Business Journal-Portland articles from April 2001

Business Journal-Portland archives from April 2001

Mentor's on track to regain lost glory.(Mentor Graphics revenues are up)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 27, 2001... Standing at its 20th anniversary mark, Mentor Graphics thinks it is poised to once again become a leader in its industry. Though some observers of the automated electronic design company have questioned its strategy in recent years, the...

SEC just says no way to Willamette employees.(Securities and Exchange Commission quells Willamette Industries Inc. employees' protest)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 27, 2001... A web site run by the JustSayNoWey Committee, a group of Willamette Industries Inc. workers gaining momentum in their plight to protest Weyerhaeuser Corp.'s hostile takeover attempt, was shut down last weekend due to pressure from the...

Telecom providers slowing a torrid development pace.(telecommunications)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 27, 2001... Postponement of two proposed telecom projects and problems filling existing space, has developers wondering if the Pearl District "telco hotel" craze has hit the skids. Earlier this year, some 20 telecom companies were reportedly eyeing...

Weathering the storm and returning to basics.
April 27, 2001... Feeling seasick yet? Weathering the raucous economic downturn has been the focus, no doubt, for nearly all businesses this past year. And that's especially so for public companies, many of which took a battering on Wall Street. For...

Local tech companies buck bothersome funding trend.(Mobilian Corp. and New Edge Networks achieve venture capital funding)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 27, 2001... Flouting the common wisdom that it's almost impossible for a young company to get venture capital these days, two local companies announced final rounds of funding this week. What's more, both are operating in sectors currently suffering a...

Emerald feels the backlash of the internet.(Emerald Solutions unable to pay vendors)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 27, 2001... The ripple effects of last year's dot-com implosion continue to be felt in local companies. Emerald Solutions, a web and IT consulting company headquartered in Portland, has found itself unable to pay some of its vendors, due to the...

The Numbers Game.(survey of cellular telephone usage by automobile drivers)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 27, 2001... Cell phones in single occupant vehicles What are they talking about? * 50% of SOVs who use cell phones are driving to and from work. * 78% of SOVs are talking with friends or family members; calls are not work-related. * 61%...

Insider Trading.(Portland, Oregon area business executives' securities trading)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 27, 2001... The buying and selling of stock shares by area executives Jill Conway Director Nike Inc. Shares to sell: 10,000 Share price: S37.90 Share value: $379,000 Geoffrey Rhoads Shareholder Digimarc Corp. ...

Time to demand 'fiscal accountability' of Port.(Port of Portland, Oregon)
April 27, 2001... How would you like a few more bucks in your pocket each year? No, this isn't a guest opinion by Bill Sizemore about how we should close the public schools. This is about my favorite example of government mismanagement: The Port of Portland....

NBC and Microsoft ink deal for financial site.(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... * NBC has struck a deal with Microsoft Corp. to merge its financial web sites, CNBC.com and MoneyCentral. The move is seen as a step by the TV network to pull back from its internet ventures. The merged online site, called CNBC MoneyCentral,...

The Brewery Blocks.(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... The Brewery Blocks development on West Buraside in downtown Portland has signed a lease with Gordon Biersch Brewery to open a 10,000-square-foot brewery/restaurant on the first two floors of the former Blitz Weinhard Brewhouse in summer 2002,...

Red Lion Hotels & Inns.(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... Red Lion Hotels & Inns hired three people to lead a move into franchise development in Western and Central states. Local hotelier Arthur Sabo will direct franchise development in Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho, Wyoming and North and South...

YoCream International.(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... YoCream International, a Portland producer of frozen yogurt, has inked a deal with The Dannon Company to supply soft frozen yogurt to Dannon's customers. Dannon primarily produces refrigerated yogurt, while YoCream specializes in frozen...

Dr. Martens.(to open store in Manchester, England)(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... Dr. Martens, the Portland-based shoe manufacturer, announced today the opening of a new flagship store at The Triangle in Manchester, UK. This store will be the second UK store for Dr. Martens, and the third European store. The new Manchester...

Portland City Council.(environmental policy)(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... Portland City Council took a step toward battling global warming this week by outlining actions the city could take to reduce emissions of the gases that cause climate change. A joint effort with like-minded Multnomah County, the plan calls...

Unicru Inc.(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... Unicru Inc., a local maker of automated hiring systems for hourly employees, has entered into an alliance with High Wired, a Watertown, Mass., maker of e-learning tools for high schools. Unicru's web-based hiring system will be available via...

