March 4, 2004

New York Rangers trade defenseman Brian Leetch to Toronto Maple Leafs for two draft picks and two prospects, ending Leetch's 17-season career with Rangers; photos (M)

New York City Economic Development Corp officials are entertaining ideas for transforming Queens (NYC) area known as Iron Triangle, where 13 blocks have evolved into largest stretch of automotive junkyards and repair shops in city; city plans to buy area and clean up years of pollutants for estimated cost of $214 million; photos (M)

When Jorge Paulo Lemann, Carlos Alberto Sicupira and Marcel Telles bought Companhia Cervejaria Brahma in 1989, what the three investment bankers got for their $50 million was a traditional, but somewhat tired Brazilian brewery that barely dripped dividends. On Wednesday, the trio agreed to swap their controlling stake in AmBev, the top Brazilian top brewer that grew from Brahma, to Belgium's Interbrew in a complex equity deal that would give them a major stake in what would be the world's largest beermaker by volume and -- according to people close to the deal -- would give them nearly $3 billion in Interbrew shares. The three will have a right to name four board members of the new company, as will Interbrew.

Chief executives of the nation's largest companies say they are finally ready to begin hiring again. For the first time in at least a year and a half, more executives plan to increase employment in the United States over the next six months than plan to cut jobs, according to a survey released yesterday by the Business Roundtable, a lobbying group. Thirty-three percent of the executives said they would add jobs, up from just 12 percent in October, while 22 percent said they would reduce the number of employees.

Corporate democracy in America has most often been a lot like Soviet democracy: the votes didn't really matter, because only one candidate was on the ballot and was assured of winning, whatever the voters thought. In a sense, the vote against Michael D. Eisner yesterday falls into that category. The preliminary count shows that Mr. Eisner, the chairman and chief executive of Disney, had 43 percent of the votes withheld from him in his re-election as director. But he still won, picking up the support of 57 percent of those who voted.