Labor & Employment

ISSAQUAH, Wash. — First it was Steve Jobs, and now Costco’s legendary co-founder Jim Sinegal is stepping down as CEO.

Issaquah, Wash. -- Jim Sinegal, the much-admired CEO and co-founder of Costco Wholesale Corp., plans to step down effective Jan. 1. The chain said its board has elected the company's current president and COO, Craig Jelinek, to succeed Sinegal.

“Costco has a very strong culture and a deep bench of management talent," said Sinegal. "I have total confidence in Craig's ability to handle his new responsibilities and feel we are fortunate as a company to have an executive of his caliber to succeed me as chief executive of Costco."

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Fresh & Easy is slated to open its first six stores in the Sacramento region in 2012.

The stores will include three in Sacramento, one in Lincoln, one in Elk Grove and one in Folsom. The chain, which has opened 13 stores in northern California this year, opened a store in the Bayview-Hunters Point neighborhood of San Francisco last week.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Walmart U.S. President and CEO Bill Simon addressed attendees at the American Legion's 93rd National Convention on Wednesday, telling fellow Americans, veterans and Legionnaires that Walmart would create jobs in the U.S. by hiring more than 15,000 people to work in about 100 new and expanded Walmart stores by fiscal year's end.

Camp Hill, Pa. -- Franklin Brown, the former vice chairman at Rite Aid, was freed from jail on Wednesday, according to the Associated Press.

Brown, who was initially sentenced to 10 years in prison for taking part in a $1.6 billion accounting scandal, was released following a resentencing hearing. He served six years of his sentence. An appeals court overturned Brown's sentence in May, AP said.
 

London -- Grocery giant Tesco PLC said Wednesday it is pulling out of Japan, which means shuttering 129 small, leasehold-owned stores in the Greater Tokyo area, which employ 4,000 people. The country is the smallest of Tesco’s international retail businesses, and the weakest for sales growth in the 2010-2011 fiscal year.

“Having made considerable efforts in Japan, we have concluded that we cannot build a sufficiently scalable business,” said Philip Clarke, CEO.

Washington, D.C. -- A report released Tuesday by the Conference Board said that confidence among U.S. consumers sunk to a two-year low in August, as Americans faced continued unemployment woes and worsening business and economic conditions.

The Conference Board’s index plunged to 44.5, the weakest since April 2009 and the biggest point drop since October 2008. Economists predicted the August gauge would fall to 52, according to the median forecast in a Bloomberg News survey.