Calling It Quits

Mobil to unload Ward

What are the mathematical odds that two brothers would head the archrival retailers Sears and Montgomery Ward? Put away the calculators; it will soon happen. In June, Bernard Brennan, 46, takes over as boss of Montgomery Ward, where he was once an executive vice president. His brother Edward, 51, has been chief operating officer of Sears since last August, and will succeed Chairman Edward Telling later this year.

Bernard's selection is central to a strategy by Mobil, which owns Montgomery Ward, to sell the money-losing subsidiary. In naming him, the second largest U.S. oil company (1984 sales: $56 billion) hopes to...

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