Home Depot

New York City -- Walmart, Target, The Home Depot, Best Buy and CVS took top honors in Interbrand’s annual ranking of the 50 most valuable U.S. retail brands. The U.S. brands are valued in collaboration with Interbrand Design Forum, the retail experience group within Interbrand.

According to an Atlanta Journal-Constitution article, Home Depot executives received increases in compensation after the company's first annual sales gain in several years. 

CEO Frank Blake earned about $10.5 million last year, up by about $500,000, according to the article. Compensation packages of other top executives rose $100,000 or more.

Atlanta -- Home Depot said Monday it is returning to the corporate bond market for the second time in less than seven months to rebuild its cash stockpile and finance share buybacks.

According to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company plans to sell 10- and 30-year bonds. It is offering $1 billion of each maturity.

Home Depot is replacing $1 billion of 5.2% notes issued in 2006 that matured March 1, and raising money to buy its own stock. The notes may be sold as soon as Monday.

Atlanta -- The Home Depot board member David H. Batchelder has decided against standing for re-election. The company said Thursday that it is nominating Staples chairman and CEO Ronald L. Sargent and former accounting and consulting company executive J. Frank Brown for seats.

Batchelder, 61, has been a Home Depot board member since 2007. He is the founder and principal of Relational Investors LLC.

Sargent, 55, has served as Staples' CEO since 2002 and as chairman since 2005.

Ronald Sargent and Frank Brown -- the CEO of Staples and the dean of an international business school, respectively -- have been nominated for election to The Home Depot's board of directors at the company’s upcoming annual meeting on June 2.

Separately, David Batchelder has informed the company that he has decided not to stand for re-election at the annual meeting. Batchelder, founder and principal of Relational Investors LLC, has been a director since 2007.

New York City -- The Home Depot partnered with Scanbuy to launch a national communications strategy utilizing mobile barcodes enabled by Scanbuy’s ScanLife system. The initiative incorporates 2D bar codes (QR codes) that give customers immediate access to such information as product rating and reviews, How-To guides and videos on specific products.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. -- An article in the New York Times reports that Sears' aggressive "Turf Wars" advertising campaign is part of a trend toward mentioning competitors by name.

Described as a marketing platform including social media and online video clips, The Sears Turf Wars campaign brings Lowe's and Home Depot into the picture.

New York City -- The Home Depot has streamlined its in-store hiring process by centralizing it at the corporate level, making the process more uniform across the chain. Potential store hires now go through two reviews at the corporate level before they are even granted an in-person store interview, The Atlanta-Journal Constitution reported.

To read the full story, go to ajc.com/business/home-depot-centralizes-in-867327.html