The Pantagraph from Bloomington, Illinois • Page 33

a Local business Personal finance Consumer information Friday, Aug. 10, 1990 The Pantagraph Lorenzo quits Continental, sells stake HIGHLIGH 0' IS" Frank Lorenzo NEW YORK (AP) Airline boss Frank Lorenzo said yesterday he's quitting the flying empire he built in the 1980s, hurt by a barrage of bad publicity and labor bitterness about his tough-guy management style. The 50-year-old entrepreneur, who came to symbolize a tumultuous decade of airline deregulation, is selling most of his stake in Continental Airlines Holdings Inc. to Scandinavian Airlines System. The leading foreign carrier has held a small stake in Houston-based Continental for two years.

Lorenzo also is resigning as chairman and chief executive, to be replaced by Delta Air Lines Inc. President Hollis L. Harris. Harris, a highly respected manager, was lured to Continental after a discreet search, that started four months ago. Lorenzo will receive nearly $30 million in severance, retain a small interest in Continental's stock options and keep a seat on the company's ownership of Continental and Eastern airlines.

But its business has been severely crimped by heavy debts and a debilitating strike at Eastern that's now 17 months old. Last year the parent company lost $885.6 million, an industry record. "It's been perfectly obvious to me that I personally have become a lightning rod for many of the attacks that the company has taken in the process of making the changes that have been required," Lorenzo said. "This transaction allows me to step aside and allows the company to have a new management," he said. Asked what he would do now, Lorenzo said, "Take a little time to catch my breath.

I haven't had much time to do that" He spoke to reporters at a New York news briefing, flanked by Hollis and SAS Chairman Jan Carlzon. All three called the arrangement a strategic move that would strengthen Continen Hollis Harris tal into a global airline for the 1990s. SAS, which is spending a total of $50 million in the deal, will roughly double its stake to 18.4 percent of the company's voting stock. Carlzon said SAS had no interest in gaining control of the airline. Federal law already limits foreign ownership to 25 percent "We think Continental has an interesting future," Carlzon said.

"It's better to have 18.4 percent than 9.9 Wall Street reacted positively to the announcement, reflecting investor optimism that the change would help Continental's business improve. Lorenzo's exit from the airline world marks the end of an era that in many ways was shaped by him. From his initial plunge into the flying business In the 1960s as an analyst for Trans World Airlines and later as an executive of a small Texas airline company, Lorenzo helped pioneer innovations ranging from cut-rate fares to the industry's first hostile takeover. Wall Street veteran named to head NYSE NEW YORK (AP) William H. Donaldson, a Wall Street veteran and friend of President Bush, was named yesterday as chairman andchief executive of the New Gilman Super 8 motel planned GILMAN A Super 8 motel is planned for Gilman, to be developed by two Champaign-area motel owners.

The two-story structure will have 50 rooms. Gilman has several attractive features, said Charles Patel, owner of the Best Western Paradise Motel south of Champaign. Patel and Mike Desai, owner of the Courtesy Motel, Urbana, will build the motel. There was land available in Gilman, the city had no national chain motel, and traffic, at the intersection of Illinois 24 and 45, and with Interstate 57 nearby, is good, Patel said. In addition, he said, city officials were enthusiastic.

Construction is expected to begin in about six weeks, said Mayor George Phillippo, with a planned spring completion. Initial planning for development of a 75-acre industrial park announced this spring is expected to go to the council next month, Phillippo said. Pharmacy opens in LeRoy LeROY There are hundreds of small towns in Central Illinois where Mike McKie could have opened his third drugstore, but he chose LeRoy. board of directors. But Lorenzo's influence in running the company virtually will disappear and his compensation reflects a fraction of the value the airline operation used to have in better times.

Houston-based Continental Holdings, formerly known as Texas Air once commanded 20 percent of the domestic airline market through its According to LeRoy pharmacist and manager, John tal -3 vc cS-t Wagner, the outpouring of support and interest of the citizens of LeRoy sealed the decision to open LeRoy Pharmacy at the old Harbison Pharmacy building on East Center Street Wagner will be the main pharmacist at the business which opened recently. He is originally from Henry and graduated from Drake University with McKie in 1977 with a bachelor of science degree in pharmacy. He worked five years in the retail pharmacy field and has been a pharmacist for the last six years at St Joseph Medical Center, Bloomington. York Stock Exchange. Donaldson, 59, will succeed John J.

Phelan who won wide praise for safely steering the nation's largest exchange through the 1987 stock market crash and helping to avert a protracted world financial crisis. The NYSE's board i I i William H. Donaldson Comedian Al Aprill performed his routine this week on Continental Express' flight from Cleveland to Detroit City Airport. The airline is experimenting with comedians to entertain passengers on regional flights. Aprill, 50, originally from Jackson, now lives in Sarasota, Fla.

