It has been spinning off unrelated businesses to focus on core mining operations, and trimming costs.

All told, he spun off businesses with $4.4 billion in sales and acquired ones with $5 billion in sales.

This year alone, it is spinning off businesses with sales of more than $5 billion.

Corning Inc. said yesterday that it would spin off its laboratory-testing and pharmaceutical-services businesses to shareholders, creating two additional, independent companies.

He spun off non-tire related businesses, including the Firestone Country Club.

Between 1995 and 1997, Jenoptik sold or spun off businesses with combined sales of about $470 million.

Hamang Dave, a vice president responsible for incubating and eventually spinning off new businesses, quit last September.

Both had begun restructuring themselves, cutting back their work forces and spinning off marginal businesses to focus on the core steel and auto-parts enterprises.

AT&T, after spinning off Lucent and other businesses over the past several years, including its cable operations, let 10,000 employees go worldwide.

Profits fell 9 percent from a year earlier, when the company spun off businesses, but met analysts' estimates.