Federated Realigns Fingerhut Management

Federated Department Stores Inc., which last week warned of rising credit card account delinquencies at its Fingerhut catalog business, realigned top management at the division with a new office of the principals. The office includes Fingerhut President and Chief Operating Officer John Buck, who will oversee finance, operations and administration, and Michael Sherman, who will manage merchandise and marketing as president and chief marketing officer. Although Federated has been trying to fold Fingerhut into an umbrella division for mail-order and Internet operations, the integration has been sidetracked by management changes and other issues, analysts said. Last week’s delinquency warning set off a 15% drop in Federated’s stock and renewed investor skepticism about the benefits of the Fingerhut takeover. Shares of Cincinnati-based Federated fell 75 cents to close at $29.06 on the Big Board.