Management

Sophia Amoruso, the renegade fashion authority, "#GIRLBOSS" author and founder of millennial fashion brand Nasty Gal, explained in a YouTube video why she's stepping down as CEO at Nasty Gal and promoting retail guru Sheree Waterson in her place. In her blog, Amoruso said the following: "I've found someone, who I've worked with for a year, who I am really excited to put in the role of CEO." 

Electronics retailer RadioShack is preparing to file for bankruptcy protection by next month, The Wall Street Journal reported citing people familiar with the matter. Texas-based Radioshack is in talks with a private-equity firm that could buy its assets out of bankruptcy, the Journal reported, citing sources. The talks may not produce a deal, and RadioShack may opt for other debt-restructuring options that don't include a sale, the Journal said.

Sophia Amoruso will always be the #GirlBoss. But she's giving up the official boss title at Nasty Gal. Amoruso, founder of the Los Angeles-based online fashion retailer and author of a best-selling advice book titled "#GirlBoss," is stepping down as CEO of the company that she nurtured from a side project on eBay nine years ago into an e-commerce powerhouse, she told her staff yesterday. Sheree Waterson, who has been Nasty Gal's president, has been named as the new CEO and is also joining the company's board alongside Amoruso and Index Ventures partner Danny Rimer. 

Online clothing retailer ModCloth has brought over an executive from Urban Outfitters to take over as CEO. On Jan. 19, Modcloth Co-Founder and CEO Eric Koger will hand the reins over to Matthew Kaness, who most recently served as chief strategy officer at Urban Outfitters. Eric and Susan Gregg Koger started ModCloth, a women's clothing retailer that focuses on quirky, vintage-inspired styles, in 2002 while they were students at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. 

Overstock.com demonstrated a surprisingly high level of commitment to digital currencies Friday with the news that it's planning to offer its employees the option of being paid in bitcoin. The discount online retailer made the announcement in a release about a new bitcoin ATM that it has installed at its corporate headquarters in Salt Lake City. "Moving cryptocurrencies out of the realm of geeks and into the realm of the rest of us requires making changes at all levels of the financial ecosystem," Chief Executive Patrick Byrne said in the release. 

Four months since he took over as Target Corp.'s chief executive, Brian Cornell is making some of his first leadership changes to emphasize innovation and digital prowess within the company's corporate structure. Cornell is expected to unveil his long-term strategic plan for the company early next year, but he's already been vocal about his goal to make Target a leader in mobile and e-commerce. On Wednesday, he announced a number of moves to elevate and expand some positions and to create two new "centers of excellence."

Hudson's Bay, the owner of the Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue department stores, has named Jerry Storch, the former top executive at Toys"R"Us, to serve as its new chief executive. The department store operator said Storch will take the reins beginning Jan. 6, succeeding Richard Baker, who will stay on as executive chairman.

American Apparel has fired founder Dov Charney and named longtime fashion executive Paula Schneider to be its next CEO. The Los Angeles-based company's board voted to oust Charney as CEO in June, citing allegations of misconduct. He was put under suspension, but still served as a consultant to the company. American Apparel said Tuesday that it has terminated his position "for cause" after an internal investigation. Messages left with a lawyer who has represented Charney this year were not immediately returned.

Pet supply retailer PetSmart succumbed to calls from some shareholders for a sale on Sunday with an agreement to be bought by a private equity consortium led by BC Partners Ltd for $8.7 billion, in the largest leveraged buyout of the year. At a time when a stock market rally has made private equity firms reluctant to take companies private for fear of overpaying, the deal illustrates how activist investors have the potential to drive corporate boards to explore such deals and accept a price that makes a leveraged buyout possible.

The electronics chain was referencing popular podcast "Serial," which investigates the murder of a 17-year-old named Hae Min Lee. According to Adweek, the high school student was strangled in a Best Buy parking lot in Maryland, after which the killer is said to have made a phone call from a payphone there. In little over an hour, the chain received hundreds of comments for the post, some of which criticized the brand. Others commented that people were overreacting to the gaffe.