Austin American-Statesman (Austin, TX) articles from May 2000

Austin American-Statesman (Austin, TX) archives from May 2000

Dell Computer Executives Take a Pay Cut as Growth Slows, Stock Falls.
May 31, 2000... Byline: John Pletz May 31--Michael Dell may be the boss of the world's second-largest personal-computer company, but he still gets a performance review. The namesake and other senior executives of Dell Computer Corp. saw their pay...

Executives at Dell Computer Take Pay Cut as Company's Growth Slows.
May 31, 2000... Byline: John Pletz May 31--Michael Dell may be the boss of the world's second-largest personal-computer company, but he still gets a performance review. The namesake and other senior executives of Dell Computer Corp. saw their pay...

Founder Leaves Austin, Texas, Online Educator As Firm Joins With Bookseller.
May 31, 2000... Byline: Andrew Park May 31--Fresh off its biggest deal yet, fledgling Austin Internet company notHarvard.com is losing its founder. Michael Rosenfelt, one of Austin's best-known entrepreneurs, is stepping down from notHarvard.com,...

Crowded Market Leaves Some Microbrew Makers Tapped Out.
May 30, 2000... Byline: Sheryll Poe May 30--The hopped-up microbrew industry of the early 1990s has lost its fizz nationwide -- and in Austin -- with only the strongest surviving, brewers say. An overcrowded marketplace, inconsistent quality and...

Austin, Texas-Based Trilogy Software Plans IPO This Year.
May 30, 2000... Byline: Jerry Mahoney May 30--Trilogy Software Inc., the Austin company whose recruiting style and close-knit, youthful culture branded it as an iconoclast, will join the ranks of publicly traded companies within the year, Chief...

Effect of Proposed Airline Merger on Austin, Texas, Airport is Up in the Air.
May 25, 2000... Byline: Sheryll Poe May 25--The effect of a planned merger between United Airlines and US Airways on Austin Bergstrom International Airport is unclear. "It's really too early for us to know what's going to happen," said Chuck...

Insurance Spokesmen Tell Texas Lawmakers to Leave Workers' Comp Fund Alone.
May 25, 2000... Byline: Bruce Hight May 25--Don't touch the $625 million surplus in the Texas Workers' Compensation Insurance Fund, state lawmakers were strongly advised by various spokesmen from the insurance industry at a legislative hearing...

Texas Business Leaders Look Forward to Possibility of Stronger Ties in Asia.
May 25, 2000... Byline: Kirk Ladendorf May 25--The prospect of more open trade with China had some Texas business executives Wednesday predicting big increases in sales -- and even more jobs in Texas -- because of strengthing exports to the world's most...

Tech Firms Take Advantage of Fiber-Optic Cables Near Austin, Texas, Airport.
May 23, 2000... Byline: Andrew Park May 23--Technology seems to be at the heart of every story about growth in Central Texas, and the evolution of the Austin-Bergstrom International Airport area may turn out to be no different. One year after the...

Austin, Texas, E-Commerce Firm Buys California Software Maker for $1.7 Billion.
May 23, 2000... Byline: Jerry Mahoney May 23--In what would be the largest acquisition by an Austin company, Vignette Corp. said Monday it will pay $1.7 billion for a small California software maker that will extend the reach of its e-commerce software....

Drug Chain Considers Merging Online Operations with Internet Health Firm.
May 18, 2000... Byline: Andrew Park May 18--Drkoop.com Inc. needs a new drug, but it won't say whether it's looking for it at Drug Emporium. In a story in Tuesday's Wall Street Journal, David Kriegel, the chief executive of Drug Emporium Inc., said...

Local Increases in Austin, Texas, Rental Properties among Steepest in Nation.
May 18, 2000... Byline: R. Michelle Breyer May 18--It's not just home buyers who are getting battered by Austin's hot housing market. Apartment renters in the Austin metropolitan area are facing some of the steepest rent increases in the nation,...

Austin, Texas, Communications Firm Moves Most of its Operations to Ireland.
May 18, 2000... Byline: Heather Cocks May 18--Claiming that federal rules regarding encryption forced it out of the country, Hush Communications Corp. has moved the bulk of its operations from Austin to Dublin, Ireland. The transfer comes one year...

Online Medical Advisory Site Loses Millions; Seeks Buyer, Bailout.
May 16, 2000... Byline: Andrew Park May 16--Investors knew drkoop.com Inc. was in a world of pain, but Monday they got the full diagnosis. As it had warned it would last month, cash-strapped drkoop.com Inc. reported Monday that its revenues had...

Investors Buying with Borrowed Money Got a Nasty Shock in April's Sell-off.
May 15, 2000... Byline: Amy Schatz May 15--Bill Skeen waited for a call that never came. Like many investors, he saw his stock portfolio value drop precipitously on Friday, April 14 as the financial markets tanked. But as an investor who bought...

