THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, November 6, 1996 TAG: 9611060358
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D3 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: 47 lines
J.C. Penney Co.'s $3.3 billion purchase of the Eckerd Corp. drugstore chain is good for the retailer, which has run out of room to expand its department-store business, analysts said. J.C. Penney's acquisition of 1,700-store Eckerd would make it the second-largest drugstore company in the country after Rite-Aid Corp., adding to its 1,100 Thrift and Treasury Drug Center stores. With the purchase, the nation's fifth-biggest retailer would derive 40 percent of revenue from drugstores. The move represents a change in strategy for Plano, Texas-based J.C. Penney, which historically focused on expanding by selling more clothes and adding a few big stores each year. (Bloomberg) Tobacco company memo says tobacco is a drug
A tobacco company scientist in 1969 cautioned against calling tobacco a drug because of ``dangerous FDA implications,'' according to a confidential letter filed Tuesday in a Minnesota lawsuit. ``These documents will prove to be a turning point in the history of this deadly industry,'' said Minnesota Attorney General Hubert Humphrey III. ``They show that tobacco officials were readily admitting in private that they operate a drug company marketing addictive drugs.'' The memo comes as tobacco companies and states are fighting a move to give regulatory power over the industry to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The cautionary two-page internal Philip Morris letter was written to Dr. H. Wakeham, a top researcher, from W.L. Dunn Jr., a scientist. (AP) Nationwide sales practices probed
State regulators are investigating Nationwide Insurance Cos. amid allegations that agents took out policies for people without their knowledge or created policies for fictitious people. The state Insurance Department is examining whether the bogus policies were motivated by company sales quotas. The agents paid the premiums themselves, so consumers were not hurt financially. The company requires its agents, who are independent contractors, to meet four of five sales quotas. Failure to do so can mean large cuts in their commissions and possible dismissal. One of Nationwide's quotas is that an agent should sell new life insurance that represents at least $1,200 in commissions in a year. Nationwide officials said they do not believe the quotas have prompted any wrongdoing. Six agents have left the company in the past year after questions over their policies surfaced. (AP) by CNB