Business briefs
American Eagle CEO compensation drops
American Eagle Outfitters’ CEO Jay Schottenstein’s base salary in 2016 was $1.5 million, which is unchanged from the previous year, according to documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. With other compensation and stock awards, Mr. Schottenstein’s total compensation was $7.5 million, down from $8 million in 2015. The South Side clothing retailer will hold its annual meeting on May 23 in New York City.
PPG launches new stain
PPG has introduced Timeless stain, which will be sold exclusively at Home Depot. The stain is the first product prominently carrying the PPG brand name to be sold in a major home improvement retailer, PPG said. PPG has been rebranding its line of paints and stains for several years since it acquired AkzoNobel’s North American decorative paints business. Other brands it owns include Glidden, Olympic and Pittsburgh Paints.
Gymboree said to prepare bankruptcy filing
Gymboree Corp., the struggling children’s clothing retailer, is preparing to file for bankruptcy as it faces a June 1 interest payment on its debt, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The Bain Capital-controlled company is seeking to reorganize its debt load and may transfer control to its lenders, including Searchlight Capital and Brigade Capital Management, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the process isn’t public. The retailer, which operates about 1,300 stores, hasn’t posted an annual profit since 2011.
Sculptor of Wall Street’s bull wants ‘Fearless Girl’ moved
The sculptor of Wall Street’s “Charging Bull” statue demanded the removal of the “Fearless Girl” statue that has faced off against the bull since last month. Arturo Di Modica said his 11-foot-tall bull is supposed to represent “freedom in the world, peace, strength, power and love” but “Fearless Girl” has turned his work’s message into something negative. “The girl is right in front doing this, ‘Now I’m here, what are you going to do?’” Mr. Di Modica said. An attorney for Mr. Di Modica, Norman Siegel, said the 4-foot-tall bronze girl was created as part of an advertising campaign for Boston-based investment firm State Street Global Advisors and its placement exploits the earlier sculpture for commercial gain and negates its
positive message. Mr. Di Modica’s bull has become a familiar icon since he gave it to the city in 1989.
Wal-Mart to discount online-only items delivered to stores
Starting next week, WalMart will offer discounts on thousands of onlineonly items when customers elect to have them shipped to one of the company’s stores for pickup. Initially, the discount will be available on about 10,000 items. But the Bentonville, Ark.-based retailer says it will expand the price cuts to more than one million items by the end of June. Wal-Mart is able to offer the discounts by delivering the products directly to its 4,700 stores, saving on costs by avoiding shipping to individual shoppers’ homes.
Burger King’s Whopper gets prank Wikipedia edits in ad gag
Burger King’s latest ad stunt is resulting in some lessthan-flattering descriptions of its Whopper sandwich. The hamburger chain unveiled a 15-second ad Wednesday designed to trigger Google Home devices into reciting the definition of a Whopper, pulled from the website Wikipedia. But the website can be edited by users, and the definition had been changed to insert “cyanide” as an ingredient in one version. Another user later changed the definition to say the Whopper is “the worst hamburger product” sold by the chain. Burger King, owned by Restaurant Brands International, says it has been trying to change the definition back to one that it was hoping to promote.