BUSINESSWEEK ONLINE : JANUARY 10, 2000 ISSUE
COVER STORY The Handyman KEY ACCOMPLISHMENTS Shares rose 57%, to roughly $96 Profits should jump 46%, to $2.3 billion for fiscal year 1999. Sales are expected to grow 25%, to $38 billion You couldn't blame ARTHUR M. BLANK if he wanted to kick back and enjoy spending some of the billions he has amassed from helping build Home Depot Inc. (HD) into a $38 billion retailing juggernaut. But the 57-year-old Blank, Home Depot's CEO since 1997, shows no signs of slowing. Indeed, the avid runner still finds time to log 20 miles a week, sometimes in his favorite shirt, appropriately emblazoned ''There is no finish line.'' He shows the same vigor at Home Depot's Atlanta headquarters. ''If you listened in on one of our staff meetings, you'd think the company was in trouble,'' jokes Blank. ''We spend 80% of our time talking about things we could do better.'' While other mega-retailers such as Toys 'R' Us have hit a wall, Home Depot keeps smashing earnings records. And the growth is coming not so much from new stores but from a fat 10% sales hike at the existing 900 outlets. Sure, strong construction and home-renovation markets help. But some of Blank's new initiatives are also paying off. The chain last year began renting out tools and trucks, selling appliances, and providing on-the-spot loans of up to $20,000 for big-ticket home projects. His latest brainstorm: the compact Villager's Hardware stores, designed for downtown neighborhoods. Blank is also looking to expand in Europe and Asia. If those plans take off, maybe Blank will take a breather. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ BACK TO TOP					RELATED ITEMS INTRODUCTION MANAGERS TO WATCH THE TOP ENTREPRENEURS THE TOP 25 MANAGERS Minuro Arakawa Bernard Arnault Arthur Blank Peter Bijur Gordon Binder Steve Case John Chambers James Curvey Thierry Desmarest Bernie Ebbers Tom Engibous Chris Gent Irwin Jacobs Steve Jobs Mel Karmazin James Kelly Timothy Koogle Ken Lay Jenny Ming Thomas Siebel Masayoshi Son Martha Stewart Keiji Tachikawa Jack Welch Yun Jong Yong ONLINE EXTRAS TO BUSINESS WEEK INVESTOR INTERACT E-Mail to Business Week Online

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