Trading Partners

Seattle – Top executives of Starbucks Corp., including chairman, president and CEO Howard Schultz, reportedly sold a combined total of 448,320 company shares for about $37.54 million, an average of $83.74 each, on Dec. 9 and 10, 2014. According to Barrons.com, Schultz exercised options and sold shares for a total of $28.95 million, and also gifted 175,000 shares, leaving him holding about 16.78 million shares.  

After announcing new partnerships with HGTV and Lowe’s, as well as three consecutive quarters of record growth, Sherwin-Williams is celebrating another milestone.

The company announced it is opening its 4,000th store in Sewickley, Pa.

Cleveland – The Sherwin-Williams Co. is predicting healthy sales growth for this year and next year. For the full year 2014, the company expects consolidated net sales to increase approximately 9% compared to full year 2013.  

New York - Olshan Properties announced that Matthew B. Winn will join the firm effective January 2015 as COO.  Reporting directly to CEO Andrea Olshan and working closely with her executive team on the overall management of the company, Winn will be responsible for leading the firm’s daily operations and refining its operating policies, procedures, and processes. He will also focus on ensuring growth of the company’s platform as well as work to enhance its operational efficiency.   

Lowe’s CEO Robert Niblock cited the recovering U.S. economy as among the reasons why the company plans to focus more on market differentiation and omnichannel retailing.

The company said it will outline these and other strategic priorities in a meeting with investors on Dec. 11 in North Carolina.

Walmart’s integrity suffered a blow this week in a Bloomberg piece with the inflammatory headline, “How Walmart made its crumbling China business look so good for so long.”

Timing is everything. The Bentonville Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce had already secured Judith McKenna as a speaker for an upcoming event when she was given a major promotion this week.

DEERFIELD, Ill. - Walgreens president and CEO Greg Wasson informed the company’s board of directors that he will retire shortly after the completion of the merger between Walgreens and Alliance Boots, of which shareholders are scheduled to vote on Dec. 29, 2014.    

Plenty of retailers talk about returning cash to shareholders, but none does so as aggressively as The Buckle which just announced a whopper of a special dividend.

The Kearney, Neb.-based operator of 463 stores said it would pay a $2.77 special dividend in addition to its regular quarterly dividend of 23 cents on Jan. 27 to shareholders of record on Jan. 15. It is the seventh consecutive year the debt-free specialty retailer of young men’s and women’s apparel has paid a special dividend on top of its quarterly payout.

Oakville, Canada — The proposed merger between Tim Hortons Inc. and Burger King Worldwide Inc. has been approved by the Minister of Industry under the Investment Canada Act ("ICA"). The companies have set the deadline for registered shareholders of Tim Hortons or Burger King Worldwide to make an election by Dec. 9, with the assumption the proposed merger will occur Dec. 12.