Walmart

New York – Activist investor fund Starboard Value has reportedly purchased a 6% stake in Staples Inc. and upped its ownership of Office Depot from 8.6% to 10%. According to the Wall Street Journal, Starboard Value may be positioning itself to pressure the two office supply retailers to merge.  

Longtime Kroger executive and current chairman David Dillon is retiring Dec. 31 after 38 years with the company. Dillon, 63, will be replaced as chairman by Rodney McMullen, who also succeeded Dillon as CEO at the start of 2014, the company said. McMullen has served on the board since 2003.

The globalization of Walmart’s domestic operations continued this week with the appointment of Judith McKenna to the role of chief operating office for Walmart U.S.

Walmart’s integrity suffered a blow this week in a Bloomberg piece with the inflammatory headline, “How Walmart made its crumbling China business look so good for so long.”

Timing is everything. The Bentonville Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce had already secured Judith McKenna as a speaker for an upcoming event when she was given a major promotion this week.

University of Arkansas alumni Ann and Gene Bordelon have contributed $100,000 to establish the Faculty Innovation Endowed Fund for the benefit of the Sam M. Walton College of Business.

Bentonville, Ark. - Wal-Mart Stores has promoted Judith McKenna to COO for Walmart U.S., effective immediately.  She succeeds Gisel Ruiz, who has been appointed executive VP of Walmart’s International People Division, effective immediately.    McKenna  will continue to report directly to Walmart U.S. president and CEO, Greg Foran. Ruiz will report to Walmart International president and CEO, David Cheesewright. 
  

BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Walmart Stores on Wednesday announced that Judith McKenna has been promoted to COO for Walmart U.S. McKenna succeeds Gisel Ruiz, who has been appointed EVP of Walmart’s International People Division.    McKenna will assume her responsibilities immediately and will continue to report directly to Walmart U.S. president and CEO, Greg Foran. Ruiz will also assume her responsibilities immediately and will report to Walmart International president and CEO, David Cheesewright.   

If you’re like me, and you were curious about how Black Friday hype translated into retail sales, your head is spinning right about now. Because the flurry of post-Black Friday news reports is packed with conflicting information, data that doesn’t seem to add up, and—perhaps unsurprisingly given those disparities—wildly variant conclusions about whether the Black Friday weekend was a “success” or a “disappointment” and about what is in store for the rest of the holiday season.

So the retail industry made it through another five-day Thanksgiving weekend, stretching from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday. As the dust begins to settle and the pundits make their pronouncements, let’s look at a few technology lessons retailers can learn from this year’s kickoff to the all-important holiday sales season.   Little Mobile is All Grown Up