Drawing attention to these facts, the complainant’s attorney Tana Lin said that Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE:WMT) cannot and should not misguide customers in this manner. Incidentally, last month itself, the latter was said to be planning to enter the milk production business.
Talking of food, in a separate development, it is also believed that Wal-Mart will drop the products under the ‘Wild Oats‘ organic food brand. These were introduced 2 years ago. They were aimed at mainstream consumers for mass consumption. These were relatively cheap organic food products.
Board of Directors Gets Overhauled
On the 20th of April, the firm announced certain changes to the board of directors. While it was claimed that this is being done in order to prepare for the future, it was also said that their independence would be preserved and that there will be a lot of diversity in the collective backgrounds and experience of the directors. Four board members Aida Alvarez, Roger Corbett, Mike Duke and Jim Walton will be retired as they were expected to be. The board’s size itself will also be reduced so that they can be more effective in guiding the firm’s strategy.
However, the change does not take effect immediately. The firm will participate in the Nomura Retail and Restaurants Conference tomorrow. On the 19th of May, the next earnings report is expected to be out. These changes will take place after the annual meeting of shareholders on the morning of June 3 in the Bud Walton Arena on the University of Arkansas campus in Fayetteville, Ark.
During the meeting, the four mentioned above will naturally not stand for re-election. Wal-Mart also announced that the current board has nominated Steuart Walton to join them. Ultimately, the changes will trim the board strength from 15 to 12. The board will still have its independent majority at 67 percent. Out of the 12 nominees which may be elected, five were brought on board over the past four years. Not known to many, the firm has Marissa Mayer, president and CEO of Yahoo! Inc. as well as Kevin Systrom, CEO and co-founder of Instagram on the board. This is because the firm wants to focus on technology. As it is, the current chairman Penner, who was given that role in 2015, already has a lot of expertise in technology, international business and finance.