Group Works to Provide Affordable Housing in Austin, Texas, Neighborhood.
May 13, 2000... Byline: R. Michelle Breyer May 13--Two decades ago, the Guadalupe neighborhood just east of Interstate 35 near downtown was a blight-ridden enclave, crumbling and forgotten. "We were going to lose this neighborhood," said Mark...

Austin, Texas, Maker of Back-up Power Systems Plans IPO.
May 13, 2000... Byline: Heather Cocks May 13--Active Power Inc., an 8-year-old company that makes back-up power systems, said Friday it will try to raise $100 million through an initial public stock offering. Active Power, formerly Magnetic Bearing...

Downtown Austin, Texas, Continues to Attract High-Profile Tech Companies.
May 10, 2000... Byline: R. Michelle Breyer May 10--For the past year, the spotlight has been on Austin's growing "Downtown Digital District." Although it has attracted a number of high-tech folks recently -- from the large campuses planned by...

North Carolina-Based Doughnut Company to Open Store n Austin, Texas.
May 10, 2000... Byline: Andrew Park May 10--Krispy Kreme doughnuts, the Southern-bred pastries with the sugary glaze and the cult of devoted consumers, are rolling a bit closer to Austin. Rumors have been rampant for years that the company's "Hot...

Austin-Based Natural Foods Supermarket Chain Reports Strong Financial Status.
May 10, 2000... Byline: Amy Schatz May 10--Higher sales at existing stores and the opening of new stores pushed earnings at Austin-based Whole Foods Market Inc. up 17 percent for the second quarter, the company reported Tuesday. The national...

Uncertain Fate of Tract of Land Near Lake Austin, Texas, Arouses Speculation.
May 10, 2000... Byline: John Pletz May 10--Baldwin Ranch -- one of the biggest, most expensive pieces of undeveloped land left on Lake Austin -- may be back on the market, scuttling builders' dreams of fat profits from luxury homes. Work stopped...

Texas Government Sees Smaller Turnover in Tech Workers in 1999.
May 10, 2000... Byline: Gaiutra Bahadur May 10--Techies working for the state continue to leave the government's payroll at a high rate, but there was a significant decline in turnover last year, according to a report by the state auditor's office. ...

Dell Computer to Move Headquarters to Austin, Texas, Area.
May 9, 2000... Byline: John Pletz May 9--Just five years after Dell Computer Corp. moved its headquarters to Round Rock, the company is moving it back to Austin -- sort of. The company has leased 80,000 square feet in the Las Cimas office complex,...

Internet Health Sites to Abide by Ethical Guidelines.
May 9, 2000... Byline: Andrew Park May 9--A coalition formed by former Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, who came under fire last summer for perceived conflicts of interest at his Internet health site, released ethical guidelines Monday that it hopes...

Texas Regulations Prove Challenge for Dot-Com Automobile Dealers.
May 8, 2000... Byline: Heather Cocks May 8--Austin-based carOrder.com Inc. is on the fast track of one of the hottest segments of the Internet. Go to the company's Web site and you can search a nationwide network of new vehicles by make and model,...

Austin, Texas, Real Estate Web Site Helps Determine Value of Properties.
May 8, 2000... Byline: R. Michelle Breyer May 8--If you're one of the 40,000 Travis County homeowners expected to protest their property appraisal this year, a new Austin Web site may help you in your fight. TaxRemedy.com, which went live Friday...

Austin, Texas, Real Estate Brokers Make Transition into Digital Age.
May 8, 2000... Byline: Linnea K. Anderson May 8--Can you imagine a real estate agent writing a client's offer on a paper bag in this technological age? Hardly. Yet, when Connie Ripley's father-in-law was a real estate agent decades ago, he would do...

Houston, Texas-Based Internet Real Estate Firm Clashes with Austin Realtors.
May 8, 2000... Byline: R. Michelle Breyer May 8--The Austin Board of Realtors isn't any closer to reaching an agreement with a Houston-based Internet real estate brokerage about access to its Multiple Listing Service. An attempt between eRealty and...

Businesses Learn Internet Caution through 'Love'-ly Experiences.
May 8, 2000... Byline: John Pletz May 8--When the "ILOVEYOU" virus began its infectious spread early Thursday, the technical team at Austin ad agency GSD&M waited and watched. By the end of the day, Jerry Rios, vice president and information...

Computer Viruses Make Negligible Impact on Overall Internet Usage.
May 8, 2000... Byline: John Pletz May 8--Y2K couldn't do it, and neither will the pesky -- although no doubt nefariously clever -- "Love Bug." Despite the computer carnage last week, the Internet has grown too big, too important and too much a part...

Rules Governing 'Payday Loans' Changed to Protect Borrowers from Rip-Offs.
May 1, 2000... Byline: Amy Schatz May 1--Regulators revised their controversial rules for legalizing payday loans Friday, trimming one source of revenue for the high-interest loan industry. Under the revised proposal, payday loans could be renewed...