Business briefs for January 23, 2002

Wednesday, Jan. 23, 2002 | 9:21 a.m.

More taxis authorized for upcoming convention

Las Vegas' 14 taxi companies have been authorized to put more cabs on the streets during the upcoming MAGIC -- Men's Apparel Guild in California -- convention.

The Taxicab Authority of Nevada approved three additional cabs per company for Feb. 18, the day before the show begins, and seven cabs each for Feb. 19-21, from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m., daily, and Feb. 22 from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., the last day of the show.

The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority estimated that MAGIC would draw about 100,000 people to the city, prompting the temporary additions to taxi fleets.

Cab companies generally lobby for additional cabs during big conventions while drivers and their unions ask for smaller allocations so each driver can make more money.

Decisions on allocations have been more controversial since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks because convention officials have had a harder time projecting how many people would be attending shows. The Taxicab Authority's administrator has been given the authority to reduce the number of cabs allocated if convention attendance is below projections.

Conglomerate splitting four ways

NEW YORK -- Frustrated by its lowly stock price, Tyco International said Tuesday that it will break itself into four pieces, a step it hopes will boost the combined value of the new publicly traded companies.

Tyco, which wowed Wall Street in the 1990s with an aggressive acquisition strategy, has seen its stock price battered this year by rumors and worries that its heady growth rate might not be sustainable.

Under the plan unveiled Tuesday, Tyco, maker of ADT burglar alarms, syringes and large valves, said it will create four independent companies.

Three of its businesses -- health care, financial services, and fire protection and flow control -- will be taken public through initial public offerings by year's end. Its security and electronics businesses will be combined to form the fourth entity, which will be run by Tyco's current management team.

Retail executive dead at 96

DALLAS -- Stanley Marcus, the man who turned the Neiman Marcus department store into a symbol of luxury and taste, had a philosophy as elegant as his stores.

"I do believe the best is discernible to the observant eye," he once said.

During a 50-year career at Neiman Marcus, his very name became synonymous with that philosophy, setting an industry standard for customer service and high-end merchandise.

Marcus, the chairman emeritus of the company, died Tuesday with family members at his side, a spokeswoman for Stanley Marcus Consultancy said. He was 96.

"Today we've lost an icon and patriarch in the business," said Walter Loeb, publisher of the Loeb Retail Letter.

Marcus' father, aunt and uncle founded Neiman Marcus in 1907 in downtown Dallas.