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MAY 17, 2004
Edited by Monica Roman Brenda Barnes: No Piece Of Cake  Some 6 1/2 years ago, Brenda Barnes walked away from the top job at PepsiCo North America (PEP
) at age 43 to spend more time with her three children. Now she's back in a corner office.On May 2, Sara Lee (SLE ) named Barnes president and chief operating officer. Starting on July 1, she will be second only to Chairman and CEO C. Steven McMillan, 58, at the $18.3 billion food and apparel company. "Being away from the day-to-day was very helpful," she says. "I feel recharged." Barnes's departure from PepsiCo after 22 years prompted a lot of debate. But she didn't leave the business world entirely: She had a four-month stint as interim president of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (HOT ) in 2000. Barnes will need her skills as a brand builder and operator. So far, Sara Lee's quarterly earnings in fiscal 2004 have been flat, excluding gains from the sale of business units, while its share price is still well below its 1998 peak. Welcome back to the working world. By Michael Arndt Anheuser's Foreign Binge Anheuser-Busch (BUD ) could be getting more aggressive overseas. The St. Louis-based brewer dominates the U.S. market, but abroad it trails rivals such as the Netherlands' Heineken (HINKY ) and Belgium's Interbrew. Earlier this month, Anheuser-Busch bought a 29% interest in Harbin Brewery Group, which trades in Hong Kong. But on May 4, rival SABMiller (SBMRY ), the London-based brewer that owns 29.6% of Harbin, launched a takeover bid for the company that values it at $551 million. Anheuser, which also has a 10% interest in China's Tsingtao Brewery (TSGTY ), wants a big chunk of China's fast-growing beer market, but it faces a tough battle against SAB. It declined comment on Harbin. In a decade, SAB has expanded into 40 countries from its roots in South Africa. And it also has good reason to go after Harbin: By combining operations with other brewers it owns in China, SAB can cut prices -- the clincher for Chinese drinkers.   Quattrone: Going Down  Frank Quattrone, the former head of Credit Suisse First Boston's (CSR
) tech investment banking unit, didn't have to wait long for a verdict in his second trial. The jury convicted him on two counts of obstructing justice and one count of witness tampering on May 3, after deliberating for five hours. In 2000, Quattrone sent his employees an e-mail urging them to clean up their files -- at a time when he knew that CSFB's initial public offering process was being probed by both a grand jury and the Securities & Exchange Commission. Quattrone faces up to 25 years in jail, though he'll probably get one or two. His attorney says he plans to appeal, but experts say it's unlikely he'll win. Coke Calls Up A Veteran After a high-profile search, Coca-Cola (KO ) on May 4 named a former executive, Neville Isdell, to succeed retiring CEO Douglas Daft. Isdell, 60, made his name in foreign operations, helping to plant the flag for Coke in India, Eastern Europe, and other emerging markets during the '80s and '90s. He left Big Red in 1998 to head up Coca-Cola Beverages, one of Coke's largest European bottlers, and retired in 2001. This time around, Isdell's biggest job will be wringing out more growth in "noncarbonated" categories like juice, water, and tea, where Coke doesn't enjoy the same dominance as it does in soda. Out Of The Whirlpool After a 17-year run -- one of the longest in Corporate America -- David Whitwam is stepping down as Whirlpool (WHR ) chairman and CEO. Whitwam, 62, will be succeeded on July 1 by his second-in-command, Jeff Fettig. A 23-year Whirlpool veteran, Fettig has been president and COO of the Benton Harbor (Mich.) company since 1999. Under Whitwam, Whirlpool's sales tripled, to $12.2 billion, making it the world's largest producer of white goods. Fettig, 47, is expected to continue to shift production to low-cost facilities to compete with Asian upstarts. Et Cetera... -- A judge denied Martha Stewart's bid for a new trial. -- Tyco International (TYC ) surprised Wall Street with quarterly net earnings of $782 million. -- Michael Lawrie, a top IBM (IBM ) exec, was named CEO at Siebel Systems; Thomas Siebel remains chairman. Closing Bell: Orbitz  Online travel site Orbitz (ORBZ
) hit some turbulence on May 5 after it reported a $1.9 million profit in the first quarter, vs. a $2.4 million loss a year earlier. Wall Street didn't like its second-quarter earnings forecast of as much as $6.6 million and bid Orbitz shares down 7.3%, to $25.02.
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