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Carrefour's incoming CEO to take helm early
Paris -- The world’s second largest retailer behind Wal-Mart said Thursday that its leadership will change hands earlier than planned. France's Carrefour said that current CEO Lars Olofsson had retired at a board meeting on Wednesday, and that incoming chief Georges Plassat will take over as chief executive immediately.
Plassat joined Carrefour last month as COO. He was supposed to make his CEO transition effective June 18. He will take charge of an aggressive turnaround effort intended to reverse years of underperformance.
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IBM survey: Spending expected to be up over Memorial Day weekend
Armonk, N.Y. -- Survey results released Thursday by IBM said that Americans are increasingly upbeat about their plans for the Memorial Day weekend, with a huge increase this year in the amount of people talking about traveling and spending compared to last year.
According to the IBM Social Sentiment Index, the "Desire Ratio" – the proportion of positive versus negative comments about shopping – increased by a factor of five for this Memorial Day compared with last year.