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Throughout the retail industry and beyond, Walmart has earned a reputation as a leader in executing sustainable improvements that deliver positive results for consumers, communities and the company’s bottom line. Andrea Thomas, who joined Walmart in 2007, was appointed the company’s first senior VP sustainability in August 2010. Thomas talked with Chain Store Age contributing editor Connie Gentry about what sustainability means at Walmart and how the company leverages its scale to make the biggest possible impact for global good.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. reported a better-than-expected 9.2% increase in first-quarter profit on increased sales in the United States and a strong performance abroad.

Wal-Mart earned $3.74 billion in the quarter ended April 30, 2012, up from $3.39 billion in the year-ago period.

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said Tuesday it will hire 100 additional developers in India as part of its @WalmartLabs unit, which is focused on growing the retailer’s social media and mobile presence globally.

In November, WalmartLabs, under the retailer’s global e-commerce group, will build an operation in India to use social media and digital technology to attract shoppers.
 

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores will hold its annual meeting in Rogers, Ark., near its Bentonville, Ark., headquarters on Wednesday, and said the meeting focus will be on reversing the decline in its U.S. Walmart stores’ business.

The retailer is also expected to share information about its upcoming holiday strategies and discuss capital spending plans.

Bentonville, Ark. -- According to reports by Reuters and Bloomberg on Friday, Wal-Mart Stores is transferring management of its e-commerce business to store-level leadership in developed countries and said that two online executives are leaving the company.

According to the reports, e-commerce leaders in markets such as the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom, will now report directly to the heads of stores in those countries instead of global e-commerce executive Eduardo Castro-Wright.

“The world has changed a lot since my parents first shopped at Walmart; so have people and how they live. Our Next Generation Customer will include millions who are striving to join the emerging global middle class. They’re from the countryside around Punjab, India and the blue-collar suburbs of Sao Paulo, Brazil. They’re in the big cities -- from the wards of Chicago to the boroughs of New York City. They’re connected to the world through smartphones and social media. They’re in charge of when they shop and how they shop.”

New York City -- Wal-Mart Stores CEO Mike Duke said rising gas prices are hurting the chain’s main customers, who are having an even harder time stretching their dollars to the next payday than they did a year ago.

"There's no doubt that rising fuel prices are having an impact on our customers," said Duke at an event that was part of The Wall Street Journal's executive breakfast series,  according to the Associated Press. "There's more pressure."

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores named Cindy Davis as executive VP Global Consumer Insights. In the position, she will lead the newly created Global Customer Insights team, helping both Walmart and Sam's Club understand broad consumer trends, provide insight into customers' needs across the world and create advanced analytical tools to support the business.

Davis most recently served as executive VP membership, marketing and e-commerce at the Sam's Club warehouse store division. A successor in that role will be named at a later date, Wal-Mart said.

New York City -- Wal-Mart Stores has filed suit against CVS Caremark Corp. to prevent CVS from hiring former Wal-Mart executive Hank Mullany, according to a Friday report by Bloomberg.

CVS’s hiring of Mullany, former president of Wal-Mart’s northern U.S. division, would violate a noncompete agreement, Wal-Mart said in the complaint filed Thursday in Delaware Chancery Court.

According to Wal-Mart’s complaint, CVS has indicated that it intends to hire Mullany without regard to the agreement.