Labor & Employment

February 2013 promises to be an interesting month at Best Buy following the retailer’s decision to extend the timeframe for company founder and former chairman Richard Schulze to submit a potential buyout offer.

Schulze will have the entire month of February to present an offer and then the board will review the offer within 30 days to determine if it is in the best interests of shareholders.

Boston-based private equity firm Berkshire Partners named Staples president and COO Mike Miles to the role of advisory director.

Miles spent the past decade at Staples and his last day will be February 2, 2013. In his new capacity at Berkshire, Miles is tasked with sourcing new investment ideas and serving as an operating advisor to Berkshire’s portfolio of companies.

Cincinnati -- The Kroger Co. announced the promotion of Lynn Gust as president of the company's Fred Meyer Stores division. Gust, 59, has been senior VP operations since 2011.

“Lynn's long history with Fred Meyer and deep knowledge of our business will serve our customers well,” said Rodney McMullen, president and COO of Kroger. “His passion for our employees and customers make him a great fit to carry on the Fred Meyer tradition.”

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., president and CEO Mike Duke appeared earlier this week at a meeting of the Council on Foreign Relations where he shed light on a range of topics that weren’t fully captured by headlines and soundbites from the event.

Duke was a participant in the organization’s CEO speaker series where for an hour he was politely grilled by Bloomberg president and CEO Dan Doctoroff and took questions on a broad range of topics.

Long time Fred Meyer executive Lynn Gust was named president of the 133 store Kroger division.

Gust, 59, joined Koriger in 1970 as a parcel clerk and most recently served as the company’s SVP of operations. Gust was appointed to that position in 2011 and prior to that he served as EVP of corporate merchandising and advertising. During his career Gust also served as vp of the Fred Meyer food group and SVP of store operations.

New York -- Best Buy Co. on Friday said it agreed to extend the deadline to Feb. 28 for founder Richard Schulze to make a bid for the company.

The company said it is in the best interest of shareholders to let Schulze and his partners include results from the holiday season in their due diligence review.

Never ones to let a good disaster go to waste, anti-Walmart forces have alerted the media to an event being held outside Walmart’s Washington, DC office.

Walmart has taken a lot of heat since last month when it was learned that a factory in Bangladesh where 112 people died in fire was being used by a Walmart supplier. Even though the facility was not on Walmart’s list of approved facilities, the incident renewed sentiment that Walmart’s quest for low prices causes its suppliers to cut corners.

BELLEVUE, Wash. — Outdoor lifestyle brand Eddie Bauer has named former Best Buy executive Steve Venegas as its new VP of distribution North America.

Venegas is a seasoned outdoor industry executive, most recently holding the position of VP of distribution for VF Outdoor, Inc., which includes brands such as the North Face, Reef, Lucy, Eagle Creek and JanSport.