Comics' careers take off on airline also named president Richard A. Grasso, who had wanted the top post, as executive vice chairman with expanded responsibilities. Both appointments take effect Jan. 1. Time of change Donaldson, a co-founder of the investment firm Donaldson, Lufkin Jenrette brings broad experience on Wall Street, in government and ac-ademia to one of the most high-profile jobs in American business.

He arrives at a time of rapid technological change, global market interdependence and increased competition overseas that threaten to redefine the basic structure of the 198-year-old exchange, a worldwide symbol of capitalism. Broad experience Donaldson's first job on Wall Street was at the old brokerage G.H. Walker run by Bush's uncle Herbert Walker. In 1959, just one year out of Harvard Business School, Donaldson and two friends founded Donaldson, Lufkin Jenrette. He left in 1973 after the company grew from its initial $100,000 investment to the nation's 10th largest brokerage.

Donaldson served in the Nixon and Ford administrations, first as an undersecretary of state to Henry Kissinger in 1973-74 before becoming special White House counsel to vice president Nelson Rockefeller. DETROIT (AP) Did you hear the one about the stand-up comic who got booked on a commuter flight? Had to sit down. Too much turbulence. Passengers are getting comedy with their cabin service on Continental Express flights from Detroit to Cleveland this week. "If you don't like my act, where are you going to go?" comic Don Tersigni told his audience this week aboard the 30-passenger Flight 4454.

Tersigni, who did Elvis Presley and Sylvester Stallone impressions after lemonade and peanuts were passed out, said afterward that it wasn't like entertaining the average nightclub crowd. "I couldn't hear myself, really, especially doing impressions," he said, alighting from the noisy twin- turboprop. "I was just sort of winging it," he added, starting to smile. "I hope it will help my career, sort of, take off." Comedian Al Aprill did a sit-down act when Flight 4454 ran into turbulence Monday night "I was told our comedian does a real good job. I'm sorry I can't let him stand up," Capt Bill Daly said.

Continental Express scheduled business briefings on morning flights and comedy in the evening this week to pump up publicity for its new Cleveland-Detroit route. The 50-minute flights are too short for movies. Johnny Carson mentioned the gimmick on his "Tonight Show," saying that anyone traveling to De troit or Cleveland could use a little comedy. Early Wednesday, most of the 17 passengers on a 7 a.m. flight stayed awake to hear Detroit Free Press assistant business editor Nunzio Lupo discuss labor negotiations between the Big Three automakers and the United Auto Workers.

Lupo stood, braced against the closed cockpit door, glanced at a few note cards and delivered a 20-minute summation into a hand microphone. Passengers applauded. Perhaps more important, they listened to the airline's emergency instructions. "In the morning it's really hard. They'll sleep, or read their paper.

They don't listen to my demo," said flight attendant Lisa Lyons. Polaroid announces $90 million plant i CAMBRIDGE, Mass. Polaroid Corp. flashed some light into Masasachusetts' dark economic picture yesterday by announcing a $90 million plant to produce film for its new electronic imaging products. The plant in New Bedford will employ more than 100 people and is expected to be built by late 1992.

Polaroid officials said it would be the company's largest investment in a manufacturing plant, and its products should help lift the company's weak profits. Chairman I. MacAIIister Booth said the expansion also reflected "Polaroid's confidence in the commonwealth of Massachusetts as a great place to do business." Gas station owner drops prices MIDDLEFIELD, Conn. A businessman who drops his gasoline prices every Aug. 8 to mark his daughter's anniversary stuck to his promise this year, even while others jacked up prices after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait.

Leland Morgan said yesterday his goodwill gesture cost him dearly. "We lost a considerable amount, I'm sure," he said. "It ran into a couple of thousand. In retrospect, I'm not too happy I guess. But we'll do it again next year." Morgan announced last week that gas prices would drop to 98.8 cents a gallon for regular unleaded gasoline and $1.08.8 for super unleaded for one day only Aug.

8, his daughter Marta's second wedding anniversary. Chrysler delaying luxury car TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. Chrysler Corp. is delaying the introduction of a new luxury car in favor of a vehicle to succeed its compact Dodge Spirit and Plymouth Acclaim, a company executive said yesterday. "We're going to adjust the timing of the LX," said Glenn Gardner, Chrysler's general manager of new platform engineering, referring to the code name for the new luxury car.

The LX originally was to be introduced shortly after the so-called LH went into production. But because a successor to the Spirit-Acclaim has a potential to sell better than a luxury car and, consequently, return more profit for the investment, it was decided to push back the LX, Gardner said. Retail sales improve WASHINGTON, D.C. Promotions to move out summer merchandise and good weather boosted business at some big store chains in July. But modest industrywide sales growth failed to impress analysts who predict possibly tighter times in retailing for the rest of the year.

