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Chicago Tribune from Chicago, Illinois • 43

Publication:
Chicago Tribunei
Location:
Chicago, Illinois
Issue Date:
Page:
43
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

Business Section 3 (Chicago (Tribune Thursday, March 5, 1992 The February Thursday Ticker CBS captures gold in sweeps Fox's ratings spin propels it to first for Thursday Wr.h one day iett in the measuring period, CBS has prevailed wttrta rating of 16.7 and audience share of 26. 921 ,000 households, and sets In use. The, Winter Olympics increased the margin of C8S' victory. By Kenneth R. Clark Media writer NEW YORK Fox Broadcasting Co.

had to invent a new demographic category viewers between ages 2 and 49 to do it, but the grouping gave the 5-year-old upstart TV network its first chance to claim a victory in the February sweeps, even if only for Thursday nights. With one day remaining in the February A.C. Nielsen rating period, upon which advertising prices for affiliates are based, CBS was the overwhelming winner, posting a rating of 16.7 and an audience share of 26. NBC was second, at 1321, and ABC was third, at 12.120. CBS also placed first last year for February.

Fox, which programs only four nights in prime time, was last with an 8.7 rating and 14 share, but in its new 2-49 age category, the network was able to claim a February victory on Thursday nights for "The Simpsons" over NBC's "The Cosby Show," as well as CBS' Olympics coverage and "Top Cops." A Nielsen point represents 921,000 households, and a share is the percentage of sets in use. Advertisers regard men and women ages 18-49 and 25-54 as key demographic groups, and in those categories, CBS was the overwhelming winner. Locally, in the key 10 p.m. news race, network Olympics coverage gave CBS affiliate WBBM-Ch. 2 a substantial boost over a similar period last year.

In the Nielsen contest, with one night to go, WBBM (15.824) 'finished second, behind WMAQ-Ch. 5 (16.325) and ahead of WLS-Ch. 7 (15.223). In the final ratings from competing Arbitron, WLS (14.524) edged WMAQ See Sweeps, pg. 5 By creating a 2-49 age groups Audience CBS 16.7 26 nsc tao 21 ABC 12.1 20 FOX 6.7 14 Source; A.C.

WMttn Co. fox was able to contend mat The Simpsons heat the other networks' Thursday evening shows. Nikkei edges lower: The Nikkei Stock Average of 225 selected issues closed Thursday at 20,864.42, down 241.00 points, or 1.14 percent, on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Meanwhile, the dollar closed at 132.00 yen on the Tokyo foreign exchange market, up 0.S0 yen from Wednesday's close. Cutback; Comdisco the Rosemont-based leaser of computer equipment, said it will reduce its staff by about 10 percent, and take a charge against earnings of $48 million, or $1.18 a share, during the second quarter.

On a pretax basis, the charge amounts to $80 million, the company said, with $35 million for the staff cutbacks, $25 million for its receivables reserve, and $20 million for a reserve for litigation. Downgrades: International Business Machines Corp. lost its coveted triple A bond status when Moody's Investors Service Inc. downgraded its credit rating, representing a psychological blow to the world's biggest computer maker. Moody's cut IBM two notches to Aa-2, warning of a deterioration in the computer giant's competitive position.

The move affected $18 billion of senior debt Moody's also downgraded the long-term debt ratings of Upjohn the Kalamazoo, drugmaker, to double-A3 from double-A2. About $520 million of long-term debt is affected. Trimming expenses: Delta Air Lines Chairman Ronald W. Allen said the megacar- Chicago Tribune Computer glitch delay causes new in Globex launch ner is trying to cut costs to manage its way out of the recession, which has killed three big carriers and left the others with enormous losses. He acknowledged the possibility that Atlanta-based Delta could slow its delivery of new aircraft, mimicking similar moves by rivals American and United.

Delta probably won't Allen By William B. Crawford Jr. Globex, the seemingly ill-starred electronic trading system under development by Chicago's futures exchanges and a British firm, has failed a critical field test, causing yet another delay in the system's launch, exchange officials said Wednesday. Moreover, the failure of the Globex test Tuesday prompted leaders of the Chicago Board of Trade and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange to posptone a vote on a master agreement governing the three-way partnership. It also caused the stock of Reuters PLC, the London-based information conglomerate that is building the system, to spike downward Tuesday.

It closed $3.50 lower on the Nasdaq over-the-counter system, at $61.50. The failure came only minutes after Reuters technicians sitting behind 250 Globex key stations in New York, Chicago, Paris and London began testing the state of-the art system, which is driven by a Digital Equipment Co. 9420 computer at Reuters' U.S. headquarters on Long Island in New York. The computer is capable of handling 30 million instructions a second.

