We thought it was a cute move by Lululemon when we spotted this "We're Hiring" image posted on its Facebook page. After all, the cult-like brand takes a lot of inspiration from its yogi "guests" so it's not a stretch for them to casually (and jokingly) crowdsource a new CEO. But, as it turns out, the brand is quite serious. It's hiring, and if you think you've got the chops, it wants you to apply.Continue reading...

Lululemon CEO Christine Day, at the helm since 2008, is stepping down, sending the beleaguered brand’s stock into a 14 percent plunge while the retailer continues to recover from a costly manufacturing hiccup that resulted in the recall of its top-selling yoga pants. 

"This was a personal decision of mine," Day told the Wall Street Journal. "It's never a perfect time to leave a company you love." She also plans to step down from the board, citing exhaustion from the long work days and not wanting to begin a demanding travel schedule as the brand expands internationally. "We’ll probably hear talk that she was asked to step aside given the big black eye of the see-through pants incident, but she’s not leaving today,” retail analyst Brian Sozzi, CEO of Belus Capital Advisors told Forbes. “There wasn’t a lot of animosity.”Continue reading...

Lululemon CEO steps down.

Mondelez to launch coffee pods for rival Nespresso machine. 

Google cuts illegal drug site search ads and videos.

Adidas sued by church over Adizero trademark. 

American Airlines unveils post-merger top management team.

Apple allows iTunes Radio users to pay to avoid ads.

Boeing sees no jet bubble.

CBC apologizes for botched national radio rebranding. 

Citibank could face $7 billion loss on currency swings, analyst says.

Comcast beefs up in-home Wi-Fi.

Dole Food gets buyout offer from CEO.Continue reading...

Nearly three months after Lululemon suffered a crushing quality control issue effecting its popular black Luon yoga pants, in turn causing a social media firestorm over the brand's handling of the recall, new and improved (read: not sheer) pants are making their way onto store shelves. 

The company plans to restock stores through June with its Astro and Groove yoga pants, while its Wunder Unders appeared for sale on the website this week. 

Back in March, the cult-like Canadian retailer pulled 17 percent of its yoga pants made of Luon, a proprietary Lycra-based fabric, as customer complaints rolled in claiming the pants were sheer—like completely see through, embarrassing sheer. That was quite a problem for a company that touts the benefits of yoga and its many body-bending positions. In an ill-advised move, the brand only posted one, vague blog post about the issue and recall, failing to identify the styles effected or provide any specific information for concerned customers.Continue reading...

Zynga cuts staff to pre-IPO level.

Lululemon brings back yoga pants.

Monsanto plans to quit lobbying on GMO issues in Europe.

Apple is accused by prosecutors of helping drive up e-book prices.

Birchbox rebrands its beauty and lifestyle subscription service. 

Cadillac posts biggest sales surge since 1976.

Chipotle expands ShopHouse Asian concept.

Dunkin' Donuts to roll out glazed-doughnut sandwich nationwide.

eBay forms partnership with India's Snapdeal.

FedEx parks jets sooner to cut costs as economy slows.Continue reading...

YouTube close to launching paid subscription channels, reports say. 

Amazon launches first Android app-store in China, ahead of Google. 

Pfizer lets bashful buyers get Viagra online.

Al Jazeera America plans to open Detroit bureau.

Asustek plans to make small Windows 8 tablets.

Audi considers doubling production at Mexico factory under construction.

Berkshire Hathaway provides peek at era after Buffett.

BuzzFeed takes steps to expand foreign news.Continue reading...

After the March announcement of a potential shortage in its supply of black Luon pants due to a failure to meet technical specifications—a.k.a., the sheerness issue—the eccentric Vancouver-based lifestyle brand and highly successful global retailer is still repenting.

In a report published Friday, Wedbush analyst Betty Chen downgraded the rating on Lululemon from Outperform to Neutral. Following a survery of 300 Lulu customers, the analyst found that management has not properly addressed the consumer perception of "quality erosion," that the brand may be losing ground to other yoga apparel companies and that only 10 percent of respondents plan to restock once the Luon pants are back in stores. 

We could have called that one. After complaints started to flood in that customers were unknowingly baring their derrieres, Lululemon pulled the designs in question from store shelves and pointed a finger at production managers in overseas factories. Brand loyalists flooded social media pages with complaints and questions, but the brand maintained an oddly cool demeanor, simply directing infuriated customers to the brand's Guest Education Center.

The nightmare didn't end their though, as reports flooded in about store clerks demanding customers to try on the pants and "bend over" before granting refunds and exchanges. Indeed, the trajectory of events since March takes a page from the brand playbook of what not to do after a major product incident.Continue reading...

Above, all of the name brand paper joss items available for this week's Qing Ming Jie or Tomb Sweeping Day when Chinese burn items to send to ancestors in the afterlife. Qing Ming is now big business.

China is the second largest economy in the world and every significant brand's future is impacted by its growth (or collapse)—but who's got the time?! Here's the week's reads that will make you look like a keen China observer in case you find yourself immersed in a cultural conversation.

This week: Apple still in trouble... China's anti-"fixie" rhetoric... infant formula saga... Celebrity China clout... PETA... counterfeit beer... Porsche... Startup Asia 2013... fly home to vote... "Baidu Glass"... W Hotels... McDonald's... Iron Man 3 to World War Z... cheap Bollinger... iPhone joss... "vulgar" Birkin brand... and more.Continue reading...