Wal-Mart To Close Macon Facility

400 workers will be losing their jobs in middle Georgia. Wal-Mart says the layoffs are from its return center in Macon, which will be closing in September. The Arkansas-based company says economic conditions were not a factor in the decision. Instead, officials say the Macon facility is too small for serving the southeast region.

Wal-Mart names Ga. Tech grad to be CEO

Mike Duke (AP)

Wal-Mart announced a surprise change in leadership Friday, naming a Georgia Tech grad as its new CEO.

Mike Duke, who joined Wal-Mart in 1995, will take the reins from Lee Scott, currently the company’s CEO, on Feb. 1.

Duke landed his first job at Rich’s department store in Atlanta — and stayed in the department-store business for 23 years as an executive at department-store operators May Stores and Federated Stores Inc., now known as Macy’s Inc.

As Wal-Mart’s vice chairman of its international division, Duke, 58, has made some key moves, including pulling out of some countries and expanding in others, such as Brazil and India.

Before that, Duke had held various senior logistics, distribution and administration posts since joining the company in 1995.

That makes Duke a “capable” executive who knows the company “inside and out,” said Adrianne Shapira, an analyst with Goldman Sachs.

Duke became chief executive and president of the Wal-Mart Stores U.S. division in 2003 and switched over to head the international division two years later as Wal-Mart increased its focus on international growth.

Duke, who has two daughters and a son with his wife, Susan, graduated from Georgia Tech with a degree in industrial engineering in 1971. Duke also has served on the Morehouse College board of trustees since 2005.

Barrett H. Carson, vice president for development for Georgia Tech, said becoming Wal-Mart’s CEO places Duke as the highest-ranking Georgia Tech alum.

“Taking the top position there, I think, puts himself certainly first among peers at this juncture,” he said. “I have goosebumps.”

Carson said that Duke is a very humble and self-effacing guy, the kind who will look for your golf ball in the rough. Carson, who has known Duke since 1997, said Duke was very active on the Tech advisory board, and kept Tech football memorabilia in his Bentonville, Ark., office.

“This will all be very embarrassing for him. At the end of the day, he simply is a really good guy.”

In 2003, Duke helped inaugurate Tech’s Technology Square development in Midtown with Gov. Sonny Perdue and others. In his speech that day, Duke said Wal-Mart couldn’t handle its massive supply chain or millions of daily transactions without innovations led by schools such as Tech.

In 2006, Duke was involved in major changes in the company’s international strategy, including exiting the German and South Korean markets, where the company was faltering before Duke took over.

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(AP)

Judge Ok's GA Website Likening Wal-Mart To Holocaust

A federal judge has sided with a Georgia man whose satirical Web site likens Wal-Mart to the Holocaust.

U.S. District Judge Timothy C. Batten Sr. in Atlanta rejected Wal-Mart's claims that Charles Smith's Web site and satirical products violated the company's trademark. In an 87-page order, Batten said Smith's products qualified as protected noncommercial speech.

The 50-year-old computer store owner from Conyers, Ga., says Wal-Mart is "taking over the world." He set up the Walocaust Web site, and later a Wal-Qaeda Web site, to make his point.

In late 2005 and early 2006, Wal-Mart sent letters demanding that he stop. Smith sued Wal-Mart, seeking to continue marketing his satirical logos and designs, and Wal-Mart countersued.

A Wal-Mart spokeswoman says the company is considering whether to appeal the March 20 ruling.

(The Associated Press)