Reebok

Advertiser: Reebok International Agency: Heater, Boston Challenge: Introduce a new shoe endorsed by tarnished pro basketball player Allen Iverson. The Ad: A TV commercial pitching the $150 shoe flashes images of a menacing urban mural as a voice-over recites a rap song written for the spot. The lyrics talk about Iverson's "spats with the system" and his ability to rise above it--"accelerate, levitate"--with Reebok's "DMX 2 Triple O."

Reebok International Ltd.'s shareholders approved a proposal at its annual meeting that asks the company to have all its directors elected at the same time. The nonbinding proposal was submitted in February by the California Public Employees' Retirement System, or Calpers, which holds about 599,900 Reebok shares. Almost 53% of Reebok's shareholders approved the proposal, Calpers said.

Reebok International Ltd. has combined its domestic and international Reebok divisions, and the president of the U.S. operation has announced his resignation. Frank O'Connell, who was president of the U.S. division the past two years, said he was departing the athletic-shoe company "with positive feelings." "It was a situation where I didn't see the opportunity to exercise my leadership skills," O'Connell, 46, said in a phone interview. "I don't want to stay unless I could really run it."

These have been trying times for A. Lee Fentress, a globe-trotting 45-year-old lawyer who co-founded Advantage International Inc., a 3 1/2-year-old Washington-based sports management firm that represents more than 150 athletes from nine offices on four continents.

Reebok International Ltd. said it filed a lawsuit against Sony Corp.'s TriStar Pictures Inc. unit for not including a Reebok commercial in its recently released "Jerry Maguire" film. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in the Central District of California, seeks at least $10 million in damages for each of 12 claims, including breach of contract, trademark infringement and negligent misrepresentation.

Reebok International said Friday that James Barclay will relinquish his job as president of the Reebok Footwear division to take on "critical areas of business development" in his continuing role as executive vice president of the parent corporation. Barclay, 46, who helped found the U.S. version of Reebok in 1979 with Chairman Paul Fireman, 43, has not been demoted, spokesman John Gillis said.

Reebok International tapped a former top Sony executive to help the athletic shoemaker revive its namesake brand and stock price. Carl Yankowski, 50, was named president and chief executive of the Reebok brand, responsible for overseeing licensing, sales, sports, marketing and advertising, as well as development of shoes and clothing. Yankowski, who resigned in January as president and chief operating officer of Sony Electronics Inc., a Sony Corp. unit, replaced Robert Meers.

Asics Tiger Corp. in Irvine and its Japanese parent company, shoe maker Asics Corp., said Wednesday that it has filed a federal lawsuit accusing Reebok International Ltd. of infringing on its tiger stripes trademark. Asics Tiger said in a press release that the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Boston, contends that Reebok uses the tiger stripes on the Polo Sport RLX Lite shoes. The suit also names Polo Ralph Lauren Corp. and Reebok subsidiary Ralph Lauren Footwear Co. Inc.

Reebok International Ltd., the No. 2 U.S. maker of athletic shoes, said first-quarter earnings rose 5.1%, helped by footwear endorsed by rap musicians. Net income climbed to $43.2 million, or 70 cents a share, from $41.1 million, or 63 cents, a year earlier, Canton, Mass.-based Reebok said. Revenue increased 11% to $925 million, boosted by the dollar's decline against the euro and the pound. Reebok shares rose 61 cents to $42.64 on the NYSE.

C. Joseph LeBonte has resigned as president, chief operating officer and a director of Reebok International to return to the presidency of Vantage Group, a Palos Verdes-based venture capital firm. LeBonte founded the investment firm in 1983 after he resigned as president of 20th Century Fox. LeBonte, 50, joined Reebok in March, 1987. Paul Fireman, Reebok's chairman and chief executive, will assume LeBonte's titles and duties, a spokesman for the Stoughton, Mass.-based company said.