1000 Milwaukee Ave., Glenview 60025, 708-391-7000
Founded: 1918
Fiscal year-end: Dec. 31
Chief executive: Jerry K. Pearlman, 52, elected 1983
1990 cash compensation: $450,000
Shares owned: 54,623 of 29.1 million common shares
Employees: about 25,000; some 6,000 in Illinois
Foreign sales: About 6 percent of $1.4 billion total
May 1, 1991 value of $1,000 in company stock:
Purchased May 1, 1990: $757
Purchased May 1, 1986: $283
Zenith, the last major American-owned television-maker, has been losing money for several years. Nevertheless, shareholders backed the firm in its proxy fight with New Jersey-based Nycor Inc., electing management`s slate of directors at the April 24 annual meeting.
Chief Executive Jerry Pearlman`s strategy has been to develop new technology that will restore profitability later in this decade while staying in the consumer electronics business. Sale of Zenith Data Systems, a laptop computer-maker, to the French government-owned Groupe Bull in 1989 confirmed Zenith`s commitment to consumer electronics.
Key to Pearlman`s strategy is Federal Communications Commission adoption of Zenith`s version of high-definition television, or HDTV, as the U.S. standard. An FCC decision on the matter is expected next year. Zenith is collaborating with American Telephone & Telegraph Co. in developing HDTV technology.
Another basic part of Pearlman`s strategy is Zenith`s flat tension mask picture-tube manufacturing technology.