New Edge Networks.(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... New Edge Networks has raised $77.5 million in private equity and debt financing in its latest round of funding, announced April 23. The Vancouver, Wash., company had put its buildout on hold last year and laid off 135 employees. This fourth...

Tektronix.(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... Following the announcement April 18 that it has acquired British firm Adherent, Tektronix unveiled an affiliation with internationally recognized Telogy Inc. Looking for complementary companies to marry with their test, measurement and...

Electro Scientific Industries Inc.(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... Electro Scientific Industries Inc. (Nasdaq: ESIO) received a $5 million order from Samsung Electronics for multiple laser semiconductor processing systems. The new equipment ordered is for use in manufacturing larger wafers.

CORRECTIONS.(nonperforming assets for Bank of the Cascades )(Brief Article)(Correction Notice)(Statistical Data Included)
April 27, 2001... As of March 31 nonperforming assets for Bank of the Cascades equaled .7 percent of total assets. The April 20 Finance column misstated the figure.

Waggener Edstrom watching bottom line closely.(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... With its high-tech clients like Microsoft watching their dollars this year, Waggener Edstrom is being cautious about its own bottom line and looking to generate new business in the biotech, science and technology sectors. It hasn't...

Noted author tackles Portland's livability image.
April 27, 2001... Alan Durning, executive director of Seattle-based Northwest Environment Watch, was in Portland last week promoting his research team's new book, "This Place on Earth 2001: Guide to a Sustainable Northwest." Also author of the popular...

Community banks faring well in down economy.(Statistical Data Included)
April 27, 2001... Oregon's largest community banks met or exceeded analysts' expectations in the first quarter, posting numbers that suggest a fair economy. Cascades Bancorp, Umpqua Bancorp and Centennial Bancorp all displayed healthy growth compared to...

Oregon Steel buoyed by pipeline prospects.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
April 27, 2001... Oregon Steel. Mills suffered many setbacks last year, not the least among them unexpectedly high energy costs. But this year, the energy crisis may result in more business for the steelmaker. Recent returns weren't encouraging for OSM...

John's Landing home to new breed of hotel.(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... Come late June, Portland will be home to a different kind of hotel. That's when the Avalon Hotel and Spa is scheduled to open in the John's Landing area of Southwest Portland. The 99-unit luxury hotel, overlooking the Willamette River,...

Thomason decides to call the troops together.(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... With sales down, the chief executive of Thomason Auto Group will talk about the company's future marketing and acquisition strategies before a first-ever gathering of all 1,000 employees. Scott Thomason also said he will address the...

Networking equipment makers see a slowdown.(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... The stream of gloomy financial results being announced by makers of data networking equipment adds up to one thing: a possible major shakeout. Several companies just announced or "pre-announced" their most recent quarterly results. Most...

High energy costs renew interest in conservation.(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... Sky-high electricity prices are now rekindling interest in conservation programs at some Northwest utilities, but experts say the shrinking of conservation budgets during most of the past decade helped create the energy problem in the first...

Partnership good news for Digimarc.(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... Digimarc Corp. (NASDAQ: DMRC) has just entered into a new partnership, called the Video Watermarking Group, that could ultimately lead to Digimarc's technology becoming the industry standard for copyright protection of video files. The...

Cisco optical networking strategy takes a hit.(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... The worsened outlook for Cisco Systems Inc. will make it much more difficult for the company to achieve one of its biggest goals: to become a leading optical networking player. Along with cutting 8,500 jobs and delaying some expansion...

Diana Haskins.(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... PERSONAL INFORMATION Name: Diana Haskins Organization: White Oak Resources Inc. Title: President What we do: We serve people in business and parents by providing custom coaching programs. We offer workshops and publish...

Their world is flat.(Interview)
April 27, 2001... Adoption of flat-panel monitors drives growth for Pixelworks Pixelworks Inc., which topped The Business Journal's 2001 list of the area's fastest-growing public companies, designs systems-on-a-chip that are used in flat-panel monitors for...

The hands of Texas are evident in energy woes.
April 27, 2001... It was April 1 when I called Blockbuster Corp.'s headquarters in Dallas, Texas, and asked a spokesperson what his employer was doing to address the West Coast energy crisis (see "Turning the energy tide with a Blockbuster move,"...

Urban means green to author, bike messenger.
April 27, 2001... As urban professionals young and old shun the suburbs and rediscover the pleasures of city living, consider this: Urban living is, by definition, green. That's one of many philosophical points Travis Hugh Culley argues in his newly...

