Personnel

Best Buy apparently told about 2,000 managers around the United States on Wednesday that they were being laid off, a move that would be the company's biggest job reduction since July 2012 as it continues to cut costs following a weaker-than-expected holiday season. The layoffs will affect about 1.4 percent of Best Buy's 145,000-person workforce, the Star Tribune learned. 

The long-awaited earnings release and conference call of J.C. Penney's annual sales and earnings result yesterday gave an outline of the strategies the company will follow in order to be a winner. The 2013 results were impacted by the folly of the Ron Johnson era. There was merchandise that consumers didn't want that had to be marked down in order to make room for iconic brands that had been discontinued. The company's performance was also affected, as were all retailers, by the brutal weather that forced the closing of dozens of stores throughout the Central and Northern states. 

Billionaire investor Carl Icahn and eBay are engaging in a public war of words that was ignited by an open letter Icahn sent to eBay shareholders yesterday. In the letter, Icahn accused eBay CEO John Donahoe of ignoring conflicts of interest on its board and called for the company to spin off PayPal. Icahn also disclosed he now owns 2.15 percent of eBay's stock. The letter specifically alleged that board member Marc Andreesseen has personally gained by purchasing large stakes in former eBay subsidiaries and advised and invested in direct eBay competitors Boku, Coinbase, Dwolla, Jumio and Fab.

The Container Store started a fund for employees in need and got a lot of pats on the back. A Wal-Mart store took up donations for employees in need during the holidays, and was pilloried for the effort. Two companies with two identical goals have two very different outcomes. What gives?

The much-maligned suit worn by the U.S. speedskating team should never have been victimized, Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank says in an exclusive interview. "It was a bit of a witch hunt that began to build," he says, in his first extensive interview since the Under Armour suit became a scapegoat for the failure of U.S. speedskaters to win Olympic medals. "The suit became the witch." Plank is so certain that the "Mach 39" suit is a winner that Under Armour will continue to invest in it and tweak it until the 2018 Olympic Games in South Korea. 

In a surprising move, Gap informed its employees on Wednesday that it would set $9 as the minimum hourly rate for its U.S. workforce this year and then establish a minimum of $10 next year. Gap said this move would ultimately raise pay for 65,000 of its 90,000 American employees, including those at Banana Republic, Old Navy and other stores. Gap is making this move as many states consider raising their minimum wage, and as Republicans and Democrats debate a bill that includes a proposed increase in the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour by 2016. 

Lowe's said Wednesday it plans to hire about 25,000 seasonal employees at its U.S. stores during its spring busy season, down from 45,000 workers last year. Lowe's and peer Home Depot have been rare bright spots in the retail sector as they continue to benefit from the U.S. housing recovery. Rising home prices and improvements in home construction and new home sales have led homeowners to open their wallets for remodeling projects or big-ticket items. Last week, Home Depot said it will hire 80,000 workers in the U.S. in preparation for spring, matching last year's hiring level.

Three days after Valentine's Day, 1-800-Flowers.com is still apologizing to customers whose flowers and candy never showed up. 1-800-Flowers.com sent nearly 1,000 individual apologies on Twitter, plus more on Facebook, but many customers still weren't satisfied. It wasn't the only flower delivery service with upset customers, though the number of 1-800-Flowers.com complaints appeared to outpace those for FTD Flowers and ProFlowers. Some frustrated customers complained that the phone lines for 1-800-Flowers.com were jammed over the weekend. They also sent emails and filled out online forms, only to receive automated replies. 

Richard Cabela, co-founder of the Cabela's retail chain that caters to outdoor enthusiasts and a prominent supporter of the National Rifle Association, has died. He was 77. Cabela started the company in 1961 as a catalog business with his wife, Mary, at their kitchen table in Chappell, Neb. His brother, James Cabela, soon joined the company and together they developed large stores in the U.S. and Canada featuring elaborate taxidermy displays of animals. Through its stores and eventually the internet, Cabela's became one of the nation's major gun retailers.

Home Depot and Lowe's are under fire for selling pesticides that some believe are partly to blame for killing billions of the nation's honeybees. Petitions with thousands of signatures are being delivered to the home-improvement retailers demanding they stop selling the pesticides along with any plants that have been treated with them. "There's a growing body of science indicating that the pesticides are a key factor in recent global bee deaths," said Lisa Archer, director of the food and technology program at the environmental group Friends of the Earth.