Corporate Governance

Top toy exec joins brand builder
Former Toys “R” Us president Neil Friedman has joined toy manufacturer Alex Brands as president and CEO.

Friedman has been appointed to the Alex Brands board of directors earlier this year. Prior to that he was president of the U.S. division at Toys “R” Us and also served as president at Mattel Brands, Fisher-Price Brands, Tyco Preschool and MCA/Universal Merchandising. Friedman is a member of the Toy Industry Hall of Fame and the International Licensing Industry Merchandiser’s Association’s Hall of Fame.
Cardlytics secures more disruption dollars
Ad targeting firm Cardlytics said its secured an additional $70 million in funding led by Discovery Capital.

Cardlytics, an advertising and technology company regarded as a leader in card-linked marketing, said the new $70 million funding round brings its total venture capital funding to more than $170 million. Cardlytics intends to use the funds to continue to extend and expand the breadth of the company’s capabilities to make all marketing more relevant and measurable. Morgan Stanley acted as adviser on the deal.

Office Depot makes gift giving easier

Office Depot, Inc. is continuing its holiday initiatives. The merchant, formed by the merger of Office Depot and OfficeMax, has announced its “Your Holiday Workshop” campaign being kicked off across all store locations and online on Nov. 2.

To address the volume of early shoppers, Office Depot and OfficeMax will unveil exclusive daily and weekly product deals from its most popular shopping categories including technology, printers, and furniture alongside other business and home office supplies.
Blue Nile shines with new designers

Blue Nile, the original online jeweler, has added a couple of gems to its roster with Sloane Street and Lisa Jenks joining the ranks of the Blue Nile Designer Collective.
Alibaba, Apple may partner on payment

Beijing, China –- Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Apple Inc. are reportedly considering partnering on digital payment. According to the Wall street Journal, Alibaba executive chairman Jack Ma and Apple CEO Tim Cook have both made separate public statements about partnering, with Ma more specifically citing digital payment, and plan to meet on the matter.
Wal-Mart enters used video game market

Bentonville, Ark. –- Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which launched a video game trade-in program in March 2014, is now building on the program by offering used video games for sale in 1,700 stores. These games will be sold in their own section or alongside other value titles.
Transformation costs impact Coach Q3 net income

New York –- Organizational efficiency costs and charges related to store closures and upgrades that are part of an ongoing transformation plan negatively impacted net income reported by Coach Inc. during the third quarter of fiscal 2014. Net income totaled $146 million, down 33% from $218 million in the same quarter the previous fiscal year.
Sherwin-Williams shines in Q3

Cleveland, Ohio –- The Sherwin-Williams Company had a strong third quarter of fiscal 2014, with net income growing 24% to $326.24 million from $262.97 million in the same period a year earlier. Net sales climbed 10% to $3.15 billion from $2.85 billion.
Build-A-Bear opens NYC holiday pop-up

St. Louis -- Build-A-Bear Workshop is opening a new store location in the Brill Building in Times Square in New York City on Tuesday, Oct. 28. This seasonal pop-up shop offers an assortment of proprietary products, licensed properties and New York City-themed merchandise.
LG Electronics selects Ugam for brand management

Englewood Cliffs, N.J. -- LG Electronics USA has selected Ugam's Brand Intelligence solution to help manage its brand reputation and channel relationships in the U.S. consumer electronics industry. Ugam's technology and services will support LG's commitment to deliver a superior customer experience by enforcing compliance with its pricing policy.
Brixmor upgrades shopping center portfolio

New York -- Brixmor Property Group Inc. has provided an update on its ongoing program to maximize value in its shopping center portfolio. These initiatives involve upgrading its centers' merchandise mix with strong, best-in-class anchors to drive higher sales, traffic and small shop leasing, while elevating center appeal to improve rent levels and shopping center net operating income.
IBM launches new criminal investigation solution

Armonk, N.Y. –- IBM has released new high-speed analysis and criminal investigation software that is designed to uncover hidden criminal threats buried inside massive volumes of disparate corporate data. IBM i2 Enterprise Insight Analysis (EIA) can find non-obvious relationships within hundreds of terabytes of data and trillions of objects in just seconds.