How business, doctors and journalists prey on your food anxieties I

~ear, cellular operators, dri%en bv intense
competition, hace made 1 .000
price changes, %chich means plennof
sofncare updates for cats .
This subsidian's sales last cear ~rere
S3-k-I million . <strong>and</strong> last year Cus renewed
its biggest contract, with
~Cs:r/McCaN% ' Cellular to print its
bills through 1999, a deal ssoreh an
estimated S600 million . Although
\fatriss Marketing, cais <strong>and</strong> a few
smaller unregulated <strong>business</strong>es tie up
just 35% of their parent's assets, the}nou• contribute about half the parent's
total re% enues <strong>and</strong> operating
protits . Meamtihile, LaAIacchia is
girding for the expected onslaught on
his basic telephone <strong>business</strong> .
"Competition," sighs LabSaediia,
"is inevitable ." Cincinnati Bell has
been spending hea~ily-S113 million
last vear-to upgrade its telephone
s~6tching capacin• . It has also coaxed
some 1 .300 workers into eaulv retirement,
part of a plan to cut expenses bY
at least S50 million a vear .
He is fighting a rearguard action to
delae the competition. When the
Public Utilities Canmission of Ohio
agreed to hold hearings in 14asto
grant licenses to three ~could-be competitors-inciuding
Time Wamer in
the Cincinnati market-Laltacdiia
sued the wmmission .
Cincinnati Bell's opponents complain
that La-Macchiais using his law-
Yers to stall competition . La1V•Iacchia
says he's merclv flghtuig for rules that
will let his companv compete on an
equal tooting . This cauld mean raising
rates for some subsidized custonr
ers-a political hot potato-while
lowering rates to lucrative <strong>business</strong>
<strong>and</strong> affluent residential customers .
Othernise, competitors n°ithout the
obligation to sene all consumers
could simpiv undercut rates <strong>and</strong> take
<strong>business</strong> awav, A Cincinnati Bell executive
testitied to the commission that
without the needed protections, it
could lose uo to 60% of local market
share . "For us, this (iocal phone ser-
%-ice] is the whole bail game," savs
LaMacchia . "No other compaiw our
size has as much inrested in a single
regulatnn'jurisdiction . Ifwe don't do
it right, shame on us <strong>and</strong> shame on the
regulators," _
In one sense John La.\Iacchia has a
~ceak h<strong>and</strong>, but give him lots of credit,
He's plm-ing it right smm-tk. M
Roger Farah made an easy $14 million
last year, But this year he is going
to earn every dime he gets,
Woolworth's
woes
By Phyllis Berman with Caroline Wzder
\VEvE ALL HEARD <strong>and</strong> read about
o erpaid e .ccuti ves, but Roger Farah
takes the prize . Farah got S 14 million
for less than four months' work . He
began as president of RH . 'viacv &
Co . in Julv 1994, <strong>and</strong> \Nas a couple of
~reeks on the job when Macy agreed
to merge with Federated Department
VJaotrrorfh Chiei E;ecutive Xcer Roger Farah
He wanted challenges .
He's got them .
Stores . Just before Christmas the deal
«as done <strong>and</strong> Farah walked awav with
the .S ] .-F miilion he had been guaranteed
in the eent of a change of
control ofthe compan} .
Farah had no trouble l<strong>and</strong>ing anotherjoh
. Asuave,confident42-cearold,
his reputation was hrmh• cstab-
Furh