Chicago ? Arthur Andersen LLP’s weakening hold on its major corporate clients got shakier Friday in the wake of its criminal indictment, with three blue-chip companies firing the troubled auditor and others indicating they may do the same.

Sara Lee Corp., Northeast Utilities and Brunswick Corp. all severed decades-long relationships with Andersen as their auditor  Sara Lee since 1965, Northeast Utilities since 1977 and Brunswick since 1942.

All three Fortune 500 corporations said the decision was made before Thursday’s indictment of Andersen, with Sara Lee chairman and CEO C. Steven McMillan citing the fact that the company’s viability as an audit firm was already “in great jeopardy.”

But a fourth company, Abbott Laboratories Inc., specifically cited the indictment as cause for further concern. The North Chicago-based drug and medical products maker called a special meeting of its board of directors to review its 39-year auditing ties with Andersen.

Sara Lee, a $5 billion consumer goods company, is the biggest of the companies to end ties with Andersen on Friday.

A smaller firm, Minnesota-based Polaris Industries Inc., the world’s largest snowmobile manufacturer, announced Friday that it, too, was dumping Andersen for Ernst & Young.

Andersen spokesmen did not immediately return telephone calls Friday seeking a reaction to the new client announcements.