100 Abbott Park Rd., North Chicago 60064; 847-937-6100
Web site: www.abbott.com
Founded: 1888
Employees: 56,000; 15,000 in Illinois.
Year-end: Dec 31
Foreign sales: 37.7 percent of $12.5 billion
Chief executive: Miles D. White, 44, since January
Cash compensation: $1,714,997, up 86 percent
Options granted: $8,725,284, up 494 percent
Options, stock appreciation rights exercised: $2,938,659
Shares owned: 177,980 of 1.5 billion
Largest shareholder: Abbott Laboratories Stock Retirement Trust, 7 percent.
Stock: 365-day close as of April 15
High: $53.31
Low: $34.91
April 15: $49.94
April 15, 1999, value of $1,000 in company stock:
Purchased 1998: $1,385
Purchased 1994: $3,960
Abbott provides a diverse range of medical products, from pharmaceuticals and nutritionals to diagnostics and hospital products.
Profits have continued to be strong, although Abbott’s pharmaceutical pipeline is considered devoid of a blockbuster drug. Manufacturing problems with its anti-AIDS drug Norvir and clot-buster Abbokinase hindered sales somewhat last year.
Under new CEO Miles White, Abbott’s suspension of its share repurchases opens the door for new acquisitions that analysts hope will fit with existing businesses.
———-
A guide to the Top 100 profiles
The Tribune’s business staff profiles the Chicago area’s Top 100 public companies, based on market capitalization as of April 15. Here’s a primer on the information you’ll find:
– The CEO’s cash compensation, including bonus and other compensation paid in 1998, 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.
– The company’s largest shareholder.
– Estimated current values of stock options granted the CEO, and the change from the prior year, as well as options and stock appreciation rights exercised during the year. In most cases, the value of options granted is based on an assumption of a 5 percent annual rate of stock price growth, or is determined using the Black-Scholes option pricing model.
– Theoretical total-return investment results for shares purchased for $1,000 a year ago and five years ago. The date on which these calculations are based is April 15. 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.
Bridge News.
