Cobalt, a very good discourse on the subject of why people are getting taller.
Also that tofu salad sounds great--yum yum
I sending you an article on Nucor steel since you were mentioning it the other day in Mythland.
June 4, 1999
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Nucor CEO Steps Down Suddenly,
Sending Steel Firm's Stock Sliding
By CHRIS ADAMS
Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Nucor Corp.'s chief executive resigned, partly because of disagreements over how to lead the fast-growing steel company, and the company's current chairman took over his duties.
Top Two Steelmakers' Results Decline, Hurt by Drops in Shipments and Prices (April 23)
The news that John D. Correnti was stepping down as CEO, president, vice chairman and a director surprised Wall Street, and Nucor's shares fell $4.25, or 8%, to $47 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Nucor is considered one of the nation's top steel companies. Indeed, some analysts predict that within the next year or so it will surpass USX-U.S. Steel Group to become the largest, in terms of steel shipments.
Succeeding Mr. Correnti as CEO and president will be H. David Aycock, who has been chairman since Jan. 1. Mr. Aycock, who is 68 years old, has been a director since 1971, was president and chief operating officer from 1984 to 1991 and was vice president from 1965 to 1984.
Mr. Correnti had been with the Charlotte, N.C., steelmaker since 1980. He was president and chief operating officer from 1991 to 1996 and CEO since 1996.
Neither Mr. Correnti, 51, nor Nucor would specify what brought about the resignation. In an interview, Mr. Correnti did say that it was a "personal decision, and it concerns the future direction of the company."
"I think we have different ideas about corporate strategy and about the direction of the company," he added. However, he also said there was no specific incident or disagreement with Mr. Aycock individually or the board in general that triggered his decision. "I've got no specifics for you, and I don't think there are any specifics," he said.
Mr. Correnti acknowledged that he was disappointed when he was passed over as chairman but that the issue was behind him and wasn't a triggering point in his resignation.
Mr. Aycock said there would be little change in the company's short-term strategy, but he did add that the board and Mr. Correnti were at odds over the company's long-term direction. "Some people think there's a crisis of management; there's no crisis of management or crisis of direction," he told Dow Jones Newswires. "There was never a power struggle between John [Correnti] and I.
"It appeared that John is a very good steel man," he said. "We don't think the company should be restricted to steel-making and steel products."
Nucor's board expects to continue growing in the steel industry and in steel products, but it may also consider "looking at other industries," Mr. Aycock said.
Nucor is the nation's top operator of steel minimills, which take scrap metal and remelt it to roll new steel products. With its low-cost, nonunion mills, the company revolutionized the U.S. steel industry and grew rapidly; Analyst Richard Aldrich of Lehman Brothers projects that in the year 2000, Nucor will ship 11.4 million tons of steel, surpassing U.S. Steel, at 11.25 million tons projected for the year.
But although Nucor has grown rapidly in the past decade by building new mills, it now is at a crossroads, Mr. Aldrich said. "Nucor's big dilemma is growth," he said. "They've been such a tremendous grower in the past, but now they're so big, it's harder to match that growth. Do you build more mills? Buy existing ones? Go overseas?"
Although Mr. Correnti was never regarded with the near reverence of his predecessor -- F. Kenneth Iverson, whose status in the modern U.S. steel industry is legendary -- he was regarded as a good operator and steward of the company. In fact, as the steel industry has faced a wave of cheap imports that have battered earnings over the past year, Nucor has continued to fare relatively well. "Most of the industry thought well of him," said Mr. Aldrich. "I don't think he'll have any trouble getting a job."
Mr. Correnti said he has no fixed plans. "I'll be pursuing some other opportunities, maybe in the industry, maybe outside of it," he said.
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