10 S. Dearborn St., Chicago, 60690; 312-394-7399
Founded: 1887
Fiscal year-end: Dec. 31
Employees: 17,045, all in Illinois
Foreign sales: None of $6.9 billion
Chief executive
James J. O’Connor, 59, since 1980
1995 cash compensation: $1,751,954, up 30 percent
Value of options granted in 1995: None, unchanged
Value of options, stock appreciation rights exercised in 1995: None, unchanged.
Shares owned: 27,796 of 215.2 million
Largest shareholder: N.A.
Stock 365-day close
High: $35.375
Low: $25.50
May 1, 1996: $27.375
May 1, 1996 value of $1,000 in company stock:
Purchased May 1, 1995: $1,106.73
Purchased May 1, 1991: $1,006.46
The new ventures of Unicom, which was formed as a holding company two years ago, are still in the developmental stages, so the company’s performance rises and falls with that of its largest subsidiary, Commonwealth Edison Co.
The company late last year finally produced its version of a deregulation plan for state officials to consider. Meanwhile, ComEd has reduced its payroll by almost 11 percent in the last five years.
The biggest decision has yet to be made: who is going to pay off the huge debt piled up to build ComEd’s fleet of nuclear power plants when deregulation finally comes.
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A guide to the Top 100 profiles
The Tribune’s business reporting staff profiles the Chicago area’s Top 100 companies, based on market capitalization as of May 1, 1996. Here’s a quick primer on the information you’ll find.
– The CEO’s cash compensation, including bonus and other compensation paid in 1995, 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.
– Estimated current values of stock options granted the CEO, as reported in the proxy statement, and the change from the previous or prior year, as well as options and stock appreciation rights exercised during the year. In most cases, the current value of options granted is based on the assumption of a 5 percent annual rate of stock price growth.
– Theoretical total-return investment results for shares purchased for $1,000 a year ago and five years ago. The date on which those calculations are based is May 1. The results assume reinvestment of dividends on a quarterly basis.
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.
