The Company Formerly Known As

It’s been that kind of a year for Corporate America — the kind when CEOs take the Fifth, when P.R. people seriously consider switching careers, when the only thing that will scrub a company’s name clean is … a new name.

Philip Morris made headlines last spring by rechristening itself Altria — a name that, according to the company, is meant to echo not “altruism,” but the Latin altus, or “high.” Andersen Consulting renamed itself Accenture a while back, PricewaterhouseCoopers’ consulting arm will soon do business as Monday (really: www.monday.com), and Enron is looking for a new name.

Such makeovers have a long history, though they do seem to be increasing in popularity: One consulting firm estimates that of the 3,000-plus corporate name changes last year, an unusually high number appear to be motivated not by technicalities such as mergers and acquisitions, but by image concerns. From the archives, here are a few other inspired choices.

	THEN		NOW		WHAT
	ChemLawn/Chemgreen		TruGreen LandCare		Nation’s largest landscaping company
	Tricon Global Restaurants		Yum! Brands		Owns Taco Bell, KFC, and Pizza Hut
	Binladin Telecommunications Group		Baud		Telecom equipment maker owned by Osama bin Laden’s Saudi relatives
	Agricultural Insecticide and Fungicide Association		CropLife America		Lobbying and trade association representing the nation’s 78 pesticide manufacturers
	Benton Oil and Gas Company		Harvest Natural Resources		Drills for oil and gas in Russia and Venezuela
	Nuclear Engineering		US Ecology		Disposes of toxic and radioactive waste
	Monsanto Specialty Chemicals		Solutia		A spin-off whose holdings include a string of former Monsanto chemical plants
	HomeShark		iOwn		Online mortgage and real estate listings provider