International Business

Sandton, South Africa – Grant Pattison, CEO of Massmart Holdings Ltd., a South African retailer that operates as a subsidiary of Wal-Mart, is resigning. Pattison, 43, will be replaced by Massmart COO Guy Hayward, 48, on June 1, as part of what the company terms a smooth succession plan.

Pattison joined Massmart in 1998 and was appointed CEO in 2007. He was CEO when Massmart sold a majority stake to Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Hayward has served with Massmart since 2000, receiving appointments as CFO in 2001 and COO in 2012.

It looks like the battle between eBay and investor Carl Icahn is over — for the time being. Icahn is withdrawing his proposal to separate the company’s PayPal business as well as his two nominees to the company’s board of directors.

eBay reportedly reached an agreement with Icahn, ending the proxy contest before the upcoming annual meeting of stockholders.

Salt Lake City -- Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne has relinquished his role as chairman of the company. In other moves, co-president Stormy Simon was named president of the online discount retailer.

Byrne will continue to serve as CEO, while current executive vice chairman Jonathan Johnson assumes the chairman responsibilities Byrnes has held since 2006.

Major expansions at several U.S. distribution facilities in California and Kentucky increase UPS’ distribution capacity by roughly 460,000 square feet.

The largest expansion came at the UPS facility in the southern California town of Mira Loma near the Los Angeles Ontario Airport. The regional air hub gained 309,000 square feet of space to enhance its ability to allow retail and manufacturing customers to move shipment originating from Asia throughout the U.S. due to its proximity to transcontinental rail connection and major highways.

New York -- Increasing tax burdens (76%) are the top concern of retail CEOs, according to PwC’s 17th Annual Global CEO Survey. Worries about the tax burden were followed by the government response to the fiscal deficit and debt burden (74%), over-regulation (69%), the high and volatile prices of raw materials (68%), and exchange rate volatility (64%).

Los Angeles – The board of directors of Guess Inc. has appointed Joseph Gromek, increasing the number of directors to seven and bringing the total number of independent directors to five. Gromek will also serve on the Compensation and Nominating and Governance Committees of the board.

First it was signage and then came the freezer case and parking lots. Now Walmart and GE are moving forward with their biggest lighting initiative to date.

The companies announced plans to use GE LED lights in ceiling fixtures in hundreds of stores throughout the U.S., Asia, Latin Amerian and the United Kingdom. The new fixtures use 40% less energy than traditional overhead lighting systems and move Walmart forward on its goal of reducing energy required to power its buildings globally by 20% by 2020. It is Walmart’s largest purchase of GE LED lighting to date.

Hong Kong -- Coach announced that it has retained Studio Sofield, led by designer and president William Sofield, as creative advisor in the development of the company's next generation retail concept.

The new concept will be unveiled in fall 2014, with the company's 4,000-sq.-ft. flagship in Beverly Hills, Calif., followed by the Coach store at the Time Warner Center in New York City (5,335 sq. ft.).