Had Globex passed muster, one Merc official confided, the three-way partnership was planning to announce an April launch for the system, which has been delayed repeatedly the last two years. A similar test in January, in which the Digital computer was subjected to 30,000 mock trades between Europe and the U.S., was successful. Globex hopes to bring additional revenues to the coffers of Chicago's futures exchanges by offering market users worldwide the opportunity to trade the CBOTs U.S. Treasury bond contract and the Merc's popular currency and Eurodollar contracts during hours when the Chicago markets are closed. For each See Globex, pg.

4 Agence Franca-Praasa photo A stock quiz Stock Exchange. More than 40 Croatians recently finished training to become stock traders and brokers. Perhaps trading wasn't as hectic as at the established exchanges, but this was merely a test session Wednesday of the Zagreo make any changes for about two months, Allen said, adding, "We're looking at Fare refusal: Carl C. Icahn, Trans World Airlines chairman and chief executive officer, said he won't go along with an airline trend to raise domestic excursion fares by 2 percent The increase was initiated last month by United and matched by American, Delta and most of the other major airlines. "This fare increase can cost the American flying public up to $150 million a year, which they can ill afford in these recessionary times," Icahn said.

FMng: Clark Oil Refining St Louis, filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an initial public offering of 7 million common shares to be offered at an estimated price of $14 to $16 a share. Calls for cash: Treasury Secretary Nicholas Brady warned Congress that if the U.S. doesn't come through on its commitments to the International Monetary Fund, the agency could face a squeeze by the end of the year. So far, Congress has been reluctant to provide the $12 billion requested. Ozone bid rejected: A federal appeals court rejected a bid by environmentalists to force Du Pont Co.

shareholders to vote on speeding the company's planned phaseout of chemicals that deplete the Earth's protective ozone layer. Writing for a unanimous three-judge court, Circuit Judge Ruth B. Ginsburg ruled that the proposal by Friends of the Earth and one stockholder was so close to the company's revised plan that it did not raise a "significant policy question." Matsushita to build new plant in Franklin Park By Ronald E. Yates Japan's Matsushita Electric Industrial Co. announced plans Wednesday to build in west suburban Franklin Park what it is calling the world's largest microwave oven factory.

The $25 million plant, which is part of a new $50 million, 30-acre industrial campus complete with a lake and landscaped grounds, will add 800 new tobs to the current 1,200 at Matsushita in Franklin Park, said Franklin Park Mayor Jack B. Japan for its manufacturing has had a large manu-acturing presence in the United States since 1974, when it purchased the Quasar division of Motorola Corp. It made headlines two years ago, when it spent almost $7 billion to purchase the American motion picture company MCA Inc. According to Williams, Matsushita will be the anchor of a new industrial district in south Franklin Park, where he said the city is about to sign up four well-known U.S. manufacturers.

Williams. "We are very happy about this decision," said Williams, who added that he and other city officials had been meeting with Matsushita executives for the last two years in an effort to persuade the world's largest consumer electronics manufacturer to build the new facility in Franklin Park. The city of 19,000 beat out Dallas, northwest suburban Elgin and a location in Canada. "With all the Japan bashing going around today, we are happy to say that we have a very good relationship with Matsushita," said Williams, "and Matsushita has been a real positive force in our community." Williams added that contrary to what critics of Japan may think, many of the products Matsushita makes under the brand names of Panasonic, National, Quasar and Technics are shipped back to Japan. "They shipped 20,000 microwaves back to Japan last year," Williams said.

"How can you be critical of that?" The new factory will be built next to another, 13-year-old Matsushita microwave oven plant in the 9400 block of Grand Avenue, Williams said. It will produce 1 .5 million microwave ovens each year about 300,000 more than the old facility, which will be dismantled. Construction is scheduled to begin in April, and the plant should be open by 1993, Williams said. Matsushita, which is known in How a computer virus can spread JkiM.m bloloaieal virua dlaniDta Hvina ceils to cmm i For Sullivan, retiring doesn't shrink income Deadline approaches for thwarting PC virus ccmmiffir iiffffliW IT i lunar wommgs or computers ana aisrupis normal opermiorta ot vm iMpie virus attaches itself and travels anywhere that the hest program or piece of cmm Travels wniwwr area networks or joards. L2J AVH-US a By Mike Doming Former First Chicago Corp.

