Business Notes MANAGEMENT

When Ross Johnson, flamboyant head of RJR Nabisco, lost his bid for control of the giant food and tobacco company in a $25 billion leveraged-buyout brawl last year, he also lost his job. Last week RJR's new owner, the buyout firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, announced its surprise choice for Johnson's replacement: Louis Gerstner, 47, marketing maven and president of American Express.

Gerstner, who was widely expected to succeed American Express Chairman James Robinson, 53, has never run a tobacco business. But KKR partner Henry Kravis chose Gerstner for his prowess as a strategic planner. Among other accomplishments, Gerstner launched the successful Platinum card. As chairman at RJR Nabisco, he will have to engineer the sale of about $8 billion in assets to pay off some of KKR's buyout borrowings. But his compensation will be as tall as his task: as much as $45 million over five years.