Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, January 5, 1995                   TAG: 9501050048
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: B-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

IN BUSINESS

NEW YORK - In an effort to make its industry-leading food operations more competitive, Philip Morris Cos. is consolidating its Kraft and General Foods businesses beneath the Kraft Foods banner in the United States and Canada.

The restructuring announced Wednesday eliminates a layer of management and should facilitate decision-making involving a kitchen full of brands, including Maxwell House coffee, Oscar Mayer meats and Jell-O desserts.

Wall Street applauded the announcement. Philip Morris was up $1.121/2 a share at $58.75 in late trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

Philip Morris acquired General Foods in 1985 and bought Kraft in 1988, and put them under the same divisional structure in 1989. But, while combining some operations, they have continued to run independently in many respects.

Under the new structure, the Kraft USA and General Foods USA units will be dissolved and replaced by a single North American organization called Kraft Foods.

- Associated Press

Danville paper draws bid interest

An official with Media General, publisher of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, said the company is interested in examining financial statements of the Danville Register & Bee.

``Depending on the market and demographics, we certainly always have an interest,'' said Bob Pendergast, Media General vice president.

Last week, Winchester Star Publisher Tom Byrd said Byrd Newspapers had expressed interest in the Register & Bee. Bob Carr of Tribune Co. in Chicago also didn't rule out the possibility of bidding on it.

The trustee, American National Bank & Trust Co. in Danville, agreed in August to sell a majority of the Register & Bee to an employee stock ownership plan and the rest to Charles A. Womack Jr. and his group of investors.

Womack, publisher of weekly newspapers in Virginia and North Carolina, had been expected to close on the deal Dec. 12. But Virginia Attorney General Jim Gilmore delayed the sale. His office questions whether American National was acting in the best interest of the beneficiaries of the estate of the late E. Stuart James Grant.

- Associated Press

Keywords:
FATALITY