News in brief

Wal-Mart signs up marketer Haworth

Wal-Mart Stores Inc. has hired Haworth Marketing and Media as one of its agencies of record, according to its chief marketing officer for U.S. stores.

Wal-Mart's Tony Rogers announced the partnership in a memo earlier this week and said the Minneapolis-based firm will "play a number of roles" for the retailer's U.S. marketing team. Those roles include "media planning and placement, strategy for brand integrations and strategic partnerships in the marketing, media and entertainment arenas."

MediaVest previously handled Wal-Mart's media account, but the retailer announced last February it was ending the relationship. Wal-Mart spent nearly $2.1 billion on advertising in the U.S. in 2015, according to Advertising Age.

This week's announcement does not change Wal-Mart's relationship with Publicis Groupe, which the retailer selected as its primary agency of record last July.

-- Robbie Neiswanger

Walton group gives $20M to museum

The Walton Family Foundation has given a $20 million gift to the Amon Carter Museum of American Art, the largest in the Fort Worth-based museum's history.

The gift, which will be awarded over five years, will establish an endowment to support future exhibition and education initiatives, according to a news release. The endowment honors the late Ruth Carter Stevenson, a longtime member of the museum's board.

Walton Family Foundation board member and Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art founder Alice Walton was a member of the Amon Carter Museum's board of trustees from 2004 to 2015. Karen Hixon, president of the museum's board of trustees and Stevenson's daughter, said in a news release her mother and Alice Walton were "great friends" who shared an "extraordinary love and knowledge of art."

-- Robbie Neiswanger

Car-Mart up again as index gains 5.09

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, climbed 5.09 to 368.64 Wednesday.

Fourteen stocks advanced and four declined.

USA Truck, which lost more than 50 percent of its value in 2016, gained 4 percent in light trading.

America's Car-Mart, which gained more than 60 percent in 2016, continued its climb, rising 3.8 percent in low volume trading.

Total volume for the index was 20.3 million shares.

The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.

Business on 01/05/2017

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