THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, January 24, 1997 TAG: 9701240683
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: D1 EDITION: FINAL
LENGTH: 46 lines
Liquidation sales begin at Proffitt's area stores
Liquidation sales will begin today at Proffitt's six department stores in Hampton Roads. Gordon Brothers Partners Inc., a Boston-based liquidator, is handling the clearance sales. About $35 million in merchandise needs to be sold by March 31, when Proffitt's moves out and Dillard Department Stores moves in. On Thursday, Proffitt's donated about $50,000 in clothes and housewares from the stores to Virginia charities. (Staff)
PepsiCo will spin off restaurant business
PepsiCo Inc. said Thursday it plans to spin off its sluggish restaurant business, which includes the KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell fast-food chains, into a separate company. The company said it would give shares in the new fast-food concern to PepsiCo shareholders and focus on its faster growing Pepsi soft drink and Frito-Lay snacks operations. The new company would rank just behind McDonald's Corp. among the nation's fast-food chains, with more than $20 billion in combined sales, and would be the biggest in terms of units, with about 29,000 restaurants. (AP)
Sega buys Bandai Co. for $1.09 billion
Sega, well-known for its Genesis video game players, is planning a new beginning with the $1.09 billion purchase of Bandai Co., the company behind the Power Rangers. The deal, announced Thursday, will combine Sega Enterprises Ltd. with Bandai to form Sega Bandai Ltd. Sega, Japan's largest maker of video game machines, says the merger will help it find more ways to grow. Bandai, which is best known for the Power Rangers boom of the early 1990s, will be able to pursue more opportunities in multimedia, like computer game software and movie distribution. (Associated Press)
Cisneros to join Univision network
Former Housing and Urban Development Secretary Henry Cisneros will re-enter the private sector as president of Univision, the Spanish-language television network. Univision Communications Inc. said today that Cisneros, who will also assume the title of chief operating officer, would begin work next month at its headquarters in Los Angeles. A. Jerrold Perenchio will continue as chairman and chief executive. Cisneros noted ``a huge gap still exists between the dollars that U.S. advertisers spend with Univision and the audience that the Univision network and stations deliver.'' He said he will work to close that gap. (AP)