Trading Partners

New York -- A report by Financial Times revealed that eBay’s CEO John Donahoe spoke out in support of Google as the search-engine giant defends itself in an antitrust case lodged in Brussels, Belgium.

Cincinnati -- Kroger said Monday that it has ended a 12-year joint venture with British consumer data company Dunnhumby and launched its own customer data subsidiary.
 
The new subsidiary will help Kroger set prices in stores and decide which shoppers get certain coupons.  The ending of the joint venture comes after Dunnhumby's parent company, Tesco PLC, said it was seeking strategic options for Dunnhumby.

Toronto – Sears Canada Inc. is reportedly reducing some departments while expanding others in a move to capitalize on the retreat of Target from the Canadian retail landscape. According to the Toronto Globe & Mail, Sears Canada plans to stop selling electronics altogether while also reducing its tool and hardware assortment by more than 50%.

Washington, D.C. -- The U.S. House of Representatives passed a long-awaited bill by a vote of 307-116 on Wednesday that would make it easier for private companies to share information about cybersecurity threats with the government without fear of lawsuits.

The bill must be approved by the U.S. Senate before it can be sent to President Barack Obama to sign into law. A similar measure was passed by a 14-1 vote in the Senate Intelligence Committee, and supporters say they expect strong bipartisan support in the full Senate as well.

Suppliers to Walmart are always looking for ways to align themselves with the retailer and develop strategies that drive sales. Nothing could be more instructive on that front than 2015 version of a Global Responsibility Report, which reveals the company’s extensive social and environmental commitments and accomplishments.

The eighth annual edition of the document was released this week in conjunction with other material related to the company June 5 shareholders meeting.

New York -- A major new credit agreement has been secured by the 262 store Hancock Fabric chain with Wells Fargo Capital and the newly formed Great American Capital Partners subsidiary of B. Riley Financial.

The new financing deal, executed a year and a half before an existing credit facility was due to expire, provides the struggling Hancock Fabric chain with a new five year, $100 million asset-backed credit facility from Wells Fargo and a $17.5 million term loan from Great American.

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.

Framingham, Mass. – Bernard Cammarata, 75, founder and chairman of The TJX Companies Inc., will retire June 11, 2015 after nearly 40 years with the company. Carol Meyrowitz, 61, who has served as CEO of TJX since January 2007, been a board director since 2006 and joined the company in 1983, will succeed him as chairman.