Card makers merge

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Nov 4, 1999

CLEVELAND (AP) -- American Greetings is buying Gibson Greetings for about $162 million in stock in a deal that unites the second and third largest U.S. greeting card makers behind industry leader Hallmark. Under the deal announced Wednesday, American will pay $10.25 a share in stock for each of Gibson Greeting's 15.8 million shares. The companies have signed a definitive agreement and their boards have approved the deal. It still requires regulatory approval.

Ad agencies merge

CHICAGO (AP) -- The parents of the ad agencies Leo Burnett and D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles are merging in a deal that will create one of the world's largest advertising groups.

The deal announced Wednesday unites two privately owned ad and marketing services companies, The Leo Group, based in Chicago, and The MacManus Group, based in New York. As part of the deal, Japan's largest advertising company, Dentsu Inc., will buy a 20 percent stake in the new company, which will be known at least temporarily as BDM. BDM also will consider selling stock in an initial public offering depending on market conditions next year.

Packard Bell gets out

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) -- Citing hundreds of millions of dollars in losses, Packard Bell NEC is pulling out of the U.S. market for home computers and laying off 1,400 workers by the end of the year.

Packard Bell lost $650 million last year and couldn't sustain the losses, spokesman Ron Fuchs said. The pullout closes an era of rapid decline for Packard Bell, once the second largest domestic maker of personal computers but only No. 6 by this summer, according to researcher Dataquest.

Like other PC makers, Packard Bell was hit hard by fierce price wars and rising computer parts prices. But the company also had a mixed record with customers because of computer quality problems. Its withdrawal follows IBM's decision last month to stop selling PCs in retail outlets and focus on selling over the Internet.