Mass Merchant

Goodlettsville, Tenn. -- The battle for Family Dollar moved into higher gear on Tuesday with Dollar General raising its bid for Family Dollar to $9.1 billion, or $80 per share, up from $78.50 per share in its previous offer. Dollar General also warned that it would attempt a hostile bid if Family Dollar refused to enter into talks regarding the new offer.

Latina Style magazine last week named Walmart, Target, CVS Caremark and the Army & Air Force Exchange Service four of the 50 best companies for Latinas to work for.
 
Walmart ranked No. 10 on the list, Target No. 36, CVS Caremark No. 41 and the Exchange No. 46.
 
The 2014 Latina Style 50 will be published in the magazine’s special August issue, and the companies will be recognized at the magazine’s awards ceremony and diversity conference early in 2015.
 

New York -- Walmart, Target, CVS Caremark and the Army & Air Force Exchange Service are among the 50 best companies for Latinas to work for, according the magazine Latina Style.

Walmart ranked No. 10 on the list, Target No. 36, CVS Caremark No. 41 and the Exchange No. 46. The 2014 Latina Style 50 will be published in the magazine’s special August issue, and the companies will be recognized at the magazine’s awards ceremony and diversity conference early in 2015.

The Family Dollar board is under new pressure to walk away from a deal with Dollar Tree after Dollar General further increased an already more generous counter offer.

Early Monday Dollar General increased its all cash offer to $80 a share from $78.50 a share and increased the number of stores it said it would be willing to divest to 1,500 from 700. The company also said it would be willing to pay Family Dollar a $500 million reverse break-up if the deal failed to secure antitrust clearance.

The Home Depot is the latest major retailer to investigate what looks like a data breach.

The Atlanta-based retailer is looking into the matter and also working with law enforcement and bank investigators.

"Protecting our customers' information is something we take extremely seriously, and we are aggressively gathering facts at this point while working to protect customers,” the retailer said in a statement.

New York – A Credit Suisse analyst is reportedly recommending that Staples and Office Depot, itself recently merged with Office Max, merge. According to Investors Business Daily, Credit Suisse analyst Gary Balter made the suggestion in a note sent to clients on Tuesday, Sept. 2.

Broad-line retailer Alco’s shareholders have replaced the company’s board of directors with seven new members, effective immediately. The elections were made at the company’s annual meeting of stockholders in Dallas late last week.

The strategy at Conn’s to grow sales of its most profitable product lines have proved successful for the specialty retailer, which marked its 12th consecutive quarter of increasing same-store sales. But overall results were unsatisfactory, because provisions for credit losses were higher than expected, resulting in portfolio performance deterioration.