Potlatch Corp

Georgia-Pacific Corp., Louisiana-Pacific Corp., Champion International Corp. and Potlatch Corp. reported lower second-quarter profits Thursday, as paper prices dropped from the exceptionally strong year-ago quarter. All but Louisiana-Pacific were able to beat Wall Street earnings estimates, though. Thursday's earnings, along with International Paper Co.'

Potlatch, Simpson Settle Environmental Suits: Two of 15 companies that California and the federal government sued in June, 1990, under a long-ignored provision of environmental law have entered consent decrees agreeing to pay $12 million. The suits were brought to recover natural-resource damages the governments said began when San Francisco-based Potlatch Corp. began recycling office paper at its Pomona plant in 1971.

California-based firms on the Standard & Poor's 500 index, ranked by 52-week stock price change. *--* Rank Company 52-week % change 1 Sun Microsystems, Inc. 157 2 Cisco Systems Inc. 144 3 Times Mirror Company 112 4 Raychem Corporation 109 5 Gap, Inc., The 76 6 Amgen, Inc. 66 7 Computer Sciences Corp. 62 8 Oracle Corporation 61 9 ALZA Corporation 57 10 Hewlett-Packard Company 56 11 3Com Corporation 52 12 Wells Fargo & Co.

Potlatch Corp. plans to spend $21.3 million to modify one of its two Lewiston paperboard machines to produce multi-ply paperboard by mid-1990. Potlatch, already a supplier of liquid packaging board in the U.S. and Pacific Rim markets, said multi-ply paperboard will offer an alternative to producers of gable-top containers such as milk cartons and can be used in the growing number of brick-shaped packages.

Charles R. Weaver, chairman and CEO of Oakland-based Clorox Co., has been elected a director of Potlatch Corp., San Francisco.

Potlatch Corp.: The San Francisco-based manufacturer of forest products reported first-quarter earnings of $36 million, a gain of 35% over a year ago. Sales grew 15% to $297 million. The firm attributed the results to continuing strong market for pulp-based products. However, it did note that second-quarter results will be adversely affected by scheduled major maintenance shutdowns at its Lewiston, Ida. and Cypress Bend, Ark., mills. Tables, Page 5

Madden Resigns as CEO of Potlatch: Potlatch Corp.'s chief executive, Richard Madden, says he plans to retire May 19 from the job he has held for more than 20 years. Madden, 64, has headed the forest products company since 1971. He will remain on the board. John Richards, the company's president and chief operating officer, will succeed Madden. L. Pendleton Siegel, vice president of pulp-based operations and planning, will succeed Richards.

Companies ranked by total number of employees worldwide in 1994. Total Calif. % Rank Company employees employees Calif. 1 Safeway Inc. 110,000 NA NA 2 BankAmerica Corp. 98,556 58,000 59% 3 Hewlett-Packard Co. 98,400 27,000 27% 4 Lockheed Corp. 82,500 22,499 27% 5 Walt Disney Co. 74,000 18,000 24% 6 Rockwell Int'l Corp. 71,891 18,100 25% 7 Seagate Technology Inc. 53,000 3,175 6% 8 Pacific Telesis Group 48,000 48,000 100% 9 Dole Food Inc. 46,000 7,149 16% 10 Chevron Corp.

Madden Resigns as CEO of Potlatch: Potlatch Corp.'s chief executive, Richard Madden, says he plans to retire May 19 from the job he has held for more than 20 years. Madden, 64, has headed the forest products company since 1971. He will remain on the board. John Richards, the company's president and chief operating officer, will succeed Madden. L. Pendleton Siegel, vice president of pulp-based operations and planning, will succeed Richards.

Companies ranked by total employees worldwide in 1992. Total Calif. % Rank Company Emplys Emplys Calif 1 Hewlett-Packard Co. 92,600 25,000 27 2 BankAmerica Corp. 83,200 NA NA 3 Safeway Inc. 78,538 14,000 18 4 Rockwell International 77,000 22,000 29 5 Lockheed Corp. 71,000 NA NA 6 Walt Disney Co. 70,000 17,500 25 7 Hilton Hotels Corp. 70,000 6,930 10 8 Pacific Telesis Corp. 61,346 54,288 88 9 Chevron Corp. 55,123 18,000 33 10 Dole Food Co. Inc.

Two companies accused in a massive government pollution suit of contaminating Los Angeles County coastal waters have agreed to pay $12 million as part of a proposed legal settlement, it was announced Wednesday. The agreement, filed in federal court, marks the first settlement with private defendants in the wide-ranging case, which concerns disposal of the pesticide DDT and PCB chemicals in local waters from the 1950s through the 1970s. Simpson Paper Co. and Potlatch Corp.

Potlatch, Simpson Settle Environmental Suits: Two of 15 companies that California and the federal government sued in June, 1990, under a long-ignored provision of environmental law have entered consent decrees agreeing to pay $12 million. The suits were brought to recover natural-resource damages the governments said began when San Francisco-based Potlatch Corp. began recycling office paper at its Pomona plant in 1971.