Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.trends From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: trends Thu, Feb 27 1992 Date: Thu, 27 Feb 92 06:04:26 EST Message-ID: DECISIONLINE: Trends & Marketing USA TODAY Update Feb. 27, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network CEO PAY COMES UNDER SCRUTINY: IBM Chairman John Akers' expected 40% pay cut flashes a warning signal to directors setting CEO pay. Pay for performance has become a rallying cry as Congress, regulators and shareholders scrutinize runaway pay. "Corporate America is going to start ... regulating itself," says John Nash of the National Association of Corporate Directors. "Public pressure is going to insist upon it." (For more, see special Pay package below.) WINES CHALLENGE OLD FAVORITES: The two top-selling wines in the USA are facing growing competition from high-quality, often cheaper rivals after decades of dominance. Red cabernet sauvignon and white chardonnay are central to restaurant wine lists. But top wineries are devoting more attention to the reds pinot noir and merlot and the white sauvignon blanc and Riesling. CONSUMERS ARE BRANCHING OUT: As vintners have become more adept at bringing out the best in the sometimes-finicky grapes used for pinot noir, merlot, sauvignon blanc and Riesling, more consumers have grown comfortable with wine and they're ready to branch out. "There's more experimentation going on," according to Kevin Corley of Monticello Cellars in Napa Valley. Monticello can't keep its pinot noir on the shelf. WHITES NOT TURNING TO ADOPTION: The chance that a white unwed mother will give up her baby for adoption has dropped dramatically in 20 years. Before 1973, almost 20% of unwed white mothers did. By the late 1980s, that was down to 3%, says a new analysis in The Alan Guttmacher Institute's Family Planning Perspectives. Abortion became legal after 1973. Less than 2% of black and Hispanic mothers have ever given up babies. EVERGLADES ADDS RECYCLING: Florida's Everglades this week became the sixth national park with a recycling program. USA TODAY research shows that in 1990, 7,066 32-gallon garbage cans of recycled materials were claimed from the other parks. In 1991, 18,282 cans full of recyclables were filled at the parks. PARTY ON, NIRVANA: Nirvana wins big in the Village Voice's annual Pazz & Jop Critics' Poll, on newsstands this week. The victory debunks "all that rock-is-dead poppycock," says the Voice's Joe Levy. Rock dominated, women fared poorly and hip-hop slipped in the results. Nirvana's "Nevermind" topped the album list. The band's "Smells Like Teen Spirit" was first in single and video categories. NBC TRIES SEAMLESS NIGHT: Saturday marks the second "seamless" night of Witt-Thomas Productions, when casts of The Golden Girls," "Empty Nest" and "Nurses" come in and out of each other's shows on NBC. The concept: A full moon which makes people do nutty things. Last November's seamless night - featuring a hurricane in Miami - got all three shows their highest ratings of the season. STOCK SPLITS ARE POPULAR: Stock splits are in vogue these days. And they're giving stocks a boost. Wednesday, insurance company GEICO climbed 10 to $219 after it proposed a five-for-one stock split and upped its dividend 32% on a presplit basis. Merck announced a three-for-one split Tuesday. Walt Disney and Coca-Cola have announced splits. They make it easier for individual investors to buy stock. DIETING LOSES FAVOR: There's been increasing talk lately that strenuous dieting is out in favor of knowledgeable maintenance. It's an idea embraced by weight loss researcher John Foreyt, who says many people waste their lives dieting. "They are continually battling food," he says. He and co-author G. Ken Goodrick have a book, "Living Without Dieting," they hope will help people break the habit. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON PAY: IBM HAS PERFORMANCE FORMULA: IBM Chairman John Akers' 40% pay cut was revealed this week. He expects to have made about $1.6 million for last year. The cut results from IBM's pay-for-performance compensation formula, in place more than a decade. IBM reported a $2.8 billion loss last year, the first in its history. The company is one of several under fire from investors for overpaying executives as performance slips. PAY KEEPING UP WITH JONESES: CEO pay has become keeping up with the Joneses in recent years, says John Wilcox of investment-relations firm Georgeson & Co. "One company raises CEO pay, all the other companies rush to do the same." He says a Securities and Exchange Commission proposal to require board disclosure of criteria used in setting CEO pay will make it easier for boards to resist CEO demands. CEO PAY BILLS IN CONGRESS: Two bills aimed at curbing excessive CEO pay are under consideration in Congress. Only about 10% to 15% of Fortune 500 companies have pay-for-performance formulas that punish poor CEO performance, says Ira Kay, compensation specialist with Hay Group, but "that's definitely growing just in the last six months." The Democratic tax bill has a proviso aimed at excessive compensation. (End of package.) Trends & Marketing Editor: Beth Mann. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. 08:0002270000D0227 TRAV- R I Word-is-ITT-may-drop-Sheraton......... A D0227 This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. 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