Legislative, Regulatory & Legal

WASHINGTON — The National Retail Federation has announced a major year-long campaign to help support the retail industry and the jobs it helps create. A centerpiece of the campaign – which will include lobbying, grassroots, advertising, social media, earned media and more – is www.RetailMeansJobs.com, an interactive web site and action center designed to encourage engagement on behalf of the retail community’s agenda.

New York City -- Barnes & Noble said Tuesday that the FTC has granted early termination of the waiting period under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, allowing investor Liberty Media to move forward with its stock purchase in the bookseller.

Barnes & Noble announced on Aug. 18 that Liberty Media invested an aggregate of $204 million in the company through the purchase of newly issued convertible preferred stock, totaling a 16.6% interest in Barnes and Noble.

Houston -- Retail ATM owner Cardtronics said Tuesday that it has forged an ATM managed services agreement with Lakewood, Colo.-based FirstBank, covering the segment of its ATM network located in King Soopers grocery stores.

As part of the agreement, Cardtronics has implemented all hardware upgrades necessary to bring the King Soopers portion of the $11 billion-asset bank’s ATM network into compliance with revised “Americans with Disabilities Act regulations set to take effect in 2012.

Washington, D.C. -- The National Retail Federation has launched a year-long advocacy campaign to advance a “Jobs, Innovation and Consumer Value Agenda” on behalf of the U.S. retail industry.

Plano, Texas -- J.C. Penney Co. said Monday in a regulatory filing that it has allowed shopping center owner Vornado Realty Trust to increase its stake in the department store retailer, from 9.9% to 15.4%.

The move eases a poison-pill restriction that had prevented Vornado from previously buying additional J.C. Penney shares. It mirrors a deal struck with Penney’s largest shareholder William Ackman, who received the go-ahead to up his stake, held through his Pershing Square Capital Management hedge fund, from 16.5% to as much as 26.1%.

New York City -- Union leaders on Monday said they reached a tentative agreement with The Vons Cos. Ralphs Grocery Co.; and Albertsons, to head off the threat of a strike in Southern California by more than 60,000 workers, the Associated Press reported.

The union said the agreement, which still must be approved by the rank and file, would protect workers' health policies.

New York City -- Costco Wholesale Corp won a federal appeals court decision that blocks women who accused the company of gender bias from suing as a group. Although the ruling overturns a judge’s decision to expand a suit filed by three women to include hundreds of female workers, the court left open the possibility that the case could again be brought as a class action.

Los Angeles -- The union representing many of the 62,000 workers at Ralphs, Vons and Albertsons supermarkets in Southern California has issued a required 72-hour notice of its plan to cancel its extended contract, Reuters reported. The move that could pave the way for a strike.

Ann Arbor, Mich. -- A Wednesday report by Detroit News said that Borders Group Inc. has appointed turnaround specialist Ojas Shah as its CFO to lead the company toward final liquidation.

Shah has been a director of Alix Partners, the firm providing financial restructuring and bankruptcy services to Borders.

Borders, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in February, is slated to close all stores effective Sunday, Sept. 18.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores on Wednesday launched initiatives intended, it says, to help women around the globe in the next five years.

The retailer has spent the last year developing a plan -- with help from both governmental and non-governmental organizations and philanthropic groups -- which will direct $20 billion over a five- year period on goods and services from U.S. businesses owned by women, as well as double the amount it pays women-run suppliers overseas.