IBM

STAMFORD, Conn. — Pitney Bowes has appointed Marc B. Lautenbach as its new president and CEO, effective immediately. Lautenbach succeeds Murray D. Martin, who is retiring as the company’s chairman, president and CEO and has resigned from the company’s board of directors.

Martin will continue to work with Lautenbach, who has nearly 30 years of experience in the technology and business services industry in senior leadership positions at IBM, on an effective transition.

Armonk, N.Y. -- IBM announced Tuesday the closing of its acquisition of Kenexa, a provider of recruiting and talent management solutions, for approximately $1.3 billion.

IBM said that Kenexa complements its strategy of bringing relevant data and expertise into the hands of business leaders within every functional department, from sales and marketing to product development and human resources.

Armonk, N.Y. -- IBM reported Tuesday that online spending surged 30.3% year-over-year on Cyber Monday, an all-time high.

Mobile shopping rose 70% over the prior year.

As part of IBM’s Smarter Commerce initiative, the IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark revealed the following additional Cyber Monday key findings:

New York -- Cyber Monday appears to be well on its way to breaking all previous records.

By mid-day on Monday, e-commerce sales were up 25.6% for this same time period over Cyber Monday 2011, according to findings from the IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark. The company analyzes the shopping results of 500 retailers nationwide.

Current mobile shopping data for Cyber Monday includes the following:

Mobile Traffic: The number of consumers using a mobile device to visit a retailer's site is 21%.

New York -- According to a report by IBM, U.S. shoppers took full advantage of early promotions this holiday season, driving a 17.4% increase in online sales Thanksgiving Day. This increase set the stage for 20.7% growth on Black Friday. The biggest surge came from mobile consumers, with sales reaching 16.3%, led by the iPad.

The data is the result of cloud-based analytics findings from IBM.  

Other findings of the IBM Digital Analytics Benchmark revealed the following trends:

Some of the biggest names in the retail and consumer packaged goods industry were recognized by the American Cancer Society with 2012 Excellence in Philanthropy Awards.

Strongsville, Ohio -- The International Retail User Group, formerly the IBM Retail User Group, said Tuesday that the organization’s name has been officially changed to the “International Retail User Group.”

PAWTUCKET, R.I. — Hasbro has been named as one of America’s most community-minded companies. Hasbro was selected in the top 10 by "The Civic 50," the first comprehensive ranking of S&P 500 corporations that best use their time, talent, and resources to improve the quality of life in the communities where they do business. This list also includes companies such as IBM, Citi and AT&T.