The Miami Herald from Miami, Florida • 556

NYSE10D AMEXNASDAQ11D 0TC0PTI0NS12D Thursday October 30 1986 The Miami Herald 7D Business tone Is CBS behind collapse of WTVJ sale? Stove Sonsky Television a 'f a 9 oldest television station drastically perhaps by hundreds of millions of dollars That fear was kindled when CBS recently approached Taft Broadcasting about buying WCIX here one of five independent stations Taft is trying to unload In what would be a brilliant move CBS could buy WCIX at the relative bargain basement price of an independent say $100 to $125 million break its affiliate relationship with WTVJ make Channel 6 the CBS affiliate in South Florida and come Please turn to SONSKY 8D Lorimar backed out of only last week That deal's collapse was largely attributed to difficulty in arranging financing for both WTVJ and the $14 billion more it needed to buy six former Storer stations also owned by Kohlberg Kravis and coveted by Lorimar So WTVJ especially in light of South soft economy became the odd man out But according to the new speculation Lorimar may also have backed out of the WTVJ deal because it feared that station was in danger of losing its CBS network affiliation something that would reduce the value of Rumor and scuttlebutt are running rampant about the future of WTVJ-Channel 4 and WCIX-Channel 6 the two Miami television stations whose owners have them on the block The keen interest is because the potential buyer whose name keeps cropping up is none other than CBS Yes that CBS The very CBS that in the Laurence Tisch era has been unloading properties such as its music and textbook publishing subsidiaries in recent days And yet some industry observers are speculating that it may have been interest in acquiring a new property specifically a South Florida Most arc strong top regulator says From Herald Staff and Wire Reports About one-fifth of the thrift industry is losing money but most of the savings and loan institutions are profitable the chief regulator of the industry said Wednesday Edwin Gray chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board said is simply not that the thrift industry is weak and growing weaker do have and I have never thought to downplay it one-fifth of the industry in an unprofitable But he said that in the first and second quarters of this year of the industry was Gray said he expects 1986 to be a record year for profits Gray made his remarks in the closing address to the annual meeting of the American Bankers Association television station that helped to unravel the previously announced sale of Channel 4 by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts Co the New York investment firm to southern Lorimar-Tele-pictures a $405 million deal that The new jobless: white collars I DISCARDING EXECUTIVES Managers professionals feel heat Trend 5 Here is a brief rundown on what some major American companies are doing to shrink their a white-collar workforce THE DOW Jones average rose 633 to 185180 It has gained 1954 points since the start of the week Advancing issues outnumbered declines by about 9-5 on the New York Stock Exchange Big Board volume totaled 16443 million shares against 14587 million in the previous session The composite index gained 91 to 13880 NON-FARM business productivity rose at an annual rate of only 02 percent over the summer Output in goods and services from the non-farm business sector which makes up 73 percent of the economy (everything but government agriculture and nonprofit organizations) increased at an annual rate of 32 percent from July through September the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Companies EXXON: offering early retirement to 40000 especially at the middle-management level out of a total workforce of 146000 GENERAL MOTORS: offering expanded benefits to salaried employees who agree to retire early The goal is a 25 percent reduction among the 142000 GM white collar workers by 1989 asking its divisional executives to compile lists of the expendable from among its 100000 managers Those named will be offered early retirement EASTMAN KODAK: cutting 13000 people one out of every 10 employees from its worldwide workforce largely through early retirement Cuts involve both salaried and hourly workers IBM: effectively lowering the age for early retirement to 50 a move expected to reduce its payroll by as much as 12000 in 1987 BURROUGHS: planning to cut about 9600 jobs worldwide by the end of 1986 at Burroughs and Sperry the rival computer maker it recently acquired XEROX: offering enhanced early retirement benefits to 4000 of its senior employees out of a total American workforce of 60000 CBS: planning to cut about 700 broadcasting jobs Company sources however say the cutbacks probably will total more than 1500 or nearly nine percent of the US workforce NEW YORK (Reuters) The man who used to earn six figures straightened his red tie buttoned the jacket of his serious blue suit hoisted his leather attache case and steered his polished black shoes across Broadway is a big pain in the he said day you have to sell yourself But you have to do it You have to stay involved in the interview process to keep your skills sharp Today you may not want the job Tomorrow who Say hello to newest unemployment statistic the upscale in this case a former computer ware salesman who agreed to be interviewed on condition he and his ex-employers identified call him William one of the 782000 managerial and professional workers whose jobs have been eliminated in the last five years due to hard times in the once fat cat sanctuaries of Blue Chip America William has been through it twice in 14 months While two-thirds of these newly displaced workers will find other jobs the rest and countless others induced to take early retirement at the middle and upper