Mr. Aquila was recently featured in two video interviews for The Deal.com. In a July 5 interview, he discussed consolidation among retailers, pointing to deals such as Nordstrom's acquisition of the e-commerce site Hautelook as a “template” for future transactions. “More and more companies are going to be looking towards the electronic channels,” Mr. Aquila said.

In a July 1 interview, he forecasted further consolidation in the beverage sector. Mr. Aquila noted that the trend is being driven by consumers' moving from carbonated beverages to juice, tea and water. As a result, he said, “the ability of beverage companies to grow is quite constrained.” Mr. Aquila added that he expected large beverage companies would target for acquisition smaller, regional companies, particularly those that are in the organic and juice businesses.