News

The seventh annual Best Companies for Leadership Study conducted by the global consulting firm the Hay Group ranked Walmart eighth.

Walmart’s eighth  place ranking on the top 20 list is one notch better than the prior year, but slightly below the company’s 6th place ranking in 2009 when it made the list for the first time.

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Limited Brands has named Charlie McGuigan, CEO of Mast Global, the company's sourcing and production arm, as COO of Limited Brands. In addition to retaining his current responsibilities, he will assume leadership of enterprise operations.

Martyn Redgrave, Limited Brands chief administrative officer, will transition to the role of senior advisor for the company later this summer.

New York -- Macy's Inc., Target Corp., Kohl’s, Saks and Costco’s Wholesale Corp. all reported results that fell short of expectations in April. An early Easter, which helped fuel March results, high gas prices, cool weather and renewed worries about the economy contributed to the decline, according to many analysts.

CHICAGO — The Network of Executive Women is honoring Michael Duke, president and CEO of Wal-Mart Stores, with its William J. Grize Diversity Hall of Fame Award, on June 28 during Women's Day at the LPGA in Rogers Ark. The award, named after the late CEO of Ahold USA, who was an early advocate of industry diversity, is bestowed upon industry leaders who have demonstrated "an enduring commitment to the advancement of women and to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace," NEW announced.

St. Petersburg, Fla. -- Multichannel shopping retailer HSN Inc. reported Wednesday that net income for the quarter ended March 31 climbed 29% to $26.2 million, from $20.3 million in the year-ago period.

Results were boosted by robust sales from its Cornerstone unit, which includes banners such as Ballard Design, Frontgate and TravelSmith.

Revenue overall rose 5% to $747.3 million. Cornerstone saw an 11% sales rise to $205.4 million. HSN segment sales were up 3% to $541.9 million.

Retailers are in business to sell products customers want, except when they’re not, which appears to be the case with the retailer’s decision to stop selling Amazon.com’s hugely popular Kindle devices.

On Monday, Barnes & Noble Inc. and Microsoft announced a strategic partnership in a new unnamed Barnes & Noble subsidiary that, for the time being, is being identified as Newco. Here some comments from retail consultant Maggie Gilliam (Gilliam Insights) on the new venture:

SUFFERN, N.Y. — The Ascena Retail Group will acquire Charming Shoppes Inc., parent company of Lane Bryant, for about $890 million.

The move gives Ascena -- which owns the Dressbarn, Maurices and Justice chains -- entry to the steadily-growing large-size women's clothing market. In addition to Lane Bryant, Charming Shoppes also owns the Fashion Bug and Catherines Plus Sizes banners. It operates more than 1,800 stores nationwide. In 2011, nearly 85% of Charming Shoppes’ sales involved plus-sized apparel.