Darden Restaurants Inc. is shutting down its six combined Red Lobster and Olive Garden units as it continues to proceed with a spinoff or sale of its Red Lobster brand, the company confirmed. The Orlando, Fla.-based Darden closed two dual-branded units in Thomasville, Ga., and Beaufort, S.C. The other four will be converted to standalone Olive Gardens.

Office Depot will shutter at least 400 U.S. stores during the next two years as part of its plan to consolidate operations after its acquisition of OfficeMax last November. There are many locations where the two brands have stores in close proximity to one another. The retailer, which reported better-than-expected first quarter results amid cost cutting, said the stores will be closed by 2016.

Recently retired Gregg Steinhafel was at the helm at Target for years as the company became the second-largest retailer. It was several years of soft sales, and a poorly done Target.com revamp and Canada debut, and that massive theft of personal consumer data that hurt his rep. "Target realized they have to move faster," said Amy Koo, an analyst with the Kantar Retail consulting firm.

The Albuquerque Isotopes, Toledo Mud Hens, Leigh Valley IronPigs and Wisconsin Timber Rattlers may not be top of mind with baseball fans and consumers, but they are among the Top 25 teams in Minor League Baseball when it comes to licensed merchandise retail sales, which across MiLB's network of 160 teams topped $55M in 2013.

Subway plans to add 8,000 more of its stores into the U.S. because 26,600 locations aren't enough, per CEO Fred DeLuca. The company has more stores worldwide than McDonald's. Next idea: mashed chickpeas, aka hummus. Said CMO Tony Pace, in an understatement, "It may warrant additional testing or expanded testing, and then we'll see how it goes from there."

Sears Chairman and CEO Eddie Lampert told shareholders Tuesday the struggling retailer can rise, phoenix-like, from the near-ashes as other companies that have had to radically transform their business models have done. In Sears' case, that means closing stores. "Sometimes you need to go backwards to go forwards," he said. Sears has had 28 straight quarters of declining sales and closed 305 stores since 2010.

Fiat Chrysler Automobiles has grown faster than its rivals in North America and plans to expand sales by more than 48% during the next five years as its key brands continue to reach more consumers in U.S., Canada and Mexico. FCA is betting that the NAFTA region will experience consistent growth over the next five years, reaching 18.7 million units in 2018.

Itau is the most-desired client among CEOs at ad agencies in the bank's home country of Brazil. That's way ahead of Coca-Cola, which was number 10. Interbrand has ranked Itau as Brazil's most-valuable brand 10 years in a row. Fernando Chacon has been the bank's CMO since 2009. He believes a relevant brand is socially transformative: the bank invests in education, culture, sports and urban mobility.

ESPN plans more than 290 hours of original programming, fan and consumer touchpoints across all Disney-ESPN-ABC outlets, and a multi-platform marketing push. ESPN president John Skipper calls it"the most comprehensive coverage of a soccer event in the history of broadcasting." But in this Q&A, Seth Ader, senior director of sports marketing for ESPN, reveals how the sports giant was not always on the ball about soccer advertising.

Beats Music says that 100 days after launching its streaming music trial on AT&T in the US, the rate of conversion to paid beat its projections by over 40%, and that one-third of all its subscriptions have come through the mobile carrier. The company says since more than half its listeners are using the service through an iPhone or iPad, it added the ability to pay with Apple ID.