Strategy

Costco shareholders are a happy lot these days between the company’s surging share price, huge special dividends and now another substantial increase in the company’s regular quarterly payout.

Late Friday, with shareholders already sitting on a 30% increase in the stock price during the past year, the company gave them another reason to smile by hiking its dividend 12.3% to 40 cents a share, or $1.60 on an annual basis, from the current quarterly dividend of 35.5 cents, or $1.42.

What’s wrong with the retail Industry? Corporate Responsibility Magazine is out with the 2015 version of its 100 Best Corporate Citizens and only three, that’s right, only three retailers were worthy of inclusion on the list.

Whole Foods celebrated Earth Day by serving as the kickoff site for environmental activist Christopher Swain’s historic swim in a toxic canal.

Foot Locker is looking to the future of the footwear industry with a new partnership designed to drive innovation.

The retailer is collaborating with Pensole Footwear Design Academy on a class that will help design the new ASICS Tiger this summer.

HSN Inc. has appointed a new chief marketing officer to drive growth for the $3.6 billion multichannel retailer. 

The company named John Aylward as executive VP and chief marketing officer for HSN.

Staples is looking to Martha Stewart once again to re-invigorate its home office product assortment.

The retailer and Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia have announced a new, multi-year strategic direct retail collaboration for the manufacture and distribution of a brand new line of Martha Stewart Home Office products.

Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Inc., which had disappointing financial results in its last quarter, said CEO W. Bruce Johnson will leave the company Aug. 1.

The company also announced that the board of directors has commenced a search for a new CEO and has retained Heidrick & Struggles, a leading global executive search firm, to assist the Board in identifying and evaluating external and internal candidates.

With more than 1,000 stores in the Southeast, Publix Super Markets celebrated Earth Day with a $160,000 effort to make shrimp aquaculture more sustainable.

The grocery chain says it is focused on improving the conditions associated with shrimp aquaculture. The donation to the Sustainable Fisheries Partnership will fund research to improve fisheries and help shrimp aquaculture in southeast Asia become more sustainable.

EBay painted a mixed financial picture for the first quarter, with lower revenue from its marketplaces division and higher revenue from its Paypal division, which the company said it plans to spin off later this year.

Carbondale, Colo. -- Casey Sheahan, former CEO of Patagonia, has joined FastG8, a digital media company focused on driving e-commerce for brands in the outdoor and active lifestyle marketplaces.

Also joining the form is Zohar Ziv, who retired from Deckers Outdoor Corporation in January, where he most recently held the title of COO. He has also served as CFO for Deckers.