ITT to Consolidate Hotel, Gambling Offices

New York-based ITT Corp., which is fighting an $8.3-billion hostile takeover by Beverly Hills-based Hilton Hotels Corp., said it is consolidating management of its hotel and gambling operations and cutting its headquarters staff from 166 to 80 employees. ITT said it will take an unspecified fourth-quarter charge for the restructuring, which it said would save $55 million annually starting in 1998. The company said the streamlining was another step in its efforts to increase shareholder value and ward off Hilton’s advances. Under the plan, ITT would combine the Boston headquarters of its Sheraton hotel operations and the Las Vegas base for its Caesars gaming operations into a single headquarters, to be located in New York or Boston. The company has proposed spinning off the hotel and casino business into a new company, but Hilton has successfully sued to block the plan until ITT shareholders vote on the proposal at the company’s annual meeting on Nov. 12. ITT’s stock lost 6 cents to close at $70 on the New York Stock Exchange.