Reported by Star-Bulletin staff & wire
Wednesday, October 21, 1998
Rubbermaid being sold in $5.8 billion deal
WOOSTER, Ohio -- Rubbermaid Inc., which makes plastic storage containers, Little Tikes toys and Graco strollers, is being acquired for $5.8 billion in stock by the housewares concern Newell Co.The deal announced today would significantly expand Freeport, Ill.-based Newell's product line which includes Levelor window blinds, Calphalon cookware, Ace combs and Rolodex address organizers. The companies' boards met yesterday to approve the deal, which would create a company to be known as Newell Rubbermaid.
Wooster-based Rubbermaid stock surged on news of the deal while Newell shares tumbled. In trading on the New York Stock Exchange, Rubbermaid shares gained $6.121/2 to $32 while Newell shares fell $5.81 to $43.25.
United's parent sees small gain despite Asia
CHICAGO -- UAL Corp., the world's No. 1 airline company, said third-quarter profit rose an unexpectedly small 3.4 percent as weak Asian sales offset robust U.S. summer travel demand and a strike at rival Northwest Airlines Corp.The parent of United Airlines said profit from operations rose to $516 million, or $4.02 a fully distributed share before preferred stock transactions, from $499 million, or $3.75, a year earlier. United was expected to earn $4.07 a share, the average estimate of analysts surveyed by First Call Corp. Revenue rose 3 percent to $4.78 billion from $4.64 billion.
The United States remained the airline's strongest region, while low travel demand in the Asia Pacific hurt the company's financial performance. Carriers make most of their profit in the summer. Because of the soft Asian economies, United recently cut back its Hawaii-Japan service.
AMR Corp. to buy back 8.6 million of its shares
FORT WORTH, Texas -- AMR Corp. said today it will repurchase up to about 8.6 million shares, or $500 million in its common stock. The buyback represents about 5 percent of the company's 174 million diluted shares outstanding as of Sept. 30.Fort Worth, Texas-based AMR, the holding company for American Airlines, had 1997 revenues of $18.57 billion.
New Goldman partners include pundit Cohen
NEW YORK -- Goldman Sachs & Co. has rewarded 57 employees, including influential Wall Street pundit Abby Joseph Cohen, with personal stakes in the elite investment banking partnership.The new partners owe their good fortune in part to the turmoil in global financial markets, which forced Goldman Sachs to cancel a plan to dissolve its 130-year-old private partnership and go public.
In making the promotions yesterday, Goldman Sachs is moving to protect its key talent from defecting to other Wall Street firms while it ponders going public. The firm put those plans on hold last month as investors became nervous about the turmoil in stock markets and as financial companies began to sink. Goldman Sachs has 189 partners who are guaranteed a portion of the firm's profits.
Cohen, the firm's chief market strategist, is the most notable among the appointees. Because of her stature, Cohen's elevation from managing director had been widely expected. She is among three women promoted -- bringing the number of women partners at the firm to 14.
In other news . . .
WASHINGTON -- Construction of new homes and apartments slipped in September for the second consecutive month as the brisk pace of building cooled along with the rest of the U.S. economy. Builders started work on new housing units at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.58 million last month, down 2.5 percent from August, the Commerce Department said today.
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