Mergers & Acquisitions

New York City -- Borders Group, which filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy in February and has announced plans to close about a third of its stores, said it plans to pay key employees as much as $8.3 million in incentives and retention bonuses, Bloomberg reported.

The retailer asked a judge to approve its plan in a filing Thursday in U.S. Bankruptcy Courty in New York. Borders said it has historically compensated employees through incentives.

Foothill Ranch, Calif. -- The Wet Seal reported Thursday that net income for the fourth quarter ended Jan. 29 dropped to $5.3 million, compared with $74.2 million in the year-ago period. Last year’s quarter included a non-cash tax benefit of $64.7 million.

Sales rose to $165.5 million from $151 million a year earlier. Same-store sales increased 2.3%. Same-store sales for Wet Seal increased 1.9% and for Arden B increased 4.8%.

Atlanta -- The Home Depot board member David H. Batchelder has decided against standing for re-election. The company said Thursday that it is nominating Staples chairman and CEO Ronald L. Sargent and former accounting and consulting company executive J. Frank Brown for seats.

Batchelder, 61, has been a Home Depot board member since 2007. He is the founder and principal of Relational Investors LLC.

Sargent, 55, has served as Staples' CEO since 2002 and as chairman since 2005.

BENSALEM, Pa.  -- Charming Shoppes has announced the appointment of Anthony Romano as the company's president and CEO and a member of the company's board of directors, and the appointment of Brian Woolf as group president Lane Bryant, effective immediately.  

Deerfield, Ill. -- Walgreens announced that it would "accelerate its online strategy" by acquiring e-retailer Drugstore.com. The deal, worth about $429 million, gives Walgreens access to 3 million online customers.

New York City -- FAO Schwarz is seeking to extend the lease for its flagship store in Manhattan, almost three years after the landlord Boston Properties said the retailer would likely have to leave, Bloomberg reported. The store is located in the General Motors Building, on Fifth Avenue at the corner of 58th Street.

Walmart’s small format desires certainly haven’t gone unnoticed by the folks at Dollar General, a company that appears bent on saturating the marketplace with small discount stores. Last year, Dollar General opened 600 new stores and remodeled or relocated 504 other stores to end its fiscal year with 9,372 stores. This year, more of the same is planned with the expansion figure getting a bump to 625 new units, while the number of remodels and relocations expands to 550 units.

DEERFIELD, Ill. and BELLEVUE, Wash. — Shortly after posting record second-quarter sales on Tuesday, Walgreens announced that it would "accelerate its online strategy" by acquiring e-retailer Drugstore.com for about $429 million, subject to customary conditions.