WELCOME HOME, ENERGY MISER.
April 27, 2001... A new kind of welcome wagon is rolling into Northwest homes this month. John L. Scott Real Estate agents are participating in a pilot program through June that brings energy-saving products, coupons and compact fluorescent light bulbs to...

NEW BULB ON THE BLOCK.
April 27, 2001... Sculpted translucent panels bounce light off rich wood panels, unifying what could have been a cold and impersonal corridor. With a mission that is part artistry and part architecture, Luma Lighting Design made its debut this month,...

FAIRVIEW VILLAGE SIGNS TARGET.
April 27, 2001... Developers at Fairview Village, long looking to sign a "big-box" retail anchor for their planned community near Gresham, announced this week that Target will be moving in. Plans to sign a deal were delayed several times, but Sarah Holt of...

It wouldn't be brewery blocks without the beer.
April 27, 2001... In a nod its sudsy roots, the Brewery Blocks development on West Burnside has signed a lease with Gordon Biersch Brewery to open a 10,000-square-foot brewery/restaurant on the first two floors of the former Blitz Weinhard Brewhouse in summer...

A NEW PLAYER INVESTS IN WILSONVILLE.
April 27, 2001... Another company is striking while it's hot in Wilsonville. Our Associates, the real estate arm of Wilsonville-based Shredding Systems Inc., has snapped up another 28 acres in Wilsonville. The 115-employee company bought industrial-zoned...

ACUMED BUYS HILLSBORO SITE.
April 27, 2001... The Beaverton medical devices company paid $2.3 million for an 8.2-acre site off Jacobson Road in Hillsboro last week. Acumed currently leases 22,000 square feet in Beaverton. The company grew by 30 people to 90 in the last year, mainly due...

VCs getting back to the basics with tech funding.
April 27, 2001... Last week in this column, I shared the views of some local venture capitalists on what it takes for new companies to get funding. Several themes came up that are relevant now, with this week's news that that both Mobilian and New Edge...

STARTUPS BLOOM IN THE SPRING.
April 27, 2001... Hope springs eternal in the engineer's breast, and new companies are springing up in the Northwest. Relyent Inc., based in Hillsboro, offers quick-turn prototyping and low-volume printed circuit board assembly and modification. "There is...

TECHNOLOGY EDUCATION IS BLOOMING.(Brief Article)
April 27, 2001... Last week's announcement of the expanded and renamed TekBots program at Oregon State University directed attention to our region's need for more engineering education. Washington State University in Vancouver is also expanding its engineering...

DOSSIER: Darbey Bacchus Budd.
April 27, 2001... Why did you choose this location: All our stylists are former Hickox & Friends stylists. We've been connected with them for years. The move was a natural. What was your reason for starting up: It's very personal. I like applying makeup....

Patent office criticized for awarding Internet patents.
April 27, 2001... The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is giving greater scrutiny to business method patent applications in response to criticism that too many companies have received intellectual property rights for doing nothing more than bringing already...

Clean up energy mess without lots of new regulations.
April 27, 2001... Energy price hikes and supply troubles are not confined to California's electricity crisis. Small businesses in the Northwest, Midwest and Northeast are also feeling the pinch of escalating energy bills. Congress is now exploring a variety of...

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE.
April 27, 2001... ADVERTISING Young & Roehr Group added Lesley Wallace as public relations account executive. Cole & Weber/Red Cell hired Stephanie Carlson as site builder; Patrick Brossard and Dave Rezoski as developers; Sedora DeBondt as senior...

PFE: ready for the big show.
April 27, 2001... Want a taste of what it's like to have a Major League Baseball team in town? Check out what Portland Family Entertainment, operator of the renovated home of the Class AAA. Portland Beavers baseball team, wants you to give them. PFE has...

WLL: Making the most of the best.
April 27, 2001... In 1981 to commemorate its 75th anniversary, Gene Knudson, the CEO of Willamette Industries, commissioned a written history of the events during the time period. The resulting book, authored by Catherine Baldwin Dunn is titled "Making the...

Oregon's philanthropy hasn't yet felt the recession.
April 27, 2001... Here's a thought to chew on: Portland, so often painted as a tough town in which to raise philanthropic gifts, is just the opposite--a metro area in which benefactors are itching to invest in greatness. In my experience there are...

A look at the region's Winners & Losers.
April 27, 2001... Jim Rudd Jim Rudd, CEO and principal of Ferguson Wellman Capital Management, was named the winner of United Way's first award honoring an individual for commitment to service at UW's "Celebrate Life" awards April 24. Rudd twice served as...

