New York

FOR decades, Procter & Gamble (P&G), which built an empire out of soap and diapers, has held court under America's sinks. The maker of Tide and other cleaning and personal-care products has spent years acquiring hundreds of brands it hoped could also become part of consumers' daily routines. Now the company has begun another ambitious project: getting rid of about half of those brands.

In its quarterly earnings announcement, P&G announced that it would pursue a spinoff of the battery brand Duracell into a stand-alone company, the first step in a plan to shed up to 100 of the company's 200 or so brands. The 177-year-old manufacturer wants to focus on 70 to 80 core products, most likely those with the household name recognition of Tide, Charmin and Crest.