One First National Plaza, P.O. Box A-3005, Chicago 60690; 800-950-2377
COMPANY
Founded: 1907
Year-end: Dec. 31
Employees: 18,760; all in Illinois
Foreign sales: None of $6.3 billion
Stock 365-day close:
High: $26.26
Low: $20.625
April 28: $26.25
April 1, 1995 value of $1,000 in company stock
Purchased 1994: $1,012.27
Purchased 1990: $989.49
CHIEF EXECUTIVE
James J. O’Connor, 58, since 1980
Cash compensation: $1,351,762, up 40 percent
Value of options granted in 1994: None, unchanged
Value of options, stock appreciation rights exercised in 1994: None
Shares owned: 26,454 of 214.5 million
Restricted stock: None
Commonwealth Edison Co. underwent a major transformation in 1994, as shareholders voted to form a new holding company-Unicom Corp.-that executives of the company believe will allow the utility to compete more broadly in the unfolding electric marketplace.
With the formation of Unicom, the electric company will be free to create independent subsidiaries outside its core businesses that aren’t subject to oversight by state regulators.
For consumers of electricity, however, the corporate transformation hasn’t meant a thing. They continue to write checks for their monthly electric bills to Commonwealth Edison. Under the transformation, Commonwealth Edison became a Unicom subsidiary.
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The Tribune’s business reporting staff profiles the Chicago area’s Top 100 companies, based on market capitalization as of April 28, 1995.
The information in the profiles was obtained from the following sources:
– Company reports, including annual reports, public stock offering prospectuses and proxy statements.
– Interviews with company officials.
– Reports by securities analysts.
– News reports.
– Dow Jones News/Retrieval, an on-line service of Dow Jones & Co., New York.
– Bloomberg Business News, New York.
– TMS Stocks, a subsidiary of Tribune Media Services Inc., a unit of Tribune Co., Chicago.
– Morningstar Inc., Chicago.
– “First Chicago Guide,” published by Scholl Communications, Deerfield.
– “Hoover’s Handbook,” The Reference Press Inc., Austin, Texas.
Each profile includes the 365-day high, low and April 28, 1995, closing stock price for the company. Theoretical total-return investment results for shares purchased for $1,000 a year ago and five years ago also are shown. The date on which those calculations are based is April 1. The results assume reinvestment of dividends on a quarterly basis.
Each profile includes the chief executive’s cash compensation, including bonus and other compensation paid in 1994, along with the change from the prior year. The figure for the CEO’s stock holdings includes shares the CEO had the right to acquire within 60 days of the proxy statement’s issuance.
