Corporate Governance

New York -- Liberty Media Corp. has entered into agreements to reduce its stake in Barnes & Noble. Liberty Media informed Barnes & Noble that while Liberty has sold the majority of its shares to qualified institutional buyers, it will retain approximately 10% of its initial $204 million investment, which could be converted to a 17% ownership stake.

Former SAS executive Greg Soussloff has joined pricing intelligence and competitor monitoring solutions provider 360pi as vp of customer value.

Soussloff spent the past 10 years with SAS and most recently served as senior sales director of retail and CPG and oversaw a 30 member national sales team. Prior to SAS, Soussloff served in diverse roles at several wholesale companies, including VF Corporation where he led the sales efforts for the mass channel in what was then the VF Knitwear division.

Washington, D.C. -- Despite a slight decrease in corporate payments fraud and a heightened interest in security risks, 2013 saw an increase in fraud specific to credit and debit cards as criminals and their schemes became more sophisticated, according to the 2014 AFP Payments Fraud and Control Survey released by the Association for Financial Professionals (AFP).

Online home goods retailer Tablesets.com said digital innovator Weihu Yan has made an investment in and joined the company as a strategic advisor.

Boca Raton, Fla. -- Office Depot has appointed Troy Rice as executive VP of retail, effective April 14. Rice, who replaces Juan Guerrero, will also serve as a member of Office Depot’s leadership team and report directly to chairman and CEO Roland Smith.
 

Cardtronics has extended its ATM services agreement with Walgreens, the company announced Wednesday. Cardtronics is a preferred provider of ATM services for Walgreens.  

Since the relationship began in 2004, Cardtronics has grown its ATM presence in Walgreens locations significantly — from fewer than 400 initially to roughly 3,250 today. The company is also the exclusive ATM provider for Walgreens in many states across the U.S.

San Jose, Calif. -- VeriFone Systems announced today that five devices in its PAYware Mobile line of EMV- enabled mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) devices have been approved by the Visa Ready Program. The program is designed to ensure that devices, software and solutions used to initiate or accept Visa payments are compatible with Visa’s requirements.
 
By adopting PAYware Mobile devices that are Visa Ready approved, merchants enjoy the benefits of secure electronic payment acceptance from virtually any location.
 

Veteran retail operations executive Troy Rice has joined Office Depot as EVP of retail as the company continues to build out its senior leadership team in the wake of its merger with OfficeMax.

Rice spent the past eight years with Toys “R” Us, most recently serving as EVP fo stores and services. Prior that he spent 16 years with The Home Depot and served as president of the retailer’s $24 billion northern division at the time of his departure.