United Press International  announcedthat Milton Benjamin had resigned as company president and the
news agency's chairman, Mario Vazquez-Rana, a Mexican newspaper
owner, would take over his duties.
    The agency, which emerged from bankruptcy court protection
when Vazquez-Rana bought it for 41 mln dlrs last June, has had
four presidents over the past year.
    Benjamin, who had served in the post since last November,
said he was stepping down because restoring UPI would take a
greater financial investment than he had envisaged and
Vasquez-Rana thus wished to take direct control.
    "In recent weeks, Mario (Vazquez-Rana) has indicated that in
light of the increased investment, he wants to devote even more
time to UPI and to play a more direct role in managing its
financial affairs," Benjamin said in a statement.
    Benjamin said he would return to his consulting firm of
Anderson, Benjamin, Read and Haney Inc., which he founded in
1984. He left the firm on November six last year to take over
as president of UPI.
    Besides Benjamin and Vazquez-Rana, the other presidents
have been Luis Nogales, a California businessman who helped
steer the agency through bankruptcy proceedings, and Maxwell
McCrohon, former editor and managing editor of the Chicago
Tribune.
    Vazquez-Rana, who is both chairman and chief executive
officer of UPI, is the publisher of a successful chain of 62
newspapers in Mexico, chairman of the Mexican Olympics
Committee and chairman of the worldwide Association of National
Olymnpics committees.
 Reuter
