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Target to offer delivery service; Oprah divests 25% of her Weight Watchers stake

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Target to offer delivery service; Oprah divests 25% of her Weight Watchers stake

TOP NEWS

* Target Corp. will invest in its delivery options in 2018, offering free two-day delivery for "hundreds of thousands" of items and extending same-day delivery to all New York City boroughs and other big-city markets, said CEO and Chairman Brian Cornell. The general merchandiser's two-day delivery option will require no membership or extra fees, compared with Amazon.com Inc.'s Prime subscription service that costs members $99 annually for two-day delivery. The Target service will, however, require that customers spend at least $35 or pay with the company's REDcard program.

* Media and entertainment company Harpo Inc. said its founder, former talk show host and mogul Oprah Winfrey, divested 25% of her shares in New York-based Weight Watchers International Inc., but she retains a majority stake in the company. Winfrey, who donated a portion of the shares to one of her foundations, said she remained "deeply committed" to the weight management company and that she continued to believe that Weight Watchers had "a bright future."

TEXTILES, APPAREL AND LUXURY GOODS

* Off-price retailer Ross Stores Inc. said it is raising its employees' minimum wage to $11 an hour, flagging examples by general merchandiser Target Corp. and rival The TJX Cos. Inc. The company also said it is making other investments in wages and benefits, including one-time bonuses for some staff and improvements to its paid leave programs as Ross Stores seeks to retain employees by offering competitive wages. Ross Stores reported that diluted EPS increased to $1.19 from 77 cents in the year-ago period, beating the S&P Capital IQ mean consensus estimate for EPS of 93 cents.

* North Carolina-based shoe retailer The Walking Co. Holdings Inc. sought chapter 11 protection in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of Wilmington, Del., the company's second bankruptcy filing since 2009. Shareholders agreed to invest $10 million in equity into the struggling retailer, while Wells Fargo Bank will provide $50 million in exit financing if The Walking Co. obtains court approval to reject leases at five of its outlets.

MULTILINE RETAIL

* Nanjing Xinjiekou Department Store Co. Ltd. will sell its 51% stake in U.K. department store chain House of Fraser to tourism group Wuji Wenhua, the Financial Times reported, citing a Shanghai stock exchange filing by the Chinese company.

E-COMMERCE

* Vacation rental website Airbnb Inc. said it appointed Amazon's former Prime Vice President Greg Greeley as president of its core home-rental business, effective March 18. Greeley confirmed his departure from Amazon on the professional networking website LinkedIn.

* Amazon plans to open its first fulfillment center in Missouri, an 800,000-square-foot facility that will house more than 1,500 full-time employees.

* Amazon will enter Vietnam's online retail market after signing an agreement with the country's e-commerce association March 14, VnExpress reported, citing a source familiar with the transaction.

FOOD AND STAPLES RETAILING

* CVS Health Corp. is selling corporate bonds for an aggregate price of $40 billion to partially finance its purchase of health insurer Aetna Inc. The settlement date for the notes, which have an average annual interest rate of 4.27%, is March 9. Separately, the retail pharmacy chain said it will install 14 of its drug disposal units at stores in Rhode Island as CVS continues to expand its program to combat opioid abuse.

* Investment firms Metric Capital Partners, Temasek Holdings and GIC are in advanced talks to acquire a minority stake in D.ream Group, the owner of Nusr-Et Steakhouse, which was made famous for the media sensation known as Salt Bae, people close to the matter told the Financial Times. Dogus Restaurant Entertainment and Management, or D.ream, is a unit of Turkish private banker Dogus Group and is reportedly valued at $1.5 billion.

* PepsiCo Inc. will distribute Australian craft-brewed beverages made by Bundaberg Brewed Drinks in over 400,000 of its stores in the U.S. beginning March 26 as part of the companies' partnership.

HYPERMARKETS AND SUPERCENTERS

* Wal-Mart de México SAB de CV expects to spend 20.9 billion pesos in 2018, allocating 30% of its investment in maintaining existing stores, 29% to building new stores and 28% improving its logistics service. Walmart Inc.'s Mexican subsidiary will continue investing in its omnichannel strategies, with 10% of its spending to go to e-commerce and technology, while the remaining 3% will be spent on improving its infrastructure for perishables.

HOUSEHOLD DURABLES AND SPECIALTY RETAIL

* The age of housing in the U.S., a trend that pushes consumers to spend more money on repairs, is starting to pay off for Home Depot Inc., Senior Vice President of finance Richard McPhail said at the Raymond James conference. By 2020, Home Depot expects that the number of homes more than 40 years old will increase to 54%, McPhail noted during his presentation to analysts.

* Carlyle Group LP-controlled Brazilian toy company Ri Happy Brinquedos SA expects to raise between 750 million reais and 970 million reais when the company files for an IPO March 7, Reuters reported, citing a source familiar with the matter.

HOTELS AND GAMING

* French investment firm Eurazeo SA, through its subsidiary Legendre Holding 19 SAS, sold its entire 4.2% stake in hotel group AccorHotels for €552 million, marking the end of the companies' 10-year relationship.

INDUSTRY NEWS

* The European Commission will potentially target a broader group of American products worth roughly $3.46 billion, ranging from cosmetics and clothing to boats, in response to U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum imports, Reuters reported. The informal list, which was previously reported to include a 25% tariff on Harley-Davidson Inc. motorcycles, Levi Strauss & Co. jeans and Kentucky bourbon, now could include U.S.-made shirts, textiles, footwear, cosmetics and recreational boats, the report added.

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