The Daily Herald from Chicago, Illinois • Page 233

DailyHerald www.dailyherald.com "Obituaries Pages 9,10 Saturday, December 11,1999 Success in Huntiey spurs Del Webb into cooler climates NYSE: 639.49 Nasdaq: 3620.24 AMEX: 827.86 Dow Jones industrial average 1417.04 BY CHARLES KEESHAN Daily Herald Staff Writer 10,400 10,200 10,000 i I -I; r. --l I I FBI HONTUEWED FBI MONTUE WEDTHU FBI MON TUE WED THU FRJ 19 22 23 24 26 29:30 1 2 36 7 8 9 10 Monsanto investors expect drug-unit split CHICAGO Monsanto's board met Friday in Chicago amid investor expectations it's discussing separating the company's fast-growing drug business from its agricultural unit. The Wall Street Journal reported the board wants to make an announcement on the company's strategy within the next few days or weeks. Monsanto, whose $8 billion investment in genetically engineered crops has yet to pay off for investors, has told shareholders it's considering selling or breaking up the company. GM buys share of Subaru maker TOKYO General Motors Corp.

agreed Friday to buy 20 percent of Japan's Fuji Heavy Industries the maker of Subaru vehicles, for $1.4 billion to accelerate GM's push into Asia. Wholesale prices up in November WASHINGTON Inflation at the wholesale level edged up 0.2 percent in November, pushed by the biggest jump in natural gas prices in two years. Outside of energy, prices were well- i behaved, economists said. The advance Friday in the Producer Price Index Mowed a 0.1 percent decline for October. So far this year, wholesale prices have been rising at an annual rate of 2.9 percent, compared with no change for all of 1998.

Iridium stock plunges on dire future news NEW LLC's stock dropped about 33 percent Friday following a warning from the company that it likely will be worthless after the bankrupt firm reorganizes. But the shares still are trading at around $455. They now trade on the pink sheets, under the symbol IRIDQ, so intra- day quotations can vary from source to source. The company said that the recent trading in Iridium World stock "does not reflect the reality of its financial situation." Buoyed by the early success of Sun City in Huntley, Del Webb Corp. is planning more incursions north of the Mason-Dixon line.

The Phoenix-based builder of communities for people 55 and up has targeted several northeastern and midwestern cities as potential locations of its developments, new Del Webb Chief Executive Officer LeRoy Hanneman said Friday. "The bulk of our new communities will flow into areas where we haven't been represented before," Hanneman said during a national press conference. "We've been given a great deal of courage by our success in Huntley," he added. "Sun City in a four-season climate is a bit of an anomaly, but we have been warmly received in Huntley." Sales figures back up that claim, said Dave Schreiner, general manager of Sun City Huntley. "We're off to a flying start," he said.

"I think we have exceeded our expectations from a company standpoint." However, the company will not rush into expansion, Hanneman said. Its next community is likely to be in the Tampa or Orlando area. After that, the company will look closely at the Mid-Atlantic states. The northern expansion is part of the company's effort to become a more nationally recognized brand name for retirement housing, Hanneman said. As part of that effort, Del Webb next month will launch a national ad campaign targeting the first wave of baby boomers approaching retirement age.

"There's an economic change coming in this market driven by demographics, and that is the boomers," Hanneman said. "For us, that represents continued expansion." Since July 1998, plans for Sun City Huntley have grown from 5,100 homes to more than 6,000. If demand remains high, further growth is likely, said Bob Eck, vice president for land development. "Certainly from a business standpoint it would make sense to grow the size of the community to capitalize on the investment we've made here," Eck said. Furby holds its own against foes Tiger's talking toy fends off challenge from Pokemon items Associated Press Furby, a toy sensation some had written off as yesterday's news, is proving to be a formidable critter competitor for the holidays.

While Pokemon may be the craze of the season, last year's top item is still a strong seller this year. "Furby's been one of the biggest surprises of the year," says Clifford Annicelli, managing editor of Playthings magazine. "Many people in the industry had predicted a rapid falloff in Furby sales after Christmas of 1998, but that didn't happen." Tiger Electronics, a Vernon Hills- based subsidiary of Hasbro says it sold 500,000 Furbies La the United States last week alone and projects more than 10 million for the year. That's up from 4 million last year when the dolls were sold only in the latter part of the year and were in short supply due to surprisingly high demand. U.S.

sales for all the various Poke- mon toys, not including video games, totaled $555 million for the first 10 months of this year, more than double Furby's $247 million, says Ed-Roth of The NPD Group, an industry researcher. The toy maker buttressed Furby Carolyn Shisler of Columbus, Ohio, listens to a Furby talk Friday at the FAO Schwarz toy store on Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Associated Press Photo sales this year by adding Furby Babies, a smaller, smarter version of the original animatronic toy. The critters that yak away in "Furbish" and eventually in English also have become polyglots, adding languages that make Furby the top- selling toy in France, Germany, Italy, Japan and Mexico, according to Tiger. It also spurred sales with a McDonald's promotion and a tie-in with Hi-C drinks.

