Mergers & Acquisitions

VAN NUYS, Calif. — Easton-Bell Sports, a designer, developer and marketer of innovative sports equipment and accessories under the Easton, Bell, Giro, Riddell and Blackburn brands, has announced the following key executive appointments and promotions at Easton Sports:

ServiceSource, a provider of recurring revenue management, has announced that Robert Ashe, a proven industry software CEO at Cognos and former IBM executive, has joined its board of directors. Ashe’s appointment adds key talent to continue building leading edge functionality into Renew OnDemand, the world's only cloud application designed to increase recurring revenue, and to rapidly deploy customers on this new SaaS platform.

PARK CITY, Utah — Skullcandy has appointed Hoby Darling as president and CEO effective immediately.

CANTON, Mass. — Net income at Destination XL Group, formerly Casual Male, dropped to $4.2 million from $33.5 million for the fourth quarter in the year-ago period.

Fourth-quarter revenue increased to $114.9 million, compared with $111.1 million last year, and same-store sales edged up 0.5%. By brand, DXL stores saw a same-store sales rise of 15% in the quarter, while Casual Male dipped 2.3%.

BENTON HARBOR, Mich. — Whirlpool  has appointed Esther Berrozpe as president of the company's Europe, Middle East and Africa (EMEA) region and to the company's executive Committee. Berrozpe is currently VP European markets for the company's EMEA region.

"Esther is a proven global leader at Whirlpool Corp. Her experience in both Europe and North America is strong, and she is well-suited to lead our European business," said Jeff Fettig, chairman and CEO of Whirlpool Corp.

PayPal, an Ebay company, has acquired mobile app developer Duff Research, according to a reports.

The PayPal technology team will now include the Duff Research team of 18 mobile app developers will join the PayPal technology team.

The Duff Research team, according to reports, has built more than 40 apps and has won four Best of the Consumer Electronics Show awards and two technical Emmy awards. 

Is it just me, or does it seem like the past two months or so have seen an unusually high level of turnover at the top? It's gotten so that you need a scorecard to keep up with all the comings and goings, as chief executives are forced out, jump ship, retire or move on.

This year's changing of the guard is bittersweet because it includes the retirement of two veteran retailers, Steve Burd of Safeway and Maxine Clark of Build-A-Bear Workshop.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — McKee Foods stalking horse bid for Hostess Brands' Drake's snack cake brand will be presented for approval to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, as no other qualified bids were received for those assets.

McKee has agreed to pay $27.5 million for the Drake's brand and certain equipment. Drake's products include Ring Dings, Yodels, Devil Dogs, Yankee Doodles, Sunny Doodles and Drake's Coffee Cake.

 The company will ask the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to approve the transaction at a hearing on April 9.