News in brief

Walmart exec takes position at Pinterest

Walmart Inc.'s technology chief, who said this week that he's leaving the company, will become the head of engineering for Internet social media company Pinterest. Jeremy King's last day at Walmart is Friday.

A news release on Pinterest's website didn't say when King will start his new job.

Pinterest chief executive Ben Silbermann said in the release that King will lead the team responsible for powering the visual discovery engine that allows users to find and post photos and videos they can "pin" to a virtual bulletin board.

"Not only is Jeremy a respected engineering leader, but from the moment we met him, we knew his values around putting the customer first were aligned with our own focus on Pinners," Silbermann said.

King, an executive vice president and chief technology officer at Walmart, joined the Bentonville retailer in 2011. He oversaw the growth of its tech unit, Walmart Labs; beefed up its e-commerce business; and helped introduce many in-store innovations.

Previously, King was executive vice president of technology at LiveOps and vice president of engineering and software development at eBay.

-- Serenah McKay

Rogers dealership, parcel sell for $3.1M

The property at 1100 W. Hudson Road in Rogers, which includes Rainbow Honda Powersports and Rainbow Cycle and Marine, was purchased earlier this month in a $3.1 million deal.

Rainbow Land Co. LLC sold 6.5 acres that includes a little more than 42,000 square feet in showroom space, along with a nearly 8.5-acre tract that's currently vacant, to R and R Land Co., according to a release. Both dealerships will remain open.

The property is in a federal opportunity zone, which gives tax advantages for specific types of investments in lower-income areas. In Arkansas there are 85 such opportunity zones.

Colliers International Arkansas represented the seller and Transaction Realty represented the buyer.

-- John Magsam

Trucker drops 8.1% as state index dives

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, tumbled 11.20 to 398.60 Friday.

All but one stock lost ground, led by P.A.M. Transportation, which fell 8.1 percent.

Murphy Oil shares dropped 7.1 percent in heavy volume.

Bank OZK fell 5.5 percent on average volume.

For the week, nine stocks fell and five rose.

Windstream shares rose 6.1 percent for the week.

P.A.M. Transportation declined 16.8 percent for the week.

Total volume for the index was 22.1 million shares. The average daily volume for the week was 19.8 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 03/23/2019

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