International Business

New York – Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. on Friday closed its first day of trading on the New York Stock Exchange with its shares up 38% from its I.P.O., closing at $93.89.

The stock opened for trade on Friday at $92.70 shortly, a 36% jump above its initial public offering price of $68 a share. More than 100 million shares changed hands in composite trading in the first 10 minutes of trading.

With a name like Loop Integration it was only logical that Amaze and contiigo would choose Chicago as the location for their new joint venture focused on users of SAP’s hybris e-commerce solution.

Pittsburgh -- GNC Holdings named Jeffrey R. Hennion as executive VP, chief marketing and e-commerce officer. Hennion most recently served as president and CFO of mobile commerce provider Branding Build.

Prior to Branding Brand, Hennion led GNC's marketing and e-commerce efforts in 2011 and 2012.  He also spent 10 years with Dick's Sporting Goods in a number of senior leadership roles, including executive VP, chief marketing officer and head of e-commerce.

R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company has appointed Debra A. Crew president and chief commercial officer, effective Oct. 1. Crew is currently the president and general manager of PepsiCo North America Nutrition.

Seattle -- Nordstrom on Friday opened its first store in Canada, at Chinook Centre in Calgary, Alberta. The two-level, 140,000-sq.-ft. store is also the department store retailer’s first location outside the United States.
 
"Being in business for 113 years, this is really a historic time for us as we open our first store in Canada - our first international store," said Sheila Wooldridge, Nordstrom Chinook Centre store manager.

The Clorox Company’s board of directors has promoted Benno Dorer to CEO, effective Nov. 20. At that time, Donald R. Knauss will continue serving on the board in a newly created executive chairman role.

Knauss has served as chairman and CEO of the company since October 2006. Since January 2013, Dorer, 50, has served as EVP and chief operating officer, cleaning, international and corporate strategy.

GNC Holdings has appointed former Dick's Sporting Goods executive Jeffrey R. Hennion as EVP, chief marketing and e-commerce Officer, and former Office Depot executive Daisy Vanderlinde as chief human resource officer.

Additionally, Carl Seletz, GNC's SVP of international business development, will assume the additional responsibility of leading the company's domestic and international franchise operations.

Stockholm -- The U.S. payments market is getting a new player: Klarna, a Swedish e-commerce company focused on simplifying buying, plans to expand to the U.S. market in early 2015. The nine-year old company has an impressive track record in Europe that includes more than 25 million users and 45,000 retailers including Asos, Spotify and Zara.