Business Notes Finance

A go-go era fairy tale is heading for a no-no era denouement. In 1976 ex- encyclopedia salesman William Farley bought a California citrus processor with just $25,000 of his own money. Within years, he ruled over a multibillion-dollar empire. Then came Farley's folly: the 1989 leveraged buyout of sheet-and-towel giant West Point-Pepperell, for $1.6 billion. Burdened by debt, he endured the junk-bond collapse, the recession and the gulf war. But last week Farley accepted a "prepackaged" bankruptcy plan that will slash his share of West Point-Pepperell from 95% to 5%, the biggest blow yet to Farley's fraying kingdom.