Trading Partners

New York City -- The Talbots said on Tuesday that its board of directors has adopted a shareholder rights plan -- or a poison pill -- to protect its stockholders after a private equity firm disclosed it had acquired a sizeable stake in the company.

On Monday, Sycamore Partners LP revealed it had acquired a 9.9% stake in Talbots and said it planned to attempt to talk with the retailer about strategy and operations.

Reports put Talbots’ market value at $288 million, and suggest a buyout would exceed $400 million.

MINNEAPOLIS — Target announced that it has donated $15,000 in monetary support and product to assist with Minot, N.D. flooding relief efforts. The company said its donation will help four Minot schools, including Long Fellow, Perkett, Eric Ramstad and Lincoln. Each school will receive $3,000 to support classroom relocation efforts due to flood damage.                             .

WASHINGTON — Amazon and other online-only retailers have been dealt a major blow, as legislation introduced last week seeks to require such retailers to collect sales tax.

The Main Street Fairness Act would allow states that have adopted the Streamlined Sales and Use Tax Agreement to require out-of-state sellers to collect sales tax whether they have a physical presence in their state or not. The bill would cover all “remote sellers,” which include online retailers, catalog merchants and “1-800” offers on radio and television.

BENTONVILLE, Ark. -- A Wednesday report by Bloomberg said that Wal-Mart Stores has named Morten Knudsen as CFO for Asia, as the retailer recasts its leadership roles in the region amidst top-heavy turnover.

Knudsen, who was previously VP for corporate finance in Asia for Danone, takes the financial chief spot for Wal-Mart Asia effective Sept. 1.

Since May, Walmart has lost Japanese chief Toru Noda and three of its top executives in China, including the CFO and COO Roland Lawrence and Rob Cissell, respectively.

Topeka, Kan. -- Collective Brands, parent to Payless ShoeSource, announced Thursday the opening of its 100th franchise store, which is located in Cirebon, Indonesia.

The store represents the seventh store in Indonesia to date and the overall rapid international expansion of the Payless store chain over the past two years through its franchise strategy.

Wal-Mart Stores president and CEO Mike Duke was on Capitol Hill this week making the case for modernizing the U.S. tax code even as Democratic and Republican lawmakers continued to engage in brinksmanship over what all agree is a disturbing level of national indebtedness. Duke testified before the United States Senate Committee on Finance, which was holding hearings on CEO perspectives on how the tax code affects hiring, businesses and economic growth. A transcript of his prepared remarks appears below:

Dallas -- RadioShack Corp. reported Tuesday that net income for the second quarter dropped to $24.9 million from $53 million in the year-ago period. Sales decreased to $941.9 million, compared with $962.3 million a year earlier. Wall Street expected sales of $1.03 billion.

However, analysts responded positively to RadioShack’s news that it had signed a deal with Verizon Wireless to sell its postpaid and prepaid wireless products and services beginning Sept. 15, supplanting its current program with T-Mobile.

Mooresville, N.C. -- Lowe’s Cos. said Friday it has promoted M. Lee Reeves to senior VP, deputy general counsel and assistant secretary.

Reeves, who joined Lowe’s in 2004 as senior counsel, will lead the corporate transactions, intellectual property and information technology legal teams as a part of his new role.