• The year in business

        Not that you can judge a year by its numbers, but if you could, how would 2000 have stacked up?

        It all depends on your vantage point. If you invested only in stocks tracked by the Nasdaq Composite Index, you could be almost 40 percent poorer than you were at the start of the year.

        But if you held only Interlott Technologies, you would have more than doubled your money. L. Rogers Wells Jr., chairman of the Mason-based lottery machine maker, watched his 53 percent stake in the company rise in value from $8.7 million to more than $22 million, based on numbers from the most recent proxy statement.

        For Mr. Wells, it was a good year.

        But not for Carl H. Lindner Jr. and his family, who have seen their stakes in the family's insurance, banana and banking companies decline by almost $400 million during the year.

        Or for the thousands of Procter & Gamble shareholders in Greater Cincinnati. Don't forget the day in March when they watched their holdings plummet more than 30 percent. Despite seeing a small rebound, retirees' and investors' P&G holdings are still down almost a third in value from one year ago.

Cincinnati gas prices hit a high in June. (Enquirer file photo) | ZOOM |

        Other numbers for the year also present a mixed bag:

        • $1.91: The highest price of a gallon of gas in Greater Cincinnati, on June 20.

        • 2: The number of stores Nordstrom announced, then canceled, for Greater Cincinnati.

        • 4.2: The average number of overtime hours Greater Cincinnati manufacturing workers put in during November.

        • 7.59: The lowest average rate on 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages in Greater Cincinnati for the year, hit on Dec. 18. The highest average rate was 8.70, on May 22.

        • 8: The percent that unemployment claims have risen for the year, through November. Total unemployment stood at 4.0 percent for Greater Cincinnati that month.

        • 11: The number of months discount carrier Vanguard Airlines operated at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport before pulling out, for a second time.

        • 11: The number of ramps on and off the new Fort Washington Way, which opened in August.

        • 12: The number of stores introduced to the Cincinnati market when Rookwood Commons opened in August.

Jeffery I. Immelt (right) was picked to succeed GE chairman Jack Welch (Enquirer file photo) | ZOOM |

        • 30: Number of free long-distance minutes a month available to subscribers of Cincinnati Bell's new “Any Distance” program.

        • 44: The age of Jeffery I. Immelt, the Finneytown native named in November as General Electric Co.'s president and chairman-elect to succeed the legendary Jack Welch.

        • $53.63: Procter & Gamble stock's lowest closing price for the year, hit in June. Its high came in January at $117.75 a share.

        • 54: The number of years E.W. Scripps chairman William Burleigh worked in journalism before his retirement from the parent company of the Cincinnati Post.

        • $95: The amount that a Cinergy bill is expected to rise next month compared to January 2000 because of the recent cold snap and natural gas price hikes this fall

        • 95: The number of years Kathman's Shoe Repair operated downtown before closing, after the city said it would relocate a Walgreens to Sixth and Race streets, displacing several small businesses.

        • 125: The number of daily flights Delta Air Lines cut from its schedule after its pilots, in contract negotiations with the airline, declined to fly the overtime necessary to complete Delta's schedule.

        • 130: The number of corporate workers released from Elder-Beerman Stores Corp. as part of a restructuring plan to eliminate millions of dollars in expenses.

        • 63,000: The number of passengers every day at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport.

        • $4 million: The amount Madison Marquette Realty paid for the former McAlpin's building on Fourth Street downtown.

        • $75 million: The amount Mr. Lindner's Great American Insurance Co. will pay over 30 years for the naming rights to the Cincinnati Reds' new ballpark.

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