CLAIBORNE’S ZANNINO TO DOW JONES
NEW YORK — Richard Zannino has resigned as executive vice president of Liz Claiborne Inc., effective Jan. 26, to become chief financial officer of Dow Jones & Co.
Claiborne said it was looking for a “high-level” replacement to fill his shoes.
For the time being, Paul Charron, chairman and chief executive officer, will be taking over supervision of the departments reporting to Zannino. These include: finance, information systems and, under one group president, retail, licensing and cosmetics.
A company spokeswoman confirmed that a search for a permanent replacement was under way, but couldn’t specify a time frame for when the position would be filled.
“We anticipate the seamless transition of Rich Zannino’s responsibilities,” said the ceo in a statement. “I will directly supervise a very talented finance team, led by Michael Scarpa, vice president and chief financial officer,” noted Charron.
The diversified apparel firm, based here, also said it expects its fourth-quarter and 2000 diluted earnings per share to fall in line with Wall Street’s consensus of 95 cents and $3.58, respectively, before special charges. Claiborne reported it would record a pretax restructuring charge of approximately $15 million to $17 million in the fourth quarter to cover the costs of staff reduction, real estate consolidations and asset write-downs.
Sales for the fourth quarter are expected to increase 11 percent over year-ago results of $677.1 million.
Denise Seegal resigned as president of Liz Claiborne in late November and is not being replaced. Charron has assumed her day-to-day management responsibilities.