Card Briefs: Ideon Fires Its Embattled CEO, Puts Outside Director in

Ideon Group on Tuesday announced the dismissal of its embattled chairman and chief executive, Paul G. Kahn.

Mr. Kahn, the high-profile former president of AT&T Universal Card Services, will be replaced by outside director Eugene Miller.

The company, formerly known as SafeCard Services Inc., returned to profitability last quarter, although a rocky 1995 left it with net losses of $49.4 million and plunging stock prices.

The company's woes have been attributed to an expansion away from its core business of credit card registration and protection. Two new business lines, the Family Protection Network and a servicing agreement with the PGA Tour Partners MasterCard, were recently canceled, and 30% of its employees were laid off.

Mr. Kahn, 51, had been widely criticized by analysts and stockholders for his some of his risky business ventures.

Mr. Miller, a member of the board of directors since 1993, is the retired vice chairman and chief financial officer of USG Corp., formerly United States Gypsum Corp. He relinquished that title in 1991.

Prior to that, Mr. Miller, 70, had been a senior vice president of the New York Stock Exchange and a senior vice president at CNA Financial Corp.

Mr. Miller has been running Ideon's Strategic Direction Committee, with the mission of increasing shareholder value. In January, the company retained Lazard, Freres & Co. as financial advisers.

Last Friday, Mr. Kahn was conducting interviews with the press regarding positive fourth-quarter earnings. "I'm committed to seeing this company through a profit growing '96-'97," he said. He vacated his office on Monday.

A company spokesman said Mr. Kahn's removal does not represent a change in direction. "We will continue to move towards profitability in 1996."

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