Advertiser's ad sales off 11.5% in '01, exec says

Gannett Co., parent of the Honolulu Advertiser, said in a media forum that the end of its joint operating agreement with the Honolulu Star-Bulletin was a major reason it expected advertising revenue in Honolulu to fall 11.5 percent for 2001.

The McLean, Va.-based company is scheduled to report its fourth-quarter earnings before the market opens on Feb. 7 but doesn't typically break out its numbers by individual newspaper.

However, Newspaper Division President Gary Watson told the Credit Suisse First Boston Media Conference last month that he was expecting retail ad sales in Honolulu to sink 11.7 percent and classified ad revenues to tumble 21.2 percent. The declines, he noted in a chart, would be worse than any of the company's five mainland regions.

"In Honolulu, keep in mind the JOA was dissolved in March and we're now in a competitive situation," Watson said. "Couple this with the very sorry state of the Hawaiian economy and these results could be a lot worse."

Gannett, which publishes 97 daily newspapers, including USA Today, last quarter saw its net income for all its holdings fall 16 percent to $174.8 million from year-ago levels while sales fell 2.6 percent to $1.52 billion.

AHP changing name to reflect evolution

MADISON, N.J. >> American Home Products is changing its name to Wyeth to better match its current focus, highlight its key division and try to build the kind of name recognition enjoyed by competitors Merck and Johnson & Johnson.

In recent years, AHP has evolved from a diversified maker of canned foods, snacks such as Jiffy Pop popcorn, household products, pesticides, medical devices and drugs to a leading pharmaceutical company.

Starting in March, the 47,000-worker company will be known simply as Wyeth, for its biggest division, Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories. The symbol under which its shares trade on the New York Stock Exchange also will switch, from AHP to WYE.

Kmart seeks to pay CEO $17.5 million in bonuses

Chicago >> Kmart Corp., the second-biggest U.S. discount retailer, asked a bankruptcy judge to approve $24 million in bonuses for 45 top executives, plus bonuses of as much as $17.5 million for its chief executive officer.

Kmart Chief Executive Officer Chuck Conaway will be paid at least $1.5 million a year in salary under a new employment agreement, court papers show. He'll also be eligible for annual bonuses of $1.87 million, or 125 percent of his yearly pay, plus a $2.25 million payment if he stays through the retailer's Chapter 11 case. Kmart has said it plans to come out of bankruptcy in 2003.

Conaway reached the agreement with the company's board of directors Monday, the day before Kmart filed the largest-ever Chapter 11 retail bankruptcy.

The agreement also calls for Kmart to forgive a $5 million loan to Conaway if he stays until July 31, 2003, or if he is fired without cause, court papers show. Conaway also would get a $6.5 million "retention payment" if he's still with the company by then.

Edward Jones buys name for St. Louis dome

St. Louis >> Brokerage firm Edward Jones said it would pay $2.65 million a year in a 12-year deal to put its name on the home of pro football's St. Louis Rams, a complex formerly known as the Trans World Dome.

The contract for the Edward Jones Dome also includes an option to renew the rights for 11 more years, at a cost of $3.20 million a year.

The $280 million St. Louis complex, finished in 1995, was known as the Trans World Dome until last year, when airline TWA declared bankruptcy and was purchased by AMR Corp., the parent company of American Airlines.

The company had been called "Dome at America's Center" before the new contract.