Mergers & Acquisitions

By Andy Couch, DJM Real Estate

Barnes & Noble chairman Leonard Riggio has sold a portion of his holdings of company stock.

Riggio said he sold 3.7 million shares of common stock, after which his holdings are expected to represent approximately 20% of Barnes & Noble’s common stock outstanding.

“After this sale I remain the company’s largest shareholder, a position I feel very good about,” said Riggio. “I love this company and I believe in its future as I do in all of the wonderful people who work here.”

New York -- Leonard Riggio, chairman of Barnes & Noble Inc., has sold 3.7 million shares of Barnes & Noble common stock. After the sale, his holdings are expected to represent approximately 20% of Barnes & Noble’s common stock outstanding.

Riggio said the sale is part of his long-term financial and estate planning and that he has no plans to sell more stock this calendar year.

Cleveland – The Sherwin-Williams Company reported a slight drop in net income during the first quarter of fiscal 2014, to $115.46 million from $116.18 million. Net sales fared better, rising 9% to $2.37 billion from $2.17 billion.

Christopher M. Connor, chairman and CEO of Sherwin-Williams, cited strong performance in the paint stores group, with slight offset on domestic sales from severe weather, as helping drive consolidated net sales in the quarter. Sherwin-Williams expects consolidated net sales to rise 8%-14% in the second quarter.

Urban Outfitters has named Trish Donnelly as president of Urban Outfitters brand, North America reporting directly to Ted Marlow, CEO, Urban Outfitters Group, effective July 14.

DSW has appointed former Shopko executive Mary Meixelsperger as CFO, effective May 1. Meixelsperger replaces Douglas Probst, who is retiring from DSW on the same day.

"We are pleased that Mary is joining the DSW team," said president and CEO Michael MacDonald. "Mary is a seasoned executive with a breadth of experiences in merger integration, strategic systems planning and implementation, financial analysis and tax planning. With her leadership, we will position DSW for continued growth and progress towards our strategic goals."

Purchase, N.Y. – MasterCard has entered into an agreement to acquire Pinpoint Pty. Ltd., an Australian provider of loyalty and rewards services to financial institutions across the Asia Pacific region. This acquisition is expected to close in second quarter 2014.

Owning the shopping experience of the future is how Gap chairman and CEO Glenn Murphy described the motivation behind a wide range of omnichannel strategies he and other senior executives shared during an annual meeting with investors.

Murphy and Gap’s top division heads provided an overview of strategic initiatives designed to achieve long-term, profitable growth across its portfolio of brands and also highlighted how the company plans to use technology, innovation and scale as competitive advantages as it looks to deliver a world class omnichannel experience.