Retail

Shanghai / Bloomberg An anti-counterfeit group suspended the membership of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd., one month after the Chinese Internet giant joined, after questions were raised about conflicts of interest involving the coalition’s president and complaints from some members. The International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition, a nonprofit global organization that fights counterfeit products and piracy, created a new membership category in April …

  Washington / Bloomberg Wal-Mart Stores Inc. directors got a Delaware judge to throw out investors’ claims they bungled the handling of a probe into alleged bribes paid to facilitate Mexican real-estate deals, wiping out the majority of lawsuits over the scandal. Disgruntled Wal-Mart shareholders accusing the retailer’s board of covering up the bribery scheme can’t re-litigate their claims over …

  London / AFP Tesco said that it rebounded into slender annual net profits on strong sales, after a vast property writedown and challenging home trade sparked a record loss the previous year. The troubled British supermarket giant revealed that earnings after taxation stood at £138 million ($197 million, 172 million euros) in its 2015/2016 financial year, which ran until the …

  New York / AFP The dollar jumped this week after a better-than-expected rebound in US retail sales last month erased some doubts about the strength of the US economy. But the yen also gained, shrugging off more efforts by Tokyo to talk it down from recent highs. The greenback was up 0.6 percent on the euro and the pound, and …

  Bloomberg A glum outlook from Macy’s Inc. renewed concerns about the broader retail industry, contributing to a stock rout for consumer companies such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Michael Kors Holdings Ltd., Ralph Lauren Corp. and Ross Stores Inc. Macy’s cut its profit forecast for this year and posted first-quarter revenue that missed analysts’ estimates — a sign that slow …

  Bloomberg French retailer Casino Guichard-Perrachon SA will pay as much as $196 million to buy out its Cnova NV online retail business, just a year and a half after listing about 6 percent of the unit in New York. Casino is offering $5.50 a share, it said in a statement on Thursday. That’s 62 percent higher than Cnova’s closing …

  San Francisco / AFP Amazon challenged YouTube by adding a platform to its video service that lets “storytellers and creators” share works online and generate revenue. The US online retail titan unveiled Amazon Video Direct where, like at YouTube, people can upload videos for online viewing at an ad-supported venue. The move came shortly after the Seattle-based firm made Amazon …

  Bloomberg Later this year, outdoor-gear retailer North Face will offer its environmentally conscious shoppers at its outlet in Tokyo’s posh Harajuku fashion district a chance to save the planet. North Face’s outlets in Japan will sell a $1,000, special edition “Moon Parka,” a gold-colored jacket based on the design of its existing Antarctica parka, made out of synthetic spider …

  Bloomberg In the latest salvo in a long-running feud over the costs of processing payments, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. sued Visa Inc.’s US unit, saying the company wants the retailer to use a less-secure method for verifying debit cards in order to route transactions through its own networks to boost profits. Wal-Mart filed a heavily redacted complaint in New York …

  Bloomberg Dean Foods Co., the largest US dairy processor, agreed to buy the manufacturing and retail operations of Friendly’s Ice Cream LLC for $155 million to add another consumer brand and help build its business beyond commodity fresh milk. The deal includes Friendly’s trademark and intellectual property, Dallas-based Dean said in a statement. The company will retain Friendly’s senior …