Retail

  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 ...

Bloomberg Gap Inc. shares plunged as much as 15 percent in late trading after the apparel chain posted disappointing results, a sign the company’s much-vaunted springtime comeback hasn’t materialized. Same-store sales — a key benchmark — dropped 7 percent in April, the San Francisco-based retailer said in a statement. Analysts had predicted a gain of 1.1 percent, according to Retail ...

  Bloomberg Associated British Foods Plc, the British food-to-retail conglomerate, plans to sell its Chinese sugar business for as much as $1 billion, according to a person familiar with the matter. The process is in the very early stages and there’s no timetable for completion, said the person, who declined to be identified as the information is private. AB Foods ...

  Bloomberg JD.com Inc., China’s second-biggest online retailer, plunged after it reported flagging sales growth on its marketplaces and management expressed concern about the country’s economic slowdown. The American depositary receipts dropped 7 percent in New York to $23.43, the lowest since February 12. Trading volume of 45.3 million shares was more than triple the daily average of the past ...

  Bloomberg Investec Bank’s aviation arm made its first foray into financing the Airbus Group SE A380 superjumbo with a deal to purchase four jets operated by Emirates before leasing them back to the Dubai-based carrier. Investec will pay a total of $1 billion for the double-deckers, of which two are new and owned by Emirates, with the other two, ...

  Bloomberg HNA-Caissa Travel Group Co. plans to raise as much as 8 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) through a private share sale as the Chinese tourism and catering company seeks funds to expand its cruise and global-travel services. The company’s controlling shareholder HNA Tourism Group and as many as nine other investors will buy the shares, HNA-Caissa said in a ...