Replay Montag, 17. Juni 1996

The Great Mystery of Internet Profits

Date: 17 June 1996

By Steve Lohr

Steve Lohr

Luring talent has not been a problem for Mike Slade, president of the Starwave Corporation. The recruits to this startup company in suburban Seattle include refugees from well-paid jobs as editors, writers and advertising executives in New York and as software engineers in Silicon Valley. They have come to be pioneers in the new medium of publishing on the Internet's World Wide Web, to build a business and, if successful, to become rich. "There's a gold-rush mentality in this field," Mr. Slade observed.

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MEDIA: PRESS;British newspapers are engaging in an exhaustive run of insider chatter.

Date: 17 June 1996

By Sarah Lyall

Sarah Lyall

By American standards, British newspaper journalism is a small and insular world that sometimes seems populated by surprisingly few people -- mostly the journalists, their friends and their enemies. They constitute a minuscule but powerful village that helps make up what Londoners call "the chattering classes," and many issues are devoted each week to their lives and opinions. The newspapers encourage these cozy self-referential habits by letting their reporters develop their own small cults of personality. Each week, in both the tabloids and the broadsheets, celebrity writers lavishly describe the minutiae of their lives. Political columns are illustrated by photographs and pithy descriptions of columnists, as in "Simon Heffer: the Pundit the Politicians Dread," who appears in The Daily Mail of London. Newspapers regularly print the names of profile writers in larger type than the names of those profiled.

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INSIDE

Date: 18 June 1996

More Church Fires

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NEWS SUMMARY

Date: 18 June 1996

International A3-13

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COMPANY NEWS;LOEWEN AND BLACKSTONE TO MAKE JOINT PURCHASE

Date: 18 June 1996

Dow Jones

Dow Jones

A joint venture of the Loewen Group and the Blackstone Capital Partners 2 Merchant Banking Fund L.P. agreed yesterday to buy Prime Succession Inc., a privately held operator of 146 funeral homes and 16 cemeteries in the United States, for about $295 million. Blackstone Capital will control the venture's board. Loewen's ownership in the venture was not disclosed. Blackstone Capital is an investment vehicle of the Blackstone Group. Loewen, based in Burnaby, British Columbia, operates funeral homes and cemeteries.

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COMPANY NEWS;VISHAY INTERTECHNOLOGY TO CUT 1,300 JOBS

Date: 18 June 1996

Dow Jones

Dow Jones

Vishay Intertechnology Inc. said yesterday that it would cut 1,300 jobs from its worldwide staff of 18,000 as part of a plan to cut manufacturing costs because of slow business. Vishay, a maker of electronic components based in Malvern, Pa., expects its reorganization to reduce second-quarter earnings by $16 million. Profits in the corresponding quarter last year were $24.7 million. Felix Zandman, Vishay's chairman and chief executive, said the job cuts were expected to result in annual savings of $24 million a year.

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COMPANY NEWS;GRAHAM-FIELD TO PURCHASE EVEREST & JENNINGS

Date: 18 June 1996

Dow Jones

Dow Jones

Graham-Field Health Products Inc. agreed yesterday to buy the wheelchair maker Everest & Jennings International Inc. for as much as 1.8 million common shares and $14.4 million in cash. Based on Friday's closing price of $9 for Graham-Field shares, the transaction is valued at as much as $30.6 million. The stock rose 75 cents yesterday, to $9.75, a 52-week high, while Everest & Jennings slipped 37.5 cents, to $4.50. Graham-Field, of Hauppage, L.I., said BIL (Far East Holdings) Ltd., the Everest & Jennings majority shareholder, would receive as many as 1.9 million additional Graham-Field shares for repaying about $25 million of Everest & Jennings debt. All the Everest & Jennings debt and convertible preferred shares held by BIL will be exchanged for about $60 million in Graham-Field convertible preferred shares.

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WORLD NEWS BRIEFS;In Algeria, 27 Militants Get Death in Absentia

Date: 18 June 1996

Reuters

Two Algerian courts sentenced 27 Muslim militants to death in absentia for involvement in guerrilla activities, the official Algerian news agency said today. A court in Medea, 45 miles south of Algiers, condemned 23 militants on Sunday at the end of a two-day trial, the agency said, quoting court officials. In another trial, a court in Saida, 212 miles southwest of Algiers, sentenced four militants to death in absentia for assassination attempts and other crimes.

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COMPANY NEWS;VARLEN TO ACQUIRE RAILROAD-CAR PARTS MAKER

Date: 18 June 1996

Dow Jones

Dow Jones

The Varlen Corporation said yesterday that it had agreed to buy Brenco Inc. of Midlothian, Va., a maker of railroad-car bearings, for about $165 million. Varlen, which engineers products for the transportation industry, is based in Naperville, Ill., and has been acquiring small companies as the global market for railroad parts expands. The acquisition would add 1,000 employees to Varlen's current 2,200. The deal values Brenco shares at $16.125 each. Brenco's shares jumped $3.75, or 31 percent, to $16; Varlen shares rose $1.75, to $24.75. Brenco's founding family, which controls about 20 percent of the 10.2 million shares, has a separate agreement to sell its shares to Varlen.

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COMPANY NEWS;U.S. DIAGNOSTIC LABS TO ACQUIRE MEDITEK HEALTH

Date: 18 June 1996

Dow Jones

Dow Jones

U.S. Diagnostic Labs Inc. agreed yesterday to buy the Heico Corporation's Meditek Health unit for $13 million in cash and $10 million in securities. Miami-based Meditek Health owns diagnostic-imaging facilities in New Jersey, Florida, Georgia and Alabama. Heico, based in Hollywood, Fla., and U.S. Diagnostic Labs of West Palm Beach, Fla., both provide diagnostic-imaging services. Heico said the $10 million in securities could be converted into about one million U.S. Diagnostic common shares. Heico shares rose $1.625 to close at $27.375. U.S. Diagnostic shares closed unchanged at $14.125.

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