Strategy

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. —-- Sears Holdings has successfully separated out its Sears Hometown and Outlet Sores businesses.

Neil Ashe, president and CEO of global e-commerce was clearly the most excitable person on stage Wednesday at Walmart’s 19th annual analysts' meeting. And for good reason.

Walmart created its global e-commerce group two years ago and Ashe joined the company back in January. Wednesday was his first opportunity to participate in the company’s annual analysts’ meeting and he made the most of it, slipping in a first ever reference to Walmart’s online revenues that now total $9 billion.

Dallas -- 7-Eleven Inc. announced  two acquisitions that will further expand its U.S. store portfolio.

The company has closed deals with EZ Energy USA Inc. to purchase 67 retail locations in the Cleveland and Pittsburgh markets, and with its licensee, Handee Marts Inc., to acquire 58 7-Eleven convenience stores in those same markets as well as locations in northern West Virginia and western Maryland.

MONTREAL — Canadian dollar-store chain, Dollarama, has named Richard Roy as an independent director of the corporation. Roy will fill the vacancy created among the board of directors by the resignation of Matthew Levin.

Roy will also sit on the audit committee of the corporation, and Huw Thomas, independent director of Dollarama, will replace Levin on the human resources and compensation committee while remaining a member of the audit committee and the nominating and governance committee of the corporation.

NAPERVILLE, Ill. — OfficeMax has launched a new line of pens under its TUL brand.

"Over the past eight years, TUL has become the preferred premium brand of writing instruments and desk accessories for many of our customers because of the great design, performance and value it provides," said Ronald Lalla, EVP and chief merchandising officer at OfficeMax. "Our new collection of TUL pens provides both consumers and business customers with multiple designs that deliver exceptional writing experiences time and time again."

New York -- Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores Inc. is set to begin trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market on Friday after Sears Holdings Corp. completed a spin-off transaction of the home appliances, hardware, tools and garden equipment retailer.

Sears Holdings received $446.5 million in proceeds in the transaction, including a $100 million dividend paid by Sears Hometown prior to the separation and about $347 million from a rights offering.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — Kodak is moving forward with its plans to emerge from bankruptcy and said Friday it is ready to discuss reorganization plans with certain key creditor groups.

SAN FRANCISCO — Fujitsu Frontech North America, a technology and front-end solutions provider and Retail Pro, a provider of software applications for the specialty retail industry, announced a strategic business alliance that bundles Fujitsu hardware with Retail Pro software for a total point of sale solution. The alliance features bundled, purpose-built retail solutions that are intended to address the growing specialty segment of the retail industry, by providing sleek hardware, simplified software integration and rapid deployment for customers.