|
|
ONLINE FEATURES
Book Reviews
BW Video
Columnists
Interactive Gallery
Newsletters
Past Covers
Philanthropy
Podcasts
Special Reports
BLOGS
Auto Beat
Bangalore Tigers
Blogspotting
Brand New Day
Byte of the Apple
Economics Unbound
Eye on Asia
Fine On Media
Green Biz
Hot Property
Investing Insights
Management IQ
NEXT: Innovation
NussbaumOnDesign
Tech Beat
Working Parents
TECHNOLOGY
J.D. Power Ratings
Product Reviews
Tech Stats
Wildstrom: Tech Maven
AUTOS
Home Page
Auto Reviews
Classic Cars
Car Care & Safety
Hybrids
INNOVATION
& DESIGN Home Page Architecture Brand Equity Auto Design Game Room SMALLBIZ Smart Answers Success Stories Today's Tip INVESTING Investing: Europe Annual Reports BW 50 S&P Picks & Pans Stock Screeners Free S&P Stock Report SCOREBOARDS Hot Growth 100 Mutual Funds Info Tech 100 S&P 500 B-SCHOOLS Undergrad Programs MBA Blogs MBA Profiles MBA Rankings Who's Hiring Grads | |
JULY 26, 2004
HEADLINER Greg Brenneman: Whopper Of A Challenge  Will another change in the executive suite finally fire up Burger King? On July 13, the fast-food chain named Greg Brenneman as its new CEO. The 42-year-old head of TurnWorks, a Houston private equity firm, has a big order to fill. Revenues at Burger King have declined for five years in a row. Suffering from years of corporate neglect, many franchisees are losing money, and Wendy's International (WEN
) is poised to become the nation's second-largest burger flipper, behind McDonald's (MCD
).Brenneman is known for turnarounds. He helped Continental Airlines (CAL ) return to profitability in the 1990s and spearheaded the sale of PricewaterhouseCoopers Consulting to IBM (IBM ) in 2002. To fix Burger King's 11,220 stores, Brenneman is looking at longer hours and a broader menu. Although he has backed off on plans by prior management to close hundreds of stores, he'll keep in place a financial restructuring program for franchisees. Their support is essential to any turnaround. By Brian Grow CSFB: More Switcheroos The executive reshuffle at Credit Suisse First Boston (CSR ) continues. Since Credit Suisse Group Co-CEO John Mack was abruptly ousted on June 24, investment bank CSFB has suffered from three high-level resignations. But on July 14, when CSFB's new CEO Brady Dougan announced his new team, it was clear that some key folks are still on board. Rainmaker Brian Finn will remain, as president. So will general counsel Gary Lynch. The group's chief risk officer, Richard Thornburgh, will become CSFB's vice-chairman, and Neil Moskowitz is the firm's new chief financial officer. The big question now hangs over Chairman Stephen Volk: His name isn't on Dougan's list, and insiders say he hasn't decided if he'll stay.   Bargains In The Sky  To the delight of consumers and the dismay of airline investors, JetBlue Airways (JBLU
)joined other discount carriers on July 13 by announcing a sweeping fare sale. The scrappy New York carrier is cutting fares up to 50% for fall travel, with some one-way prices as low as $49 from New York to Florida. The sale -- combined with others from such low-cost players as Southwest (LUV
) and AirTran (AAI
) -- is expected to squeeze profits for the entire industry but will likely hurt the money-losing majors the most. Thanks to the earlier-than-usual sales, which major carriers have matched, Bestfares.com CEO Tom Parsons figures passengers can fly between more than 351 city-pairs for under $99 roundtrip.Dialing For MCI? Perhaps MCI (MCIP ) CEO Michael Capellas should watch out for his job. The telecom giant issued a press release on July 12 saying New York-based investment company Leucadia National (LUK ) was seeking approval from antitrust regulators to acquire control of MCI. Leucadia, which hasn't actually made a bid, declined to comment on the matter. But Leucadia has hired hard-charging telecom veteran Joseph Nacchio as an adviser, people familiar with the matter say. The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. Nacchio, the former chief executive of Qwest Communications International (Q ), also was a senior executive at AT&T (T ). Nacchio wasn't implicated in the accounting scandal at Qwest and is no doubt eager to return to the helm of a large public telecom company. Nacchio declined comment. Red Hat's New Math Red Hat (RHAT ) may be an open-source company, but that doesn't mean its accounting is an open book. The Raleigh (N.C.) company's stock plunged 22.7% on July 13 after it announced it will restate its financial results for the past three years as a result of an accounting change. The shift in recognition of software subscriptions revenues has only a minor impact on past results, but the fact that the company didn't reveal the change along with its earnings announcement on June 17 has analysts and investors scratching their heads. Et Cetera... -- McDonald's (MCD ) said it expects second-quarter profits to exceed forecasts. -- YUM! Brands (YUM ) reported a 45% gain in second-quarter earnings. -- Johnson & Johnson's (JNJ ) second-quarter profits beat Wall Street's expectations. Closing Bell: Harley Davidson  Harley-Davidson (HDI
) is revving up again. The bikemaker's stock climbed 5.6% on July 14, to $62.95, on news of an 18.8% rise in U.S. retail sales in the second quarter. No wonder Wall Street has left its earlier dismay with Harley's modest sales targets in the dust.
| | |
 Copyright 2004, by The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc. All rights reserved.Terms of Use | Privacy Notice |
Printer-Friendly Version
