Also . . .

Canada’s Quebecor Printing Inc. agreed to acquire World Color Press Inc. of Greenwich, Conn., for $1.4 billion in cash and stock in a deal that would create the largest commercial printer in the world. The combined company, to be known as Quebecor World Inc., would serve customers in magazines, catalogs, books, retail inserts and circulars and direct mail. Quebecor also would assume $1.3 billion of debt in the deal. Quebecor has 26,000 employees and revenue of $3.8 billion in 1998. World Color has 16,000 employees and had revenue of $2.5 billion in 1998.

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Bausch & Lomb Inc., maker of ReNu contact lens products, said it will sell its Miracle Ear hearing aid business to Amplifon, Europe’s No. 1 hearing aid retailer, to focus on vision care. Terms weren’t disclosed. The sale comes less than a month after Bausch & Lomb completed the $640-million sale of sunglass maker Ray-Ban to Luxottica Group. Closely held Amplifon, based in Milan, Italy, has about 450 stores and 2,000 service centers across Europe and also sells hearing-test equipment.

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New York Times Co. named Senior Vice President Richard H. Gilman publisher of the Boston Globe. Gilman succeeds Publisher Benjamin B. Taylor, who will remain chairman of the Globe Newspaper Co. board. Gilman, 48, has been senior vice president of operations for the New York Times since 1993. He has, at various times, overseen production, systems and technology, the development of plant facilities and circulation. In addition to his business experience, he worked as a reporter and editor for more than a decade.

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