Industry analysts said yesterday there was a continuation last month of a gradual slowdown in consumer spending. An index of 17 leading chains compiled by Merrill Lynch Co. indicated that sales at stores open at least a year rose 5.7 percent in July from a year earlier, little different from June's 5.8 percent year-to-year gain. Twin City go-cart track proposed the development that could cost between $400,000 and $1 million. A public hearing before the McLean County Zoning Board of Appeals will be at 7:30 p.m.

Aug. 21 at the McLean County Courthouse. Also sought is needed rezoning from agricultural to commercial on the property north of Normal where the track would be located. The property fronts U.S. 51 and 1-39 and is a mile north of Northtown Road.

Rist said he and fellow developer David Gibson hope to draw traffic from nearby Ironwood Subdivision. The closest go-cart track is in Springfield, and Rist said that track draws customers from McLean County. Rist said there was a McLean County go-cart track just south of Bloomington, but it closed about two decades ago. Rist said a McLean County track would provide quiet and clean family fun. "The family is the big word in our language here," he said.

The track would be Central Illinois Amusements' first venture since being formed about three years ago, said Rist, a Bloomington-Normal home builder. Rist said he hopes to have the family entertainment center open by next By BOB HOLLIDAY Pantagraph staff Nestled between the real life, often hectic, traffic of U.S. 51 and Interstate 39 is the prospect of a go-cart track where fantasy rules. Proposed is a figure-eight track that would be home as early as next spring to 10 to 15 fiberglass bodied, gasoline powered, go-carts similar to miniature Daytona 500 cars. It would be the only go-cart track in Bloomington-Normal, said Bob Rist, spokesman for Central Illinois Amusements Inc.

He said a miniature golf course, video arcade, refreshment nrpa nnd Dossiblv bumper boats oper the highways and from other businesses expected to locate in the immediate area of the proposed track. He said he also hopes to draw business from the also hopes to draw business irom tne spring. spring. Oil firms answer outcry by cutting or freezing prices NEW YORK (AP) More big oil companies froze or trimmed gasoline prices yesterday, with some cutting nearly a nickel a gallon, amid public outcry over alleged price gouging following tensions in the Persian Gulf. Others said they were holding prices steady and promised to abide by requests from President Bush and lawmakers to practice restraint.

Four big companies Texaco BP America Phillips Petroleum Co. and Conoco Inc. said yesterday they were trimming gasoline prices, with cuts ranging from a penny to 4 cents a gallon. The Phillips reduction of 1.8 cents a gallon was the second cut in two days. Those announcing temporary price freezes included Chevron Unocal Getty Petroleum Corp.

and Amoco Corp. The companies said they largely were responding to the recent easing of oil prices following a sharp runup after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait on Aug. 2. Service station owners applauded the action and many were expected to eventually pass on their savings to motorists. "A random sampling shows that some already have lowered their prices 1 or 2 cents a gallon.

Those that don't will at least keep their prices the same," said Joseph L. Koach, executive director of the Service Station Dealers of America in Washington. ating on a pond are also planned for on a pond are also planned for Don't like your VW? Get money back! By Associated Press title and license fees and everything. Oldsmobile, for example, is offer- with Pantagraph staff It's your cash back," said VW mar- ing to let buyers of its 1990 models ing to let buyers of its 1990 models who are not satisfied after the first keting director Bill Gelgota. Cadbury acquisition cleared LONDON The Department of Trade and Industry yesterday cleared Cadbury Schweppes PLC's $34 million acquisition of Source Perrier's non-cola soft drinks business.

The department also cleared the planned merger of the home improvement operations of the retailers Boots Co. PLC and W.H. Smith Group PLC. The Perrier purchase, announced in May, Includes two plants in the Paris area and another in Marseilles for various brands of Perrier subsidiary Compagnie d'Exploitation de Boissons Refraichissantes, including Oasis, Atoll, and Gini. From Pantagraph wire services 24-hour business information on CITYLINE Call 829-9000, enter 9001 Financial news headlines 9002 Stock market 9500 Stock quotes TROY, Mich.

Volkswagen United States struggling with weak sales, is offering a 30-day money back guarantee on its midsize Passat automobiles. Anyone unsatisfied with a Passat in the first 30 days or 3,000 miles of ownership may return it and get their money back, Bill Young, vice president in charge of Volkswagen United States, said. "You get the full refund, sales tax, 30 days or 1,500 miles of ownership return a car for credit toward the purchase of another Oldsmobile. There is no requirement that the refund for the Volkswagon be applied toward the purchase of another Volkswagen. The German automaker, which holds less than 2 percent of the U.S.

auto market sold an average of 1,426 Passats a month through July, compared with its goal of 3,000 a month. Sud's Motor Car Co. 2601 E. Lincoln St, Bloomington, will be participating in the program, according to Gian C. Sud, president Sud said Volkswagon expects 6 percent of the automobiles will be returned under the offer.

Other automakers have offered or are offering similar guarantees, although none allow buyers to walk away with their money. i.