NATION

Jeffrey E. Epstein has been named chief financial officer of King World Productions Inc., New York. Epstein previously was a vice president in the mergers and acquisitions group of First Boston Corp., specializing in television, radio, newspaper and other media sectors. At least five others have left the mergers and acquisition group of First Boston recently.

While at First Boston, Epstein’s clients included Adams Communications, King World and United Broadcasting. He participated in many of First Boston’s media mergers and acquisitions assignments, including ABC’s merger with Capital Cities, Cox Enterprises’ acquisition of Cox Communications, the New Yorker magazine sale to Newhouse’s Advance Publications, and the Des Moines Register’s sale to Gannett.

King World syndicates first-run television programming, including “Wheel of Fortune,” “Jeopardy!” and “The Oprah Winfrey Show.”