News

MINNEAPOLIS — Best Buy is leaving the European market. The company is selling its stake in a joint European venture with U.K.-based consumer electronics retailer Carphone Warehouse Group PLC for cash and stock worth about $775 million USD.

Best Buy Co. will also pay Carphone 29 million pounds (about $45 million) related to existing agreements that will be terminated when the deal closes. The U.S. retailer also said that it will incur an approximately $200 million asset impairment charge related to the stake sale.

BOCA RATON, Fla. — The timing of the New Year and Easter holidays negatively affected Office Depot’s first quarter sales which declined 5% to $2.7 billion and led to a $17 million loss compared to a profit of $41 million in the first quarter of 2012. 

AUSTIN, Texas — Digital coupon site RetailMeNot has appointed Giulio Montemagno as the company's first SVP of international. He will report to COO Kelli Beougher.

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Sports Authority has appointed Paul M. Okimoto as the company’s new CMO. 

In his new role, Okimoto will be responsible for leading the strategic development and oversight of the company’s overall marketing plans to drive traffic and sales at stores nationwide and through the e-commerce platform. He is a 20-year marketing and general management executive with demonstrated success in retail, high-technology, mobile telecommunications, advertising and the consumer packaged goods industries.

NEW ORLEANS — Discover has signed contracts with 50 merchant acquirers that will extend PayPal’s in-store acceptance to more than 2 million merchant outlets by the end of the year.

Eight months ago, PayPal announced its intention to create an innovative payment option that leveraged Discover’s payments infrastructure to provide PayPal’s more than 55 million active domestic account holders with access to millions of retail stores, restaurants and gas pumps.

PHILADELPHIA — Five Below, a leading retailer of extreme-value merchandise for teens and pre-teens, is once again teaming up with Alex's Lemonade Stand Foundation to raise money to help children with cancer. 

WOONSOCKET, R.I. — CVS Caremark announced that it was among several national companies represented at an event hosted on Tuesday by President Obama, VP Joe Biden, First Lady Michelle Obama and Dr. Jill Biden as part of the Joining Forces initiative.

During the event, the administration asked companies participating in the Joining Forces initiative to hire and train 435,000 veterans and military spouses over the next five years, after nearly tripling its original goal of hiring 100,000 veterans and military spouses by the end of 2013.

SAN FRANCISCO — Braintree, a payments platform for online and mobile commerce, has appointed Google Wallet co-found Rob von Behren as the company’s lead engineer for its San Francisco office. 

In his new role, von Behren will be charged with helping to advance Braintree's position in mobile commerce, including its one-touch mobile payment solution Venmo.

Moms are in for a special treat this Mother’s Day, May 12, according to a survey conducted by the National Retail Federation, but another survey conducted by IBISWorld has found that Mother’s Day spending growth will be flat this year compared to last year.

NRF’s Mother’s Day spending survey conducted by BIGinsight has found consumers will spend an average of $169 on mom, up 11% from last year’s $153. Total spending is expected to reach $21 billion.

Taylor, Mich.-based Masco Corp. reported first-quarter net sales of $1.88 billion, up 3.9% from the same quarter last year.

Net income for the giant manufacturer of home improvement and building products was $47 million, up from $33 million in the prior-year quarter.