Chairman Barry F. Sullivan is being paid as much after leaving the bank as he received when he ruled from its executive suite. Sullivan, who took early retirement last year, will receive $780,000 a year for unspecified services as a consultant, according to the annual proxy statement released Wednesday by Chicago's largest bank. The three-year consulting contract gives Sullivan, 61, the same annual salary he earned in his final year at the $49 billion institution. Moreover, the bank which recently laid off 1 ,000 employees is sweetening Sullivan's pension by $136,000 per year on top of the normal executive retirement package.

The generosity of Sullivan's retirement package is a sign the banker was prooably encouraged to leave by First Chicago's board, said one compensation expert. The proxy statement also disclosed that bank director James S. Crown has interests in $46.1 million in troubled First Chicago loans. The loans are for the Gateway II and III office buildings west of the Loop, loans that first became delinquent a month before Crown was elected to the board in April of last year. Citicorp, the big New York bank, foreclosed on Gateway IV in September when that sister building was late on payments.

First Chicago has not repossessed any of the Gateway buildings. Sullivan completed his tenure as chairman Dec. 31, as First Chicago posted a $15 million quarterly loss. Bank directors had become dissatisfied with Sullivan's focus on corporate banking, and a federal judge had called tor an investigation into a bank-organized basketball betting pool for executives. Sullivan is generally credited with a number of prescient moves during his 0lh years as chairman, including an early recognition of the profit potential in credit cards.

But the bank See Sullivan, pg. 5 writes a program that embeds itself in a host am, The virus is set Off by either a time limit or out they have a Macintosh computer and aren't affected at all." The virus sits dormant inside IBM-compatible personal computers awaiting the PC's internal clock to reach March 6, Michelangelo's birthday. Once the PC is turned on that day, the virus can destroy programs and data. Viruses are rogue pieces of computer software devised by pranksters. They can enter a PC through software contained on a diskette or transmitted to the computer over the phone from a computer bulletin board or other source.

A survey of 300 major businesses taken by Dataquest Inc. found the infection rate for all computer viruses rose from 5.5 percent at the end of 1991 to 18.2 percent at the end of January. Some companies and organizations that are extremely cautious about what software is used in their PCs believe they will be spared a Michelangelo attack. But others believe they will be victims despite safeguards. "We're trying to gear up for the worst so we can deal with it if it happens," Guntow said Already, numerous companies, schools and governments have reported discovery of the virus on some of their computers.

Among them are the State of Nevada, the U.S. Agriculture Department and the San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News newspaper. Estimates of how many of the 50 million PCs in North America are From Chicago Titbuna wires As the clock winds down toward a midnight Thursday deadline for thwarting a computer virus called Michelangelo, FBI chief William Sessions warned that if it damages data subject to federal laws, the perpetrator will face prosecution. On Wednesday he described "a number of federal statutes which can apply if computerized data is intentionally altered, stolen or destroyed on networks in financial institutions or in government computers." Companies, government agencies and schools were taking precautions, but experts said not every computer can be examined in time, and the invader will do damage. "We can't go out and inspect every PC on every desk," said Andy Myers, a spokesman for American Telephone Telegraph which has a quarter of a million PCs.

A small program that hides in ordinary software, the Michelangelo virus will overwrite with gibberish the permanent hard-disk memory of an infected computer that is switched on Friday, the 517th anniversary of the Italian Renaissance artist's birth. Others believe the media attention in recent days has blown the problem out of proportion. "There's definitely hysteria," said Marianne Guntow, a computer analyst at the University of Chicago. "Wf get people that call up and are absolutely panicked, and after talking to them for a while we find some sat of circumstances possibly a simple jttonabytheuser. fptfed, whether It is to print day" or eraJIIIII Souroa: ThurtftSCan Inc.

Knlght-Rldder Tribune STEPHEN CVENGROS into a frenzy and they are storming the gates." Anti-viral software is available via modem from such on-line services as Compuserve. Some experts also suggest that as a stopgap, users can, before Friday, reset their computer's internal clock to a later date, say March 7, and then reset it afterward when the risk has passed for this year. They should then follow up with an anti-viral program. infected range widely, from a few thousand to millions. A number of companies that make anti-viral software have heavily promoted their products in recent weeks.

The campaign has been successful. "We are utterly, completely, totally, 100 percent sold out," said Lee Rock, an employee of the Egghead Software store in downtown Boston. "The media whipped people up Inside Orders to U.S. factories rise for the third time in four months, signaling a slowly emerging recovery. Page 3.

The Dow Jones industrial average, after closing the previous session in record territory, falls 21 .69 to 3268.56. Page 6..

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