Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, January 18, 1994 TAG: 9401180069
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B6 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
SALISBURY, N.C. - An ABC-TV news report citing unsanitary conditions at Food Lion stores ultimately cost the grocery chain losses almost equal to its profits for all of 1992, Chief Executive Tom Smith said.
Smith said he thinks the company was correct to fight the "PrimeTime Live" report, broadcast in November 1992, that alleged lapses including workers repackaging spoiled meat. Any other response would have sent the wrong signal to employees, he said.
"If they had thought that I thought they were performing in that manner, it would have been very demoralizing to them," Smith said. "One thing I always remember is our employees."
He insisted in an interview The News & Observer of Raleigh published Sunday that "PrimeTime" fabricated the story. The company filed a $30 million lawsuit against ABC that is pending.
Food Lion has said it would close 47 stores in Texas and Oklahoma and 41 unprofitable stores in other states at a cost of $171 million. The company earned $178 million for all of 1992. - Associated Press
\ Blockbuster ups its video-game stake
MIAMI - Blockbuster Entertainment Corp., awaiting a merger with Viacom Inc., said Monday it is expanding its alliance with the Virgin airline and entertainment empire run by British entrepreneur Richard Branson.
Blockbuster issued $30 million worth of new stock to buy a 20 percent stake in Virgin Interactive Entertainment PLC, which develops and publishes video games for the Nintendo and Sega game systems.
The sale offers both parents the potential for cross-marketing. Virgin also would benefit if the bid for Paramount Communications Inc. made by Blockbuster and cable TV network owner Viacom Inc. beats a competing offer from cable shopping company QVC Network Inc.
Blockbuster said earlier this month that it had agreed to be taken over by Viacom, which in turn is trying to buy Paramount. The overlapping Viacom merger and Virgin deal were coincidental, said VIE spokesman Simon Hill. - Associated Press
\ Briefly . . .
Fieldcrest Cannon Inc., an Eden, N.C.-based textile maker operating a towel mill in Henry County, said Monday it is reopening its former 206,000-square-foot carpet plant in Laurel Hill, N.C., as a Bed Fashions manufacturing facility. Employment is expected to approach 100 by the end of the year. Start-up is scheduled for April 1. Production will include comforters, pillow shams, dust ruffles, curtains and bed fashion.
\ The Treasury Department's weekly auction of three- and six-month bills was postponed Monday because of the Martin Luther King holiday. The government is scheduled to auction $25.2 billion in bills today.
Memo: shorter version ran in the Metro edition.