Bangladesh plans to raise pay for garment workers and allow unions.

ABC veteran Barbara Walters announces 2014 retirement as Disney plans to live-stream ABC programming via app and cloud.

Yum! sales in China fall 29 percent in April.

ABB says CEO plans to resign.

Audi outsells BMW brand globally — again.

Bloomberg admits use of its terminals for data snooping.

CBS chief touts TV over digital engagement.

Cisco tries reinvention in tough time.

Danone sets deal to acquire Happy Family brand.Continue reading...

Back in January, Whole Foods Market co-founder and co-CEO John Mackey made it known that he wasn't a fan of Obamacare, comparing it to fascism. The move by Mackey had plenty of folks vowing that they'd boycott the 350-store upscale market, but the company's second-quarter earnings report says something completely different.

Second-quarter net income grew 20 percent to $142 million, according to Reuters, and total sales rose more than 13 percent to $3.03 billion. The company also raised its full-year expectations per share to between $2.86 and $2.89. Since the end of the quarter in mid-April, same-store sales have gone up 9.4 percent.

Not too shabby for a retail brand that is gaining more and more competition. Part of its success is because the chain decided to reach out to more customers by adding more locations and lowering prices in a bid to beat its "Whole Paycheck" reputation. The long-term expectation is for Whole Foods to have 1,000 stores in the U.S. and beyond.Continue reading...

Adobe confirms its CTO Kevin Lynch has left the company for a job at Apple. 

Chipotle is risking its brand by venturing into the public debate about gay rights, LGBT community says #ThanksChipotle.

NBC to NYT: Jimmy Fallon is expected to succeed Jay Leno on the "Tonight Show" by fall 2014 as NBC struggles with weak ratings.

Aeropostale targets millenials with new in-store #tech. 

Aldi and Whole Foods to boycott genetically modified salmon.

Apple's plan for augmented reality amidst another lawsuit on patent infringement.

Barclays announces massive bonuses on UK budget day.

BlackBerry denies report that BB10 failed UK government security test. 

Global airline profits are flying high.

Harvard researchers have linked sugary drinks to 180,000 deaths a year worldwide.Continue reading...

Emblematic of the slow but steady rise in health and wellness awareness, the gold-standard of ‘conscious capitalism,’ natural grocer Whole Foods is taking its brand and business acumen into the health resort sector.

"We have the perfect vehicle for this," Whole Foods Market co-CEO John Mackey told USA Today. "Think of it as a center where people would go for a day, a weekend or a week for healthy lifestyle education."

Call it a spa, resort or "healthy lifestyle education center," it's planned to open in the brand's Austin, Texas, hometown within three years—a pilot project that could catapult the company into the lucrative market pioneered by Canyon Ranch or Pritikin, or it could be another failure along the lines of the five education-focused Wellness Clubs that Whole Foods tested in 2006, including a location in Dallas.Continue reading...

Google doubles size of Seattle-area campus as X Lab sparks interest, Android chief steps aside and loss of Google Reader upsets loyal users.

Time Inc. spinoff rattles employees.

Volkswagen warns of a tough year ahead and focuses on China.

Apple exec attacks Google, Android and Samsung on eve of Galaxy S4 introduction.

AMC Theaters seeing stellar results.

Amazon pares price of large-screen Kindle Fire HD.

American Express, Audi and Griffin's "get" social media, execs say.Continue reading...

Pinterest is finally getting into the data game. The photo-heavy (and ridiculously popular) social site has launched Pinterest Web Analytics to help brands and advertisers better understand what users are doing with their content in a move towards monetizing its huge amount of traffic.

The 3-year-old company—which is the fastest website to reach 10 million unique visitors a month—has taken a cautious approach in defining its business model, in part to avoid the mistakes of other social networks that moved too fast.Continue reading...

The United States is currently the world's largest market for genetically modified organisms (GMO)—foods including soy milk, soup and breakfast cereals (made with soybeans), corn and other biotech crops manipulated to make them more resistant to insects and pesticides. 

The debate over GMO labeling for organisms genetically engineered by introducing changes into their DNA structure continues to grab the attention of consumers and brands, exacerbated by the November 2012 defeat of Prop 37, a mandatory labeling initiative introduced on the California ballot. Large corporations including PepsiCo and Monsanto spent millions of dollars against Prop 37 and it was defeated. 

Now Whole Foods Market is picking up the gauntlet and committing to full GMO transparency. Whole Foods—which made the announcement at the Natural Products Expo West—has committed to labelling all products in its U.S. and Canadian stores that contain genetically modified organisms by 2018.Continue reading...

Adidas aims to outrun Nike with bouncier shoes (Boost), Google ad test and increased soccer focus as Confederation Cup and FIFA World Cup loom, while Nike feels the heat in China.

Disney's Oz: The Great and Powerful wins weekend box office, marking a comeback for Disney's studio arm.

Old Spice introduces wolfish marketing director to boost men's animal magnetism.

America's Brand USA global marketing arm expands reach with $200M boost and German campaign.

Apple CEO Tim Cook may testify in e-book antitrust suit.

Beam looks past corruption scandal with new brand strategy in India.

Bumblebee and Chicken of the Sea expand U.S. tuna recall.Continue reading...