Whatever 'Venator' Is, It's Gone

Venator Group (New York) will formally become Foot Locker Inc., as of today (Nov. 2, 2001). The name change became official following approval by shareholders at a special meeting in corporate headquarters.

President and ceo Matthew Serra will ring the bell on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange to signal the start of the day's trading. Foot Locker, Inc. will continue to trade under the ticker symbol “Z” and shareholders need not surrender their stock certificates.

This is the third name-change in five years for the company that operated for nearly a century as Woolworth Corp. After first closing all Woolworth's stores, the company has since divested itself of all its non-athletic businesses. Today, it is primarily a mall-based specialty athletic retailer that operates approximately 3600 athletic retail stores in 14 countries in North America, Europe and Australia under the Foot Locker, Lady Foot Locker, Kids Foot Locker and Champs Sports nameplates. Foot Locker is the Number One athletic footwear retailer in the U.S.