Saks Inc. (SKS) is shutting down the unprofitable tween-girls chain Club Libby Lu, five years after buying the upstart business and three years after first exploring its potential sale. The chain, purchased in 2003 for $12 million, had 11 stores...
A private equity firm is buying a 17 percent stake in Whole Foods Market, a much-needed vote of confidence for a chain that is being battered by increased competition and a weak economy. The news came as the company announced a huge drop in...
That may be overstating things a bit. But Wal-Mart certainly is doing well these days. Wasn't it a year ago or so that everyone was talking about the Bentonville behemoth stumbling and perhaps hitting the limits of its business model? It seems to...
General Growth Properties Inc., the second-largest U.S. mall owner, and Kimco Realty Corp., the largest owner of community shopping centers, plunged in New York trading after cutting their earnings forecasts for the year. General Growth, based in...
Commercial real-estate securities have been Wall Street's last claim to dignity. You might remember that Lehman Brothers Holdings in the final days pinned its hopes for survival on the values of its commercial real-estate portfolio. In planning to...
There's an insightful post over at ULI's Ground Floor. It features Stephen Blank's thoughts coming out of last week's ULI Fall Meeting. Here's an excerpt. ...
So, like homeowners with an adjustable rate mortgage that just went up, some of private equity's titans are facing a huge squeeze. And that is coming at the same time consumers are staying home with their wallets closed. Already this year, big...