and T.G.I Friday's, announced Sunday that Joly resigned from that company.

Hubert Joly is the new CEO at Best Buy.

Best Buy named former food service and hospitality executive Hubert Joly as president and CEO even as uncertainty lingers regarding a possible leveraged buyout engineered by former chairman and founder Richard Schulze.

Joly joins Best Buy after serving since 2008 as CEO of Minneapolis-based Carlson, a global hospitality and travel company known for such brands as Radisson hotels and TGI Friday’s restaurants. From 2003 to 2007, he led Carlson’s travel division.

Minneapolis -- Supervalu announced that Robert Bly will join the company as president of Shoppers Food and Pharmacy, a 56-store chain in the Baltimore, and Washington, D.C., market.

Bly, 49, most recently served as VP of Kmart and Sears divisions for the Sears Holdings Co. He is expected to begin his new role on Aug. 22 and will report to Chuck Elias, senior VP retail operations.

Bly replaces Tim Lowe, who recently accepted a new leadership role in Supervalu's merchandising organization.
 

New York -- Apple Inc. became the most valuable public company of all time on Monday, after its market value climbed beyond $620 billion to surpass a milestone set by Microsoft Corp. more than 10 years ago, Reuters reported.

Apple shares reached a high of $664.74 on Monday morning, giving them a total value of $623.14 billion. This broke past the record of $620.58 billion set by Microsoft back in 1999, according to the report.

Dallas -- 7-Eleven announced today that it has closed a deal to acquire 74 operating convenience stores and two land parcels from Prima Marketing LLC, a 7-Eleven licensee with stores in West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Kentucky. The bulk of the stores being purchased are in West Virginia.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

LONDON & ROTTERDAM, Netherlands — Unilever has completed the sale of its North America frozen meals business, conducted under the Bertolli and P.F. Chang’s brand names, to ConAgra Foods Inc., for total cash consideration of $267 million, subject to adjustment.

Dallas -- Bennigan's Franchising Co. and Brixmor Property Group announced a strategic partnership to add Bennigan's restaurants nationwide into Brixmor's portfolio of shopping centers.

The partnership will include positioning Bennigan's signs at select existing buildings and pad site locations within the Brixmor portfolio of shopping centers, promoting pre-approved restaurant space and franchise opportunities within the company's targeted growth markets.

New York -- Uniqlo will open a location in Westfield Garden State Plaza shopping center, Paramus, N.J., on Sept. 28. The new store will occupy a 43,000-sq.-ft. space with two levels, and feature a separate dedicated entrance and a prominent façade. It will serve as the prototype for Uniqlo’s mall expansion strategy.

Leading up to the opening, beginning Aug. 27 and continuing through Sept. 27, Uniqlo will operate a temporary store at the mall. The pop-up, designed to resemble a futuristic cube, will be located at the food court.