reaches of the corporate flow charts remain out of the employment picture The list of companies cutting back on staff is a Who of American business: American Telephone Telegraph General Motors Exxon General Electric Eastern Airlines Time CBS Eastman Kodak Xerox Polaroid IBM clings to its no-layoffs policy but is offering thousands early retirement retirements are hard to track for a variety of reasons but the number of displacements is increasing" said Phil Rones of the Bureau of Labor Statistics ago you never heard about this happening to the managers and professionals It always hit blue collar workers" HENRY Schroder Bank Trust agreed to acquire Aubrey Lanston Co The decision by Schroder the majority-owned subsidiary of the Industrial Bank of Japan marks the first deal giving a Japanese firm control of a US primary government bond dslcr USX WONT pay to deter investor Carl Icahn its chairman said Chairman David Roderick said the company will not be rushed into restructuring moves by $8 billion takeover bid or by the labor dispute that has shut its steel operations In early October Icahn offered to purchase USX at $31 per share Takeover rumors rampant Goodyear Hutton called targets NEW YORK (AP) Wall rumor mill shifted into high gear Wednesday as speculation grew that three major companies EF Hutton Group Inc Goodyear Tire Rubber Co and CPC International Inc had become takeover targets There was no confirmation that the companies faced actual takeover threats and with the exception of Goodyear representatives of the companies and their rumored suitors all declined comment But the rumors continued to generate heavy trading in the stocks on the New York Stock Exchange and in the case of Hutton sent the stock sharply higher stock also rose but feil stock jumped $487 a share to $52 a 52-week high on turnover of 27 million shares The speculation over Hutton's potential suitor again centered on American Express Co the financial-services concern whose units include the investment firm Shear-son Lehman Brothers Inc American stock fell 75 cents a share to $5762 Hutton has been a rumored target for the past month But two weeks ago Hutton denied speculation it had received and rejected any offers to buy the company and it said it was not in talks with any party concerning a merger Hutton also said that in the future it would not comment at all on such market rumors stock rose 87 cents a share to $4862 on volume of more than 48 million shares following a report in the Wall Street Journal that Sir James Goldsmith the Anglo-French financier had acquired about 15 percent of 109 million common shares outstanding and would disclose the stake to the Securities and Exchange Commission soon perhaps this week Goodyear responding to the activity announced Friday that it was considering restructuring steps aimed at boosting the value of its shares Goodyear did not say what moves were being weighed but analysts suggested they might include the sale of energy and aerospace units Goldsmith won a lengthy battle last year for control of Crown Zellerbach Corp a major forest-products concern whose assets were divided earlier this year among Goldsmith and James River Corp stock fell $137 a share to $8050 following a report by Dan Dorfman a syndicated columnist based in New York that Revlon Group Inc had purchased more than 5 percent of 487 million common shares outstanding and might pursue control of CPC In Florida SOUTHERN BELL will start charging for interrupting long-distance calls Beginning Nov 3 Southern Bell will charge 95 cents to verify a busy signal on a long distance call within its calling zone and $140 to interrupt that call The company already charges to verify a busy signal on a local call DAN CLIFFORDMiaml Herald StaH His first displacement survey covering 60000 households monthly for the years 1979-84 found that 703000 managerial and professional workers had their jobs The latest survey for 1981-86 charted a jump of 79000 the first five-year study they Please turn to LAYOFF SD Modcomp: London crashes not our fault The Money Line Florida Prime Rate 75 Florida Fixed Mortgage Rate 1018 13-week T-bills 518 26-week T-bills 521 Money-Market Fund 7-day Avg 519 Fla Avg Money Market Account 539 The Bottom Line BankAmerica stock rose $175 to $15625 a share in heavy New York Stock Exchange trading Wednesday as investors reacted to a sweetened takeover bid from First Interstate Bancorp valued by analysts at between $18 and $20 a share Jefferson Bancorp of Miami Beach said its consolidated net income fell 25 percent to $421355 or 17 cents a share for the quarter ended Sept 30 but rose 34 percent to $215 million for the first nine months First Union Corp has announced the purchase of City Commercial Bank in Sarasota bringing to five the number of banks it has recently bought in Southwest Florida Pepperidge Farm said it will build a $45 million biscuit plant in Lakeland designing the Rosica said "But I think a problem Our customers are very sophisticated and they will understand the situation The average man on the street might not understand but our existing users Steve Cohen a high-tech analyst with the Gartner Group in Stamford Conn said that he does not expect Modcomp to suffer unless the equipment itself turns out to be defective He compares the incident to a problem that the Internal Revenue Service had last year with a Sperry computer system causing the IRS to fall behind on its tax refund checks is something that was ongoing close to home something that the average person could deal with and business Cohen said average person does not really know that much about Modcomp or about the London Stock Exchange" By MARLENE SOKOL Herald Business Writer Modular Computer System officials on both sides of the Atlantic are insisting that this breakdowns of