Word: du
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1980-1989
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...largest white knight merger of all was Du Pont's purchase of Conoco in September 1981 for $7.4 billion, against hostile bids by Mobil and Seagram. Conoco has turned into Du Pont's most profitable division; its performance blocked Du Pont's earnings last year from being even lower than they were. But the recession has weighed heavily on the chemical giant, making the huge debt from the Conoco purchase harder to carry, and forcing the company to omit its customary extra year-end dividend. To save money, Du Pont executives have announced plans to close Conoco...
Located on the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore, Paris' poshest shopping avenue, Minim's features the miniwich, a two-bite sandwich for seven francs (about $1) that is stuffed with such fillings as goose liver pâté or tomato and Gruyère cheese. For a little more than $3, patrons can partake of "eggplant caviar" in an avocado boat or hearts of palm peppered with paprika. While the $6 to $9 bill for a full meal may be more than at a Burger King in Paris, the price beats the $75 average at Maxim...
There are several explanations for France's movie mania. The simplest is the deplorable state of French television, which is vastly inferior to that in neighboring countries. "People are fleeing their homes in search of entertainment," says Daniel Toscan du Plantier, president of Gaumont, the country's biggest film conglomerate. "Everyone knows that our television is the most boring in the world. The Socialist government has programmed intellectual talk shows for Saturday night at 8:30. Even Socialist countries in Eastern Europe wouldn't dream of doing that. There would be riots in the streets...
That is something that the Paris moguls would like to change, and they believe that they have found the way to do it "With cable TV, there's a whole new and very large American market out there for French films," says Toscan du Plantier. "The cable audience wants movies that are made for legitimate theater release and that are made with a quality that can't be found in the usual made-for-TV product. The cable networks need 1,000 movies a year. U.S. studios don't have the talent to satisfy such a vast...
...stimulate a mass taste for the Gallic product, Toscan du Plantier's company is planning a February release of one of its biggest hits, La Boum, which can be compared to the Gidget movies that appealed to American teen-agers in the '60s. Similar films will follow, all dubbed into English, and by the end of 1983, there will be, inevitably, something called La Boum II. By 1984, presumably, Toscan du Plantier will know whether he has a La Boum III or Le Bust...