Bridget Jones's Diary.
April 27, 2001... **** Lewd, rude and politically incorrect, Bridget Jones's Diary is a breath of fresh air-or shall we say a full-force gale-in the romantic-movie genre. Though we wince for the completely convincing Renee Zellweger during Bridget's most...

Events give Willamette hope.(protests against Weyerhaeuser's potential takeover of Willamette Industries)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... The JustSay No Wey Committee, a camp of Willamette Industries Inc. workers objecting to Weyerhaeuser Corp.'s hostile takeover scheme, enjoyed an encouraging week. Nearly 100 people showed up at its Terry Schrunk Plaza rally in the early...

The late-night infomercial moves into prime position.(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... The world of Ab Slide and RotoTill--once relegated to late-night cable--have creeped into the daytime and prime time schedule of local Portland TV. The slickly produced half-hour commercials, with chatty hosts and demos of gardening...

Jay investigating claims of abuse in parking lots.(Roy Jay of the Oregon African-American Chamber of Commerce)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... The Oregon African-American Chamber of Commerce is investigating allegations of wage and hour violations in the parking lot industry that surfaced during a recent union organizing campaign. Chamber president Roy Jay announced the...

CarSharing finds a partner with Puget Sound's Flexcar.(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... CarSharing Portland Inc., the company that pioneered group-owned vehicle pools in the United States, was sold to Seattle-based Flexcar this week. Although both companies are still swimming in a sea of red ink, CarSharing Portland might...

You can have your golf, he'll take his doughnuts.(doughnut shop reminiscence)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... Spring break this year found me in my native city of Los Angeles, pending time with my parents and visiting some of my favorite places. One beautiful morning, the kind that makes me wonder why I'm living in Portland, my father and I drove...

Software firm helps clients learn one-on-one marketing.(Communi(k) Inc.)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... Deborah Stewart is a proponent of one-on-one marketing--allowing the individual making the pitch to tailor it to the individual recipient. Now she wants to empower clients to create their own one-on-one marketing materials, through...

Telegram clock will tick again with renovation.(Portland, Oregon)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... For decades, the corner clock tower at the Portland Telegram Building on 11th Avenue and Washington Street has been frozen at 4 o'clock. If the Nathan family has its way, it will be ticking again within two years. The Nathans hired...

The Numbers Game.(production of eggs)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... The egg then and now: * Decades ago egg-laying hens spent much of their time outdoors and eggs were gathered and packaged by hand. * Today's eggs are produced indoors and the process is 100% automated. Eggs are not touched by human...

Insider Trading.(stockholder activity)(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
April 20, 2001... Insider Trading The buying and selling of stock shares by area executives Ron Berger 10% Beneficial onwer Rentrak Corp. Shares to sell: 122,956 Share...

Another hit for the port: shipyard may go under.(Cascade General may lose financing)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... Nine months after acquiring 57 acres of the Portland Ship Yard for $30.8 million from the Port of Portland, Cascade General said that the financing upon which it depended for the deal may be faltering. Frank Foti, Cascade General president,...

Hewlett-Packard.(lowered earning expectations)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... Hewlett-Packard expects an earnings shortfall in the second quarter of this year, and will cut as many as 3,000 jobs as it right-sizes for the downturn. Unlike many companies looking at excess inventory and lowered revenue expectations, HP...

Electro Scientific Industries Inc.(ThaiLin Semiconductor Corp. orders equipment)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... Electro Scientific Industries Inc. landed a new order from ThaiLin Semiconductor Corp. for ESI's newest laser semiconductor processing systems. Taiwan-based ThaiLin will use the new tools to expand its memory yield improvement capabilities...

Pacific Power.(incentives for lowering energy use)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... Pacific Power filed plans with the Oregon Public Utility Commission to pay customers incentives for reducing their electricity usage. The proposed plan states that the offer would be extended during the summer months to offset increases...

CenterSpan Communications Corp.(registered users for Scour.com)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... CenterSpan Communications Corp. has registered 425,000 users for the beta version of Scour.com, exceeding the company's initial projections. While the current version of Scour.com is free, CenterSpan plans to move to a subscription-based...

Nike Inc.(earnings expectations)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... Nike Inc. said a coming change in accounting rules will cause it to take a charge of 10 cents per share in the first quarter of fiscal year 2002. In a quarterly earnings report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Nike said that...

