Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart announced that it's expanding its check and card cashing services to accept more types of checks and forms of identification from shoppers.

ShareThis BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Wal-Mart's Acres for America program, in partnership with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, said it would donate $100,000 each to five urban wildlife projects around the U.S. The projects are as follows: • Anacostia Watershed Restoration, Washington, D.C., involving installation of a bio-retention facility, or rain garden, to treat poulluted storm water runoff. • Hegewisch Marsh Restoration, Chicago, involving restoration of 30 acres of marshland for endangered bird species. • Bolsa Chica Enhancement Project, Los Angeles, involving resotration and habitrat enhancement for an endangered herb. • Jamaica Bay Salt Marsh Restoration, New York, involving

Bentonville, Ark. -- A Wednesday report by Bloomberg said that Wal-Mart Stores has named Morten Knudsen as CFO for Asia, as the retailer recasts its leadership roles in the region amidst top-heavy turnover. Knudsen, who was previously VP for corporate finance in Asia for Danone, takes the financial chief spot for Wal-Mart Asia effective Sept. 1. Since May, Wal-Mart has lost Japanese chief Toru Noda and three of its top executives in China, including the CFO and COO Roland Lawrence and Rob Cissell, respectively.

Bentonville, Ark. -- The Walton Family Foundation revealed Wednesday that it will donate $50 million to Teach For America, a commitment that stands to nearly double the size of the organization’s teaching ranks. The charity that was created by the founder of Wal-Mart Stores will mete out half of the funds over a three-year period, and will increase the number of teachers to 15,000 by 2015. The remaining half of the donation will support the training of existing Teach for America instructors in seven communities. Teach for America was founded in 1990 by Wendy Kopp, who proposed the idea

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Blockbuster and Netflix may face new competition from Walmart, as the retailer announced that it will launch digital online movie rental and video streaming through its acquired Vudu service. The retailer is now offering 20,000 titles that can be viewed on almost any device with Internet access, from PCs to televisions to Sony's PlayStation3 and other Blu-Ray disc players. This is Wal-Mart’s second try at competing with Netflix, as it previously offered a DVD-by-mail service but it stopped that service in February 2010. "At Walmart, one of our key priorities is to provide a continuous

Wal-Mart has agreed to give women planning to sue for sex bias an extra 90 days to file their cases, a lawyer for the company said. Wal-Mart won a ruling in June that threw out certification of a gender-bias lawsuit representing as many as 1.5 million current and former female workers. The court said the plaintiffs failed to prove Wal-Mart had a nationwide policy that led to gender discrimination.

Chicago -- Wal-Mart Stores said Monday it has launched site work for a new store in Chatham, Ill. The new superstore is expected to create 400 new jobs and open in spring 2012. According to Wal-Mart, it is one of nine new locations now planned in the Chicagoland area and is part of the retailer’s previously announced "Chicago Community Investment Partnership," a five-year plan to open several dozen stores, create approximately 10,000 jobs and 2,000 unionized construction jobs, generate more than $500 million in sales and property taxes and develop charitable partnerships worth $20 million. Construction of the Chatham

New Delhi, India -- A Monday report by Bloomberg said that an Indian governmental panel recommended easing market-entry restrictions, making Wal-Mart Stores’ and Carrefour SA’s path into the India retail market potentially much easier. Citing a finance ministry official as its source, Bloomberg reported that a panel of New Delhi bureaucrats recommended on Friday that overseas companies be allowed to own up to 51% of stores that sell more than one brand if they invest a minimum of $100 million. “It would get in new players to the market -- you’d have more efficiencies coming in,” Abhishek Ranganathan, a

Target, Kohl's and J.C. Penney ranked highest among discounters in consumer perception in the first half of 2011, according to YouGov BrandIndex. The company interviews 5,000 people each weekday from a representative U.S. population sample, more than 1.2 million interviews per year. Here's YouGov’s Retail Buzz scores for discounters in the first half of 2011: Target (33.9), Kohl's (29.5), J.C. Penney (23.9), Costco (23.3), Dollar Tree (16.2), Wal-Mart (15.7), Sam's Club (15.4), Big Lots (15.4) and Dollar General (13.8).

Major retailers including Wal-Mart, Walgreens and SUPERVALU are teaming up with Michelle Obama to open or expand a total of 1,500 stores in communities that are designated as "food deserts," or have limited access to nutritious food. The pledges, secured by the First Lady's Partnership for a Healthier America, will aid the Healthy Food Financing Initiative, which aims to financially assist stores that open in areas where finding affordable health food can be difficult.