Northwest Arkansas Business News
RSSWal-Mart: Clothes plants stay open
Wal-Mart Stores Inc.’s third-party experts assigned to inspect the 279 garment factories the retailer uses in Bangladesh have completed the initial inspection on 16 facilities so far and found “no safety threats that would … require their closure during remediation,” a Wal-Mart spokesman said Monday. Continue reading...
FarmAid says meat contracts favor packers
A new report by FarmAid, the farmer advocacy group founded by country music legend Willie Nelson, takes Tyson Foods Inc. and other large meat companies to task over their dealings with contract farmers. Continue reading...
Wal-Mart pays attention to call of Duck Dynasty
Just look at them. They have all anyone could want and more: fame, family, wealth. Continue reading...
Business news in brief
Undressed opens in Bentonville Andrea Sjovall has opened the intimate apparel boutique, Undressed, at 810 N.W. Third St., Suite D in Bentonville. Continue reading...
BUSINESS PEOPLE
Brent Medders, owner of 10 Domino’s Pizza stores in Northwest Arkansas and Tahlequah, Okla., was selected as a Franchise Association Gold Franny Award winner for operational excellence. The Domino’s Pizza awards ceremony will be held in London. Medders began as a delivery driver in 1981 and purchased his first Domino’s Pizza store in 1991. He has served as the regional training director for Domino’s out of Nashville, Tenn., and is one the board of directors of the Domino’s Franchisee Association. Continue reading...
NEWS IN BRIEF
Wal-Mart de Mexico to sell eatery chains Wal-Mart de Mexico, the Mexican subsidiary of retail giant Wal-Mart, said Friday it had put its Vips restaurant business up for sale. The deal also includes chains El Porton, Ragazzi and La Finca. Continue reading...
NEWS IN BRIEF
Fort Smith chamber chief schedules exit FORT SMITH — Paul Harvel, chief executive of the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce, will leave the organization on Dec. 31 after more than 40 years of work at chambers of commerce in Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. Continue reading...
Wal-Mart board re-elected with Duke getting less than 90% vote
Wal-Mart Stores Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mike Duke and two other board members received less than 90 percent of shareholders' votes at last week's annual meeting amid probes of allegations of bribery abroad. Continue reading...
JBS surpasses Tyson in chicken with Marfrig deal
JBS SA, the world's largest beef producer, agreed to buy Marfrig Alimentos SA meat-processing plants in Brazil in a noncash deal to become the world's largest chicken producer. Continue reading...
Wal-Mart’s annual meeting again star-studded, rousing
More than 14,000 Wal-Mart employees and shareholders of Bentonville-based Wal-Mart Stores Inc. packed Bud Walton Arena on Friday for the company’s annual shareholder meeting, where the giant retailer’s top executives highlighted employees, spoke of integrity and announced a $15 billion stock repurchase program. Continue reading...
Wal-Mart authorizes $15 billion share repurchase
Wal-Mart said Friday that its board of directors has authorized the repurchase of $15 billion in shares. Continue reading...
Wal-Mart faces scrutiny as investors gather
FAYETTEVILLE — Wal-Mart executives are expected to make the case it is improving the way it does business overseas and outline new growth opportunities at the world's largest retailer's annual shareholder meeting Friday. Continue reading...
Wal-Mart sales down in some markets
Wal-Mart has scaled back in some of its international markets, one of them being Mexico, where the retailer has enacted new processes for obtaining building permits. Continue reading...
Lab Tests Food
Sam's Club Taste Testers Choose Best Of Best
Sam’s Club taste testers sampled about 1,700 items last year. About 80 percent of tested products received a passing grade, but only 15 percent made it on to the club’s shelves. Continue reading...
Union ‘plain wrong,’ Wal-Mart exec says
FAYETTEVILLE — “A line has been crossed,” Gisel Ruiz, executive vice president and chief operating officer for Wal-Mart U.S., said Wednesday to some 6,000 of the company’s U.S. employees attending a preshareholders meeting at Bud Walton Arena. Ruiz was referring to the presence of members from the union affiliate OUR Walmart, or Organization United for Respect at Walmart, during the week of activities leading up to Friday’s Wal-Mart shareholders’ meeting. The group is made up of paid representatives from the United Food and Commercial Workers International union (UFCW) and Wal-Mart employees who have joined. OUR Walmart has conducted two protests so far this week, one Monday and another at noon Wednesday, both in front of Wal-Mart’s home office in Bentonville. Continue reading...