WebCriteria.(lays off workers)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... Citing longer sales cycles and the need to conserve cash, WebCriteria CEO Alistair Williamson said the company has reduced its 83-person work force by 15 people, or 18 percent. Positions were eliminated throughout the organization....

marchFIRST.(seeking relief under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... Internet consultant marchFIRST announced April 12 it would be seeking relief under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The announcement comes after earlier public disclosures that the company would not be able to satisfy creditor obligations....

CORRECTIONS.
April 20, 2001... In a story on the Cascade Station project in the April 13 issue, the corporate parent of the Meier & Frank retail chain was misidentified. The May Company is the owner of Meier & Frank.

West Coast energy woes could boost renewables.(interview with Donald Aitken)(Brief Article)(Interview)
April 20, 2001... Utilities like Portland General Electric have made big bundles of cash on the back of the California energy crisis; Vice President Dick Cheney's ideas about energy are medieval; and the California utilities are to blame for shooting their own...

Green investment fund takes home BEST award.(Progressive Investment Management)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... President George W. Bush stated recently that it is not government's role to regulate carbon dioxide emissions from power plants--a major contributor to global warming. Fortunately, one Portland company is demonstrating how it can handle...

Planar posts record revenue in second quarter.(Planar Systems Inc.)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... Planar Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: PLNR) turned in record sales in its second quarter of this fiscal year. Planar's second quarter, which ended March 31, 2001, finished with $54.5 million in revenue, an increase of 30 percent over the same...

HP cutting its manager corps.(Hewlett-Packard seeks to address earnings shortfall and increase employee to manager ratio)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HWP) announced Wednesday that it expects an earnings shortfall in the second quarter of this year, and that the company will cut as many as 3,000 jobs. Unlike many companies looking at excess inventory and...

Cheaper Canadian prescriptions come to Oregon.(Rx Direct Pharmacy Inc. to begin marketing a mail-border plan for medication to Oregon seniors)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... Senior citizens unhappy with skyrocketing prescription drug prices in the United States are increasingly buying medication on the Canadian market. Strict government controls, including buying drugs in bulk and prohibiting pharmacies from...

Distiller plans to go upscale.(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... Forget the Lemon Drop. Scratch the usual mixers. There's a new choice of gin and flavored rum being stirred into drinks this spring. Next month, Hood River Distillers will begin importing a English-brewed gin called Brokers London...

Pixelworks beats the trend with strong earnings.(in the 1st quarter)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... Pixelworks Inc. (Nasdaq: PXLW) turned in record sales and profits for the first quarter of this year at a time when most semiconductor companies are slumping. Revenue for Q1 came in at $21.3 million, almost 18 percent higher than Q4 2000...

Pacific Crest to open in Boston.(Pacific Crest Securities will open an office in Boston, MA)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... Securities firm Pacific Crest Securities will open an office in Boston on May 1. The Portland-based company has signed a lease for office space and intends to employ six or seven traders there by early summer, said Scott Sandbo, the...

Mr. Clutch takes its case straight to the investors.(Mr. Clutch USA Inc. direct public offering to raise funds)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... Mr. Clutch wants to raise capital the "do-it-yourself" way. Mr. Clutch USA Inc. of Scottsdale, Ariz., a nationwide licensor of auto clutch repair services, is conducting a direct public offering to raise $5 million. That means the...

It's true: SF real estate market's no longer hot.(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... Bank of America's former headquarters in San Francisco is no longer for sale. Joint owners Shorenstein Co. and BofA pulled the 52-story landmark--which observers initially thought would attract offers upward of $1 billion--off the real...

Calif. tech campus losing tenants.(Jay Paul Co.'s Pacific Shores office complex in Redwood City, CA)(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... The poster child for new economy optimism--Jay Paul Co.'s $500 million technology campus in the San Francisco Bay Area's Pacific Shores--needs a face lift. Of the project's 1.7 million square feet, 802,000 square feet is either on the...

'Investment guru' Bagwell put on hold by SEC.(John Wellington Bagwell )(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... John Wellington Bagwell won't be involved in any Hawaii-related investments anytime soon. At least that's the goal of an order issued by the Securities and Exchange Commission on April 10. Bagwell, a Honolulu investment adviser, was sole...

Women's groups blast Bush's misogynist acts.(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... Organizations and politicians that advocate for women business owners and working women in Colorado are outraged and disappointed in President Bush's recent decision to quietly close the White House Office for Women's Initiatives and...

Battling 'bots kick off OSU engineering program.(Brief Article)
April 20, 2001... It was the baffle of the bots on April 17, when Oregon State University engineering students demonstrated robots of their own design at the launch of a new program funded by a grant from Tektronix Inc. (NYSE: TEK). The four-year,...