Geoffrey C Bible

Top tobacco executives personally stand to gain more than $200 million in stock option profits if Wall Street remains enthusiastic about the giant tobacco truce as most analysts predict, a new report issued Wednesday said. The biggest winner would be Geoffrey C. Bible, Philip Morris chairman and chief executive, whose stock options could grow in value by $72.9 million, according to the report issued by the Institute for Policy Studies, a liberal think tank based in Washington.

Mattel Inc.'s new leader, Robert A. Eckert, received a warm reception from investors and analysts Wednesday based on little more than reporting to work. Shares of the nation's largest and most troubled toy maker surged 13%, or $1.50, to $12.75 in New York Stock Exchange trading Wednesday as Mattel officially announced the selection of Eckert, president and chief executive of giant Kraft Foods Co., to replace Jill Barad as chief executive of El Segundo-based Mattel.

In a public relations embarrassment for the tobacco industry that could reverberate to Washington, jurors in Minnesota's big tobacco trial Friday began viewing a videotaped deposition in which the former top scientist for Philip Morris Cos. invoked the 5th Amendment 135 times. Despite extraordinary pressure from Philip Morris, Thomas S.

Hoping to ensure the future of their business, the heads of the five biggest tobacco companies went before Congress on Thursday to try to persuade lawmakers that they have turned over a new leaf and will aid the fight against youth smoking if Congress ratifies the $368.5-billion tobacco truce.

Philip Morris Cos., parent of Kraft Foods, on Sunday agreed to buy cookie and cracker giant Nabisco Holdings Corp. for $14.9 billion, making the nation's largest food company even more powerful with brands on virtually every supermarket aisle. The announcement comes at a time when many of the largest players in the slow-growing food business have been looking to consolidate in order to cut costs, boost sales and increase their clout with grocery retailers.

With a magic wand, America's tobacco companies a year ago would have stripped power from Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Los Angeles), putting their legislative fate in the hands of someone more sympathetic--say the ex-mayor of Richmond, Va., where Philip Morris Cos. Inc. is king.

When Mark Winkler decided last month that he wanted a new job, he made a couple of telephone calls. Within 48 hours, the 41-year-old executive had more than 700 e-mails from headhunters representing everything from "dot-com" start-ups to Fortune 100 corporations. Some asked for a resume. Others invited him to interview, and one offered a job--sight unseen. Within two weeks, 15 job offers had been express-mailed to Winkler's home.

Let health groups call them drug pushers; let members of Congress hand them their heads. U.S. cigarette makers are riding high, now that the world is Marlboro Country. Americans keep smoking less, but tobacco companies are finding more than enough foreigners to take their places.