"They've done a lot to get the product on the radar screen of kids," said toy industry consultant Chris "All that'is meaningless if the product stinks. But the product's fun." It's official: No Beanie Babies after Dec. 31 Associated Press The maker of Beanie Babies says Dec. 31 will be the last day the popular stuffed critters are made. A cryptic statement posted on the Web site of Oak Brook-based Ty Inc.

confirmed an announcement it made last summer. The company wouldn't elaborate Friday, but analysts and collectors speculated that Beanies are likely to be succeeded by a new line of products that may rekindle memories of the old. Gone for good or not, toy watchers say, the decision to retire the Beanies was a savvy marketing move when sales were slipping. "It's a great way to clean your inventory out, leave the retailers with a good taste in then- mouths and set the stage for something new," said Jim Silver, publisher of The Toy Book. Ty Inc.

spokeswoman Anne Nickels said she had no idea why the cuddly toys will be discontinued, adding that the decision was made by owner Ty Warner. "We're just as much in the dark here as everybody else." There's plenty of evidence to back up Internet rumors that the next generation of Beanie, or Beanie successor, already is imminent. Ty Inc. has several federal trademark applications pending, for names such as Babies, Bean Buddy and Bean Baby. One Beanie expert said the move has caused "unfounded worries" in the collectibles marketplace.

Mary Beth SobolewsM, editor-in- chief of Mary Beth's Bean Bag World magazine in Bannockburn, said she expects a successor that will be "slightly smaller and something more counterfeit-proof." Ty Inc. began making Beanie Babies in 1993, starting a craze that made the company hundreds of millions of dollars and pushed prices for some toys to $6,000. "It just became totally inflated in value," said Chris Byrne, a toy consultant. "They were wonderful plush toys for 2-year-olds, and they kind of got co-opted by parents who thought they were going to buy a mansion with the proceeds." Health-plan acquisition won't be felt immediately BY SCOTT SILVESTRI Daily Herald Business Writer Chicago-area members of Rush- Prudential Health Plans likely will see little in the way of immediate change next year when the managed-care firm is purchased by a large California company. But it's unclear what the $200 million deal will mean in longer range changes in offerings or premium costs, officials said.

Thousand Oaks, WellPoint Health Networks Inc. is acquiring the Chicago-based plan, which is co-owned by Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center and Prudential Insurance Co. of America. "We at Rush-Prudential are very excited to be joining forces with WeUPomt," Barbara B.

Hill, president and chief executive officer, said hi a Friday interview. "They are a very well-respected firm, and their main focus on customer service is a philosophical match with Rush-Prudential." The Chicago company is the fifth-largest health care plan in Illinois with more than 400,000 members, a spokesman said. WellPoint, known outside of California and in Illinois as Unicare Life Health Insurance is the nation's fifth-largest health care plan provider in terms of members. Unicare already has 283,000 members in Illinois and a total of 7.2 million throughout the country most of whom are in California. The combined membership will put the new company among the three largest plans in the state.

Analysts said WellPoint has a good record of customer service. The company this year was named "the most admired" health-care company by Fortune magazine. "It does a lot of good for Rush- Prudential to be purchased by a firm that knows managed care," said Dave Fortosis, a benefits consultant at Hewitt Associates of See HEALTH on Page 2 BRIEFS Moore makes initial contract goal LAKE North America said Friday that, one year into a five-year pact with Premier Purchasing Partners L.P., it has signed more than 220 letters of participation with members of the hospital and health-care alliance. The figure means the company has reached its initial contract goal, Moore North America said. The pact offers Premier members comprehensive document management services, including custom-printed forms.

Moore North America is based in Lake Forest. Abbott appoints IT executive LBERTYVTLLE Laboratories said Friday its board of directors has elected Karen L. Miller vice president, information technology, as of Feb. 1. Miller succeeds Kenneth Farmer, vice president, management information services and administration, who will retire at the end of March.

Miller, 45, joined Abbott in 1978. She is divisional vice president, information systems, diagnostics division, for Libertyville Township- based Abbott, a health-care products company. Grainger debuts recycling plan METTAWA W.W. Grainger Grainger Industrial Supply said Friday it has launched a new national recycling program for hazardous mercury-bearing fluorescent and high-intensity- discharge lamps and batteries. The program will make recycling easier for customers, the unit said.

Grainger Industrial Supply distributes commercial lighting. W.W. Grainger based in Mettawa, sells maintenance, repair and operating supplies. mstriM BY ELISABETH CARREL Daily Herald Staff Writer Work has begun on a new square-foot Cub Foods store at Round Lake Commons Shopping Center in Round Lake Beach. Apex Investment Associates Inc.

owns the center. The supermarket is part of an upgrade that began earlier this year at the shopping center, at Route 83 and Rollins Road. Among the changes at Round Lake Commons are a new Blockbuster Video in a freestanding building, and an enlarged, renovated Joann Fabrics store that opened last month. The center also will be updated with new lighting, landscaping and reconfigured parking. Round Lake Commons was one of the first shopping centers in western Lake County.

Its original stores included an grocery store, Wai- greens, a Zayre discount store and a Mobil gas station. Purchase in Northbrook Boulevard 40 in Northbrook is one of four properties in a suburban Chicago office portfolio sold by Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, a national pension system. LaSalle Investment Management of Chicago was the buyer. The transaction was worth more than $55 million, according to Cushman Wakefield. Apex Investment Associates Inc.

began construction last month on a new Cub Foods store at Round Lake Commons Shopping Center in Round Lake Beach. Daily Herald piem The properties total more than 632,000 square feet. Besides Boulevard 40, at 40 Skokie they include Crossroads Center in Rolling Meadows. Woodfield Executive Plaza in Schaumburg and Howard O'Hare Business Court in Des Plaines. Boulevard 40 sits at the intersec- tion of Lake-Cook Road and Skokie Boulevard.

Its 105,924 square feet house Shell Development Corp. and Utilimed in its six stories. Chicago's North and Northwest suburban and O'Hare submarkets are expected to outpace projected national employment growth in the next three years, said Paul Lundstedt of Cushman Wakefield. Besides Lundstedt, Brian Nagle and John Gaviirof Cushman Wakefield represented TIAA in the deal. LaSalle Investment acted on its own behalf..