1 E. Wacker Dr., Chicago 60601; 312-661-4600
COMPANY
Founded: 1990
Year-end: Dec. 31
Employees: 7,300; 730 in Illinois
Foreign sales: None of $1.37 billion
Stock 365-day close:
High: $51.50
Low: $38.50
April 28: $48.00
April 1, 1995 value of $1,000 in company stock
Purchased 1994: $1,248.82
Purchased 1990: N.A.
CHIEF EXECUTIVE
Richard C. Vie, 57, since 1992
Cash compensation: $481,550, up 20 percent
Options granted in 1994: $933,750, down 25 percent
Options, stock appreciation rights exercised in 1994: None
Shares owned: 90,100 of 41.5 million
Unitrin, which is in the business of insuring customers that other companies might avoid, spent the last half of 1994 itself trying to avoid an unwanted $2.6 billion takeover offer from American General Corp. So far, Unitrin appears to have succeeded, largely through a stock buyback program, under which it is buying up to 15 million of its shares. American General decided not to renew its offer in February.
Both companies are major players in selling life insurance door to door. Unitrin’s 3,000 agents sell insurance in middle- and low-income neighborhoods and rural areas and return monthly to collect premiums. Another Unitrin company sells auto insurance to those who have had trouble obtaining standard insurance because of bad driving records.
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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.
