Legislative, Regulatory & Legal

NEW YORK -- Nordstrom has joined such other Washington-based retailers as Starbucks Coffee Company and Amazon.com in coming out in support of  approving Referendum 74, a Washington state ballot measure that seeks to affirm same-sex marriage with voters. (In July, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, pledged $2.5 million in support of the measure.)
 

New York -- Hudson's Bay Co. announced that it has filed a preliminary prospectus with securities regulators in Canada for a proposed initial public offering of common shares. The company, which has been owned by NRDC Equity Partners since 2008, operates U.S. department store chain Lord & Taylor, along with The Bay and Home Outfitters chains in Canada.

New York -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will not face class-action gender-discrimination claims in a federal court lawsuit in Texas, Bloomberg reported. U.S District Judge Reed O’Connor has dismissed the Texas class complaint, finding that the lawsuit was filed too late.

The suit, which alleged the retailer discriminated against women in pay and promotions in the company’s Texas region, sought to represent all women hourly and salaried workers, below store managers, employed by Wal-Mart and Sam’s Club in the region.

By Sandra Gold Slon, [email protected]

New York -- A San Diego judge ordered Rite Aid Corp. and its California subsidiary Thrifty PayLess Inc. to pay $800,000 to settle a complaint alleging false advertising, the Associated Press reported.

Prosecutors claimed Rite Aid led consumers to believe they would pay less for items bought using the company's Wellness Card, the report said. However, they were given a coupon and told it was for a future purchase that would expire and was subject to other restrictions.

Minneapolis -- Best Buy Co. said Tuesday that CFO James Muehlbauer has resigned the company. He will continue in an advisory capacity until Feb. 3.

The retailer said it has launched a search for a permanent replacement.

Muehlbauer’s resignation is the latest in a string of executive departures for Best Buy, and comes as founder and former chairman Richard Schulze mulls an offer to buy the company.

New York -- More than half (53%) of middle market executives believe that their companies are on solid ground, according to a survey by CIT Group Inc., a leading provider of financing to small businesses and middle market companies. (In order to be eligible to participate in the survey, respondents had to be in a leadership role at firms with revenues between $25 million and $1 billion, the majority of whose employees were based in the United States.)

FOOTHILL RANCH, Calif. — Wet Seal, just days after encouraging its shareholders to reject efforts by Clinton Group to replace its board of directors, reached an agreement with Clinton Group giving them four spots on its board of directors.

As part of the settlement agreement, Clinton Group, which beneficially owns approximately 6.9% of Wet Seal common stock, has terminated its consent solicitation. In addition, Jonathan Duskin, Sidney Horn, Hal Kahn and Henry Winterstern have resigned from the board of directors.