Mergers & Acquisitions

Paris -- The Carrefour SA board of directors on Tuesday approved a plan for its CEO Lars Olofsson to also assume the role of chairman. According to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Olofsson will take over as current chairman Amaury de Seze announced Tuesday that he would step down.

"The time has come to reunite the two functions," De Seze said. He will remain on Carrefour's board.

SAN FRANCISCO — Williams-Sonoma that its board of directors has elected Rose Marie Bravo to the board.

Minneapolis -- Best Buy Co. said Tuesday that it will buy back $5 billion of its common stock and raise its quarterly dividend by 7%.

The retailer said that the buyback replaces a $5.5 billion repurchase program that had about $800 million left as of May 28. The announcement came just ahead of its shareholders meeting in Richfield, Minn.

New York City -- Barnes & Noble reported Tuesday that its loss for the quarter ended April 30 widened to $59.4 million, from a loss of $32 million in the year-ago period. The book seller said its results were hurt by liquidation sales by bankrupt Borders, as well as impacted by ongoing investment in the Nook.

Revenue rose 4% to $1.37 billion from $1.32 billion in the prior year, missing Wall Street’s estimate of $1.39 billion in revenue.

Same-store sales dropped 2.9%.

NEW YORK — Borders' closings, and subsequent clearance sales, took a toll on Barnes & Noble's fourth-quarter results. B&N said that its 2.9% drop in same-store sales for the quarter were temporarily negatively impacted by the liquidation of over 200 Borders bookstores during that time. 

The trouble didn't end there for Barnes & Noble, which reported a fourth-quarter consolidated net loss of $59 million, or $1.04 per share. The company's total store sales were $943 million.

Deerfield, Ill. -- Walgreen Co. said Tuesday it will terminate a $5.3 billion-per-year relationship with Express Scripts.

Walgreen reported that contract negotiations with Express Scripts have failed, and it will stop participating in the St. Louis company's prescription plans starting Jan. 1. Express Scripts processes about 90 million prescriptions that will be filled at Walgreen stores in fiscal 2011, which will bring Walgreen about $5.3 billion in revenue.

SAN JOSE, Calif. — eBay reported that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of GSI Commerce, a leading provider of e-commerce and interactive marketing services. The stockholders of GSI approved the adoption of the merger agreement with eBay at the special meeting of stockholders held on June 17 and the merger became effective later that day.