Strategy

Johnson & Johnson has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Alios BioPharma, a privately held clinical stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing therapies for viral diseases, for approximately $1.8 billion in cash.

The acquisition will include Alios BioPharma's portfolio of potential therapeutics for viral infections including compound AL-8176, an orally administered antiviral therapy currently in Phase 2 studies for the treatment of infants with respiratory syncytial virus.
 

Birmingham, Ala. – Hibbett Sports Inc. has promoted Jared Briskin to senior VP and chief merchant. Briskin replaces Rebecca Jones, who left the company.

Briskin has been with Hibbett for more than 16 years, starting as a buyer and most recently serving as VP divisional merchandise manager of footwear and equipment.

Walgreens posted fourth-quarter sales of $19.1 billion, representing an increase of 6.2% compared to the year-ago period, while sales for the fiscal 2014 ended Aug. 31 increased 5.8% to a record $76.4 billion.
 

New York  -- The outlook for retail in the Northeast remains quite positive, with demand from national, local and franchise companies across a broad range of categories, according to Levin Management.

Just a little more than a month after Supervalu announced a data breach, the company has confirmed a second malware attack on its payment systems.

On Aug. 14, Supervalu announced that it had experienced a criminal intrusion into the portion of its computer network that processes payment card transactions at some of its retail food stores, including some of its associated stand-alone liquor stores, but not including its Save-A-Lot stores.

New Albany, Ohio – A federal judge has reportedly rejected an Aug. 29 settlement of a lawsuit over the pay received by co-CEO Michael Jeffries. According to Reuters, U.S. District Judge James Graham in Columbus, Ohio, said shareholders belonging to the City of Plantation, Florida Police Officers' Employees' Retirement System, who challenged the $140 million in pay and additional travel expenses Jeffries has received since 2007, give up too much in the settlement.

The H&M Conscious Foundation, an independent nonprofit global foundation initiated by H&M to drive long-lasting positive change for people and communities, has partnered with WaterAid to bring safe water and toilets to a quarter million students in some of the world's poorest countries by 2017.

Fashion model and H&M Conscious Foundation ambassador Alek Wek was joined on stage at the Global Citizen Festival by H&M Conscious Foundation global manager Helena Thybell to present the foundation's flagship program with WaterAid.

By Matthew K. Harding, president, Levine Management

Moving into the final months of 2014, the outlook for retail in the Northeast remains quite positive. We are seeing demand from national, local and franchise companies across a broad range of categories.