Modcomp equipment at the London Stock Exchange are not fault But the incident could hurt the Fort Lauderdale computer company anyway competition will jump on this like said Frank Vandemark an assistant product manager at the Per-kin-Elmer Corp a Norwalk Conn computer firm that is one of Modcomp's chief competitors will be taken totally out of context Vendors will say want to buy a computer from Modcomp: remember what happened at the London Stock Bad news trav at twice the spee1 of light" Three times this week the TOPIC computer system at the London exchange has broken down as traders have responded to the newly deregulated Bang" data system by flooding it with requests On Wednesday three key market-makers reported that they had suspended trading through the central computer Modcomp officials say that although the exchange uses Modcomp equipment the London Stock Exchange designed the software The system which has been in use for five years is designed to handle 200 page requests per minute On Monday when Big Bang was introduced it was receiving 12000 page requests per minute Throughout the week the system has received roughly twice as many requests as were anticipated In Fort Lauderdale Modcomp Chairman Gabriel Rosica said that he does not expect customers to blame the company wish we had been more involved in TAX HOTLINE Dade 376-36 11 Broward 764-7026 Ext3611 Elsewhere 1 800 432-6553 Ext3611 Truth logic fold their cards in casino debate lames Russell Financial Editor Capital gains taxed differently In 1980 I accepted two second mortgages for 15 years I have been reporting the installment payments to the IRS and would like to know if there will be any changes Up to now 60 percent is excludable and I pay income tax on the remaining 40 percent MMW Hallandale A The 1986 Tax Act repeals the sixty percent capital gain deduction for individuals thus taxing long-term capital gains at the same rates as ordinary income This is effective for gains recognized in 1987 and later years However in 1987 when ordinary income of an individual can be taxed at rates as high as 385 percent net capital gains will be taxed at the top rate of 28 percent Questions on the proposed US tax law are being answered by accounting experts at Ernst Whinney Questions can be called in or submitted by letter to the Business Desk Miami Herald 1 Herald Plaza Miami Fla 33132-1693 The tax hotline will appear Tuesday through Sunday on the business page price been sitting idle for years and is ripe for development As for the financial giant last year located a new credit card processing facility near Las Vegas The company has similar facilities elsewhere in the country Current employment at the Vegas center is around 600 a fraction of 71000 employes worldwide Never fear New Yorkers Citicorp remains firmly situated in its towering skyscraper in midtown Manhattan The Vegas operation is a tiny piece of a very large pie Although more difficult to check the casino contention that more businesses are moving into the Miami area appears at odds with reality The most widely publicized company moves hereabouts in the past year or two have been out not in Rather than tossing out such a casual statement he would better have served his cause and the truth by citing information from authoritative sources attesting to economic health in Florida and in Miami Such as: is among the most dynamic and economically diverse states in the Southeast and current indicators reflect a pattern of continued vitality" Joseph Duncan economist and chief statistician for Dun Bradstreet failures in Miami dropped 262 percent in the first half of this year cities with the largest gains in building permit values (in the first half of this year) were Hollywood up 46 percent (and) Miami Beach up 342 percent" And from art office space appraisal by Coldwell Banker the big Sears-owned real estate firm: number of big international firms have recently become interested in establishing new corporate offices in You can bolster almost any proposition if you find the right statistics Economists do it all the time But the gambling issue is so complex and emotional that statistics and surveys are virtually useless There is no excuse however for substituting falsehoods and fantasies for truth Happily the end of all the bafflegab and ballyhoo is near Thankfully the election will be over in a few days and some semblance of truth and logic may return to the politico-economic scene Misinformation half-truths quarter-truths and outright lies have been rampant in recent weeks Mature educated people on both sides indulge in these deceptions as though facts and veracity are of no consequence Skip the major candidates and their mud-slinging Take the casino gambling referendum that is on next ballot Misinformation and fractured logic are the atrocities there The other evening a between a supporter and an opponent of casinos produced some enlightening gems Casino supporter trying to stress economic deterioration in Florida: "In the Panhandle St Joe Paper Co is pulling Casino supporter singing the praises of the gambling capital of the West: the largest banking firm based in New York) is relocating to Las Casino opponent: and more new companies are moving into Greater The first two statements in that trio simply are not true in even the vaguest sense The perpetrator bother to check for authenticity To have done so would have disclosed that St Joe Paper the bedrock holding of the asset-rich Alfred I duPont trust in Florida is operating at full capacity not pulling out or pulling back" said spokesman Rush Loving investing millions to improve Perhaps the casino supporter heard that St Joe is selling a handful of the one million acres of Panhandle land it owns It is Some choice acreage is being sold to develope at a fancy -a -a -a -a.