Pace Of Corporate Name Changes Accelerated In 1996

MCA Inc. became Universal Studios, Capital Cities/ABC adopted the trimmer ABC Inc. and Coca-Cola Foods changed to Minute Maid Inc.

Those were three of the 1,471 corporate name changes that the identity consultant Anspach Grossman Enterprise spotted in 1996.

The total was up 27 percent from 1995 and was second only to the 1,600 changes in 1989 in the 27 years that Anspach has done the name change surveys.

Mergers and acquisitions accounted for 709 of the changes, while divestitures, spinoffs and buyouts accounted for another 179 changes. That meant 60 percent of the changes reflected corporate restructuring.

The financial community accounted for the largest number of name changes at 315, followed by 263 in the communications industry and 258 among manufacturing and industrial companies.