Corporate Governance

Second quarter sales at Amazon increased 23% to $19.3 billion thanks to growth of new and existing products, but the company reported an even bigger loss than it did the prior year.

Oak Brook, Ill. — Inland Real Estate Income Trust announced the acquisition of the 86,800-sq-ft. Pick ‘n Save Shopping Center in West Bend, Wisconsin. Lou Quilici, senior VP of IREIT Business Manager & Advisor, Inc., assisted Matthew Tice, VP of Inland Real Estate Acquisitions in the purchase of the property.

Dallas — SRS Real Estate Partners has hired Daniel Poku as an associate in the Dallas/Fort Worth office. A newcomer to the industry, Poku has a background in economics.

Poku is a recent graduate of Southern Methodist University. Poku is also currently pursuing a new venture called CauseCakes, with plans to launch fall 2014. CauseCakes partnered with a local bakery to provide cupcakes with wrappers that prompt acts of random kindness for special events and corporate meetings.

Cincinnati -- Macy’s reported a series of new initiatives in its multi-year strategic program to enhance environmental sustainability, including a plan to begin replacing fluorescent fixtures in its store with LEDs.

Dayton, Ohio -- Interbrand, a leading global brand consultancy, announced Wednesday that Lee Carpenter is leaving his current position as CEO of the North America region. Carpenter, CEO of Interbrand North America since 2007, will step down from his full-time role, effective July 23. He will continue to advise Interbrand during the next three months, but has decided to focus his attention on other personal opportunities.   

Midvale, Utah – Sportsman’s Warehouse Inc. is opening a store in Spokane, Washington, in early 2015. This location will be the first of eight planned stores that will open during 2015, making a total of 63 retail stores open and operating by the end of 2015.

Dallas - On The Border Mexican Grill & Cantina, has appointed Ward Whitworth as president of On The Border. The move follows the resignation of On The Border CEO Steve Clark, who has committed to stay on for a period of time in order to ensure a smooth transition to new leadership.

Washington, D.C. -- Slower-than-expected growth during the first half of the year caused the National Retail Federation to lower its retail sales forecast for 2014. NRF said it now expects sales will grow 3.6% in 2014, down from its earlier forecast of 4.1%. The group joined other industry experts in forecasting a pick-up in activity in the next five months.  

San Jose, Calif. – EBay Inc. is still planning to expand its operations in Russia despite U.S. sanctions against the country’s government. In public comments made in Moscow, EBay VP Wendy Jones said Russia is EBay’s top priority for expansion of its EBay Marketplaces division, and that eBay Marketplaces should go live in Russia in September.

Jones also said EBay doubled its Russian buyer base in 2013 and sold $425 million worth of goods there in 2012. Currently, Russian consumers make 90,000 EBay transactions per day.

San Francisco – StubHub, the online ticket resale platform operated by EBay, has reportedly been hacked by a global organized fraud ring. According to Reuters, cyber thieves obtained user credentials used on other sites and then used them to gain access to StubHub accounts and make fraudulent purchases.