Retail

Bloomberg CVC Capital Partners acquired Malaysian snack producer Munchy Food Industries Sdn., as the private equity firm deepens its exposure to the fast-growing consumer industry in Southeast Asia. The London-based investment firm’s Asia Fund IV completed the purchase of a 100 percent stake in Munchy Food on June 8, it said in an emailed statement, confirming an earlier Bloomberg News ...

Bloomberg Amazon.com Inc. has long used robots to help humans move merchandise around its warehouses. Now automation is transforming Amazon’s white-collar workforce, too. The people who command six-figure salaries to negotiate multimillion-dollar deals with major brands are being replaced by software that predicts what shoppers want and how much to charge for it. Machines are beating people at the critical ...

Bloomberg Landlords have malls they’d like to unload. But who’d want to buy them? As they battle the rise of e-commerce, US mall owners are trying to clear their books of fading centres so they can focus on the most-profitable ones. That’s proving difficult, with just a shallow pool of investors who are willing to take on a declining mall ...

Bloomberg Mercari Inc. priced its initial public offering at the top of the range to sell $1.2 billion worth of shares, a valuation that’s set to make its 40-year-old founder a billionaire. The online marketplace plans to sell 43.5 million shares at 3,000 yen apiece, at the top of the targeted range, including the sale of additional shares via a ...

Bloomberg In 1980, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan led dozens of countries to boycott the Summer Olympics in Moscow. An undaunted Adidas AG still sponsored the USSR’s Olympic team, becoming one of the first global brands well-known behind the Iron Curtain. This summer’s soccer World Cup should have had the German company cashing in big on its ensuing decades of ...

Bloomberg V-Mart Retail Ltd., India’s most-profitable department store chain, is planning to sell apparel and other goods online in a bid to attract youth in villages and small towns. The retail store, which runs medium-sized stores that sell clothes, accessories, footwear and everyday staples, is also planning to add 30 to 40 stores every year to its current 177 stores, ...

Bloomberg The world’s biggest furniture retailer is figuring out how to pursue ambitious climate goals without losing out economically. Ikea, the Swedish company known for making smart, inexpensive furniture that stands little chance of becoming a family heirloom, wants people to hold on to its pieces for longer. To that end, the company intends to broaden the services it provides ...

Bloomberg After surpassing Hermes, Gucci has Louis Vuitton in its sights. The Italian fashion brand, owned by Kering SA of France, aims to lift revenue to 10 billion euros ($12 billion) from last year’s 6.2 billion euros, according to an investor presentation Thursday. That would rival LVMH’s Louis Vuitton, long the biggest and most profitable name in luxury. With a ...

Bloomberg The cleanup continues at Hudson’s Bay Co., the owner of Saks Fifth Avenue. The struggling Canadian retailer agreed to sell Gilt, a flash-sale, e-commerce company it bought two years ago that has become one of its worst-performing businesses. The buyer, Rue La La, announced the purchase on Monday without disclosing a price, and said it plans to run the ...

Bloomberg In its rush to find a buyer earlier this year and avoid liquidation, bankrupt Toys ‘R’ Us Inc. landed on a familiar name: Sycamore Partners, according to people familiar with the matter. The private-equity firm, which had already scooped up several troubled retailers, held advanced talks with Toys ‘R’ Us about acquiring the chain and keeping open half its ...