Corporate Governance

Minneapolis – Brian Cornell, CEO of Target Corp., reportedly received total compensation of $28.2 million in 2014. According to the Wall Street Journal, that figure includes $14 million in “make-whole” compensation he was paid for leaving his previous position as CEO of PepsiCo in August 2014.

Cornell also received a prorated salary of $595,000 from Target, among other compensation.

Irvine, Calif. – La Jolla Group, vertical retailer of multiple specialty apparel brands, knows a thing or two about keeping the bad guys out of its network. The company has been using Dell SonicWall TZ series firewall technology to ensure security at both corporate headquarters and its 18 retail stores.

Chain Store Age recently had the chance to speak with noted consumer trend expert Faith Popcorn, founder and CEO of marketing consulting firm Faith Popcorn’s BrainReserve, about steps McDonald’s can take to reverse its struggling fortunes. Popcorn’s insights come on the heels of McDonald’s reporting a 33% year-over-year drop in profits for first quarter 2015.

Bigger Isn’t Always Better
According to Popcorn, McDonald’s vast size is not necessarily an asset anymore.

Toys“R”Us and Toysrus.com are set to bring customers to a galaxy far, far away with a year-long omnichannel celebration in honor of the epic Star Wars saga.

Purchase, N.Y. - MasterCard will acquire cloud-based analytics provider Applied Predictive Technologies (APT) for $600 million.

APT’s Test & Learn platform enables users to apply analytics to design, measure and calibrate marketing, merchandising, operations and capital initiatives.

Minneapolis – Best Buy Co. Inc., a founder of the MCX retailer consortium that is developing a mobile payment system called CurrentC, will accept Apple Pay in stores starting later in 2015. Apple announced Best Buy’s planned participation in Apple Pay during a call with investors.

Leading specialty retailer Petco has expanded home delivery with Instacart.

San Diego - After a successful pilot in Boston and San Francisco, Petco is expanding its partnership with Instacart. Beginning April 28, customers in 14 metro areas served by Instacart can order from Petco stores and have everything delivered in as little as one hour.

Instacart currently serves 15 metro areas: Atlanta, Austin, Boulder, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Houston, Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia, Portland (OR), San Francisco, San Jose, Seattle and Washington, D.C. The company plans to add several more cities before the end of 2015.