Corporate Governance

Cupertino, Calif. – Following an investigation launched in June, the European Union (EU) is reportedly formally accusing the Republic of Ireland and Apple of striking an improper deal that has kept Apple’s taxes in Ireland artificially low since 1991. According to CNN, the arrangement has allowed Apple to pay a tax rate as low as 2% on earnings of Irish subsidiary.

Dallas - 7-Eleven has selected the Raid 7 software solution from WeDo Technologies for the retailer's Mexican operations. With more than 1,700 stores across the country, 7-Eleven México needed an enterprise business software suite to deliver end-to-end visibility and control of its retail processes; analyzing and identifying risks and monitoring and controlling deviations.

Birmingham, Ala. – Hibbett Sports Inc. has promoted Jared Briskin to senior VP and chief merchant. Briskin replaces Rebecca Jones, who left the company.

Briskin has been with Hibbett for more than 16 years, starting as a buyer and most recently serving as VP divisional merchandise manager of footwear and equipment.

West Des Moines, Iowa - Hy-Vee will deploy the Retail 20/20 exception reporting solution from Agilence Inc. The grocery chain will use the solution to improve operations and reduce shrink.

"While looking for a solution we were keen on finding one that could help us improve our in-store operations, while also making exception reporting a priority," said Darren Baty, senior VP and CIO, Hy-Vee. "After seeing Retail 20/20 in action it became clear that we would be able to reduce shrink and improve our front end with this tool."

Eden Prairie, Minn. – Supervalu Inc., which reported an intrusion into the portion of its computer network that processes payment card transactions at some of its retail food stores on Aug. 14, is reporting the discovery of another breach.

Deerfield, Ill. – Walgreen Co. met Wall Street expectations for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014 despite swinging to a loss. Walgreens posted a net loss of $239 million, largely driven by an accounting charge from its Alliance-Boots acquisition, compared to net earnings of $657 million in the same period a year earlier.

Walgreens recorded a non-cash loss of $866 million in the quarter that ended Aug. 31 because it decided to exercise early its option to buy the remaining stake of Alliance-Boots that it did not already own.

Bentonville, Ark. – Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is reportedly claiming that comedian Tracy Morgan was not wearing a seat belt when a truck driven by one of its drivers struck a vehicle Morgan was traveling in on the New Jersey Turnpike on June 7, critically injuring Morgan and killing one of his fellow passengers. According to Bloomberg, Wal-Mart said Morgan is partially or fully to blame for his injuries in a filing in federal court in Trenton, New Jersey.

Fremont, Calif. - Men's Wearhouse has named Scott Norris as Men's Wearhouse brand and Moores brand president, and Paul Fitzpatrick has been named Jos. A. Bank's brand president. In addition, Jim Thorne was named executive VP direct sourcing.

All three will report to Mary Beth Blake, the company's president and chief merchandising officer.

San Jose, Calif. – eBay Inc. is reversing course on its previous decision to keep its fast-growing online payments business PayPal as part of the company, and is instead spinning the unit off as a separate publicly traded company. The decision will generate $180 million for activist investor Carl Icahn, who attempted to force eBay to spin off PayPal in a public dispute earlier this year. It comes as the payments sector is heating up and generating increased interest as Apple gets set to launch its Apple Pay mobile payments service.

Hibbett Sports has promoted Jared Briskin to SVP and chief merchant. Briskin replaces Rebecca Jones, who left the company this week.