Business Journal-Portland articles from December 1994

Business Journal-Portland archives from December 1994

'95 bringing new faces into limelight. (Oregon politics)
December 30, 1994... The Future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is. No doubt Lewis' proclamation will hold true in 1995. There are ways to peek into the future and foretell what will be. The...

Fujitsu eyes $1 billion expansion. (Fujitsu Microelectronics Inc. expands its Gresham semiconductor plant)
December 30, 1994... Gresham project hinges on tax breaks Fujitsu Microelectronics Inc. is quietly pursuing plans for a nearly $1 billion expansion of its Gresham semiconductor plant. But the expansion is contingent on one critical factor: whether the...

High court ruling in Hillman case making waves. (Henry Hillman)
December 30, 1994... The Oregon Supreme Court's decision to overturn a $4.7 million judgment against billionaire Henry Hillman has won kudos from the real estate sector but a rare protest from the losing attorney and jury foreman on the case. Supreme Court...

Mail order firms brace for postal rate increase.
December 30, 1994... An extra three cents per letter may not sound like much, but the postage rate increase will cost Norm Thompson an additional $1.5 million in 1995. "We'd expected a 10 percent increase but third class went up 14 percent, even after taking...

Epitope now faces biggest test: turning a profit.
December 30, 1994... Epitope Inc. has about a year to prove itself to shareholders by burning into the market, despite the doubts of naysayers and the glimmer of other testing devices in the wings. Since federal officials approved Epitope's oral collection...

American Eagle Outfitters opens first of three area stores. (Retail Ventures Inc.)
December 30, 1994... American Eagle Outfitters Inc., a fast-growing casual clothing retailer based in Warrendale, Pa., has opened the first of three stores planned for the Portland area. Cut from the same cloth as Eddie Bauer Inc., a direct competitor, American...

BE Software brings virtual reality to World Wide Web.
December 30, 1994... Portland start-up combines simulation, communication A small Portland company hopes to combine its new simulation software with the power of the Internet to broadly expand the kind of modeling computer users can do. BE Software Co. has...

Revised plan takes necessary steps to save salmon runs. (Column)
December 30, 1994... The Northwest Power Planning Council this month approved a sweeping revision of its Columbia River Basin Fish and Wildlife Program, adding new actions and strengthening others in a comprehensive strategy to rebuild salmon and steelhead...

Surfing the media wave of '94. (newsmakers in Portland, Oregon's business community)
December 23, 1994... Media was hot news in 1994. Corey Smith made a quick rebound from software in '94 into the hottest new media--CD-ROM. He has assembled millions in new venture money for Creative Multimedia Inc. from investors confident that this wunderkind...

Welfare reform plan would put moms to work. (reform of Oregon's welfare system)
December 23, 1994... State reformers want mothers who are on welfare back on the job soon after a baby is born as part of a radical restructuring of Oregon's welfare system. A high-powered state task force wants to transform welfare into a short-term program...

Allen's PDX ads high in concept, but low in sales. (advertising campaign of Paul Allen's Trail Blazers)
December 23, 1994... One year after launching an unorthodox advertising campaign at the sprawling Portland International Airport, Paul Allen's Trail Blazers have learned a simple lesson: Sometimes less is less. Since winning the coveted airport contract from the...

Key Bank sues Makad Overseas for defaulting on loan. (Key Bank of Oregon)
December 23, 1994... Entrepreneur Elie Mouakad in hot water again Key Bank of Oregon has sued a Portland company run by entrepreneur Elie Mouakad, claiming the company failed to repay the bank's small-business loan. In a Multnomah County Circuit Court lawsuit...

State forces Professionals 100 into receivership. (Oregon; Professionals 100 Realtors Inc.)
December 23, 1994... Investigation uncovers sale of unregistered securities Professionals 100 Realtors Inc., the metro area's fourth-largest residential real estate firm, has been forced into receivership after a state investigation disclosed the firm had been...

Furse leaves House Banking Committee for Commerce. (US Rep. Elizabeth Furse)
December 23, 1994... The prospect of two grueling years of Republican-led Whitewater hearings moved U.S. Rep. Elizabeth Furse to give up her seat on the House Banking Committee in exchange for a spot on the Commerce Committee. Furse, who barely won a second term...

L-P takes heat over soggy siding. (Louisiana-Pacific Corp.'s wood siding defective)
December 16, 1994... Lousiana-Pacific Corp. is under fire in Florida from homeowners and building officials, who charge that the company's engineered wood siding falls apart in humid climates. Company officials and analysts who follow L-P said the problems with...

Pentium flaws bedeviling Intel. (Intel Corp.)
December 16, 1994... In the current climate of citizen outrage, it was only a matter of time before a group of high-tech malcontents spoke out. "We Want New Chips," an organization based in Lubbock, Texas, is demanding that Intel Corp. replace all of its faulty...

Liberty N.W. seeks new headquarters. (Liberty Northwest Insurance Corp.)
December 16, 1994... Facing eviction from its Lloyd District roost, Liberty Northwest Cos. will build a new headquarters in the Lloyd area or defect to the suburbs. Liberty must vacate Lloyd Center Tower by 1997 to make way for Pacific Power, said Stuart Hall,...

Wal-Mart makes offer for Vancouver site. (Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Vancouver, British Columbia)
December 16, 1994... Retailing giant has been shopping area, but now it's buying Wal-Mart Stores Inc., the world's largest retailer, has made an offer on property in Clark County. Chuck Martinez, a Medford-based real estate agent working with Wal-Mart,...

Nike shells out $395 million for Canadian king of hockey gear. (Nike Inc., Canstar Sports Inc.)
December 16, 1994... What started as informal licensing talks has led Nike Inc. to pay $395 million for the company that owns the hockey equipment market worldwide. Montreal-based Canstar Sports Inc., the dominant player in the red-hot hockey and in-line skate...

Portland radio market sees "exceptional" growth. (Portland, Oregon)
December 16, 1994... Portland's radio market is experiencing its third straight year of double-digit revenue growth. Local radio advertising is expected to reach $65 million by year's end, up 12 percent over 1993. The performance has been termed "exceptional" by...

Frustrated entrepreneurs seek state's help.
December 16, 1994... But legislators doubt funding is available for SBIC At a time when government is increasingly turning to the private sector for help managing its affairs, a group of entrepreneurs headed to Salem last week looking for a handout--of...

State withholds unemployment benefits from drug users. (Oregon)
December 16, 1994... Morse Bros. Inc. controller Steve Frey used to be caught in a bind. The Lebanon-based construction and supply company has government contracts for things such as bridge girders. As part of those contracts, Morse is required to run a drug-free...

International joint ventures.
December 16, 1994... Partnership with a foreign company can be the perfect entree into a foreign market, or the marriage from hell ATTORNEY Paul Taylor spends a lot of time trying to explain to clients that even the most harmonious international business deals...

Deregulation opens gates for trucking in '95.
December 16, 1994... New intrastate rules may help large carriers, hurt smaller ones THE HIGHWAY to trucking deregulation is set to open in January 1995, clearing away obstacles that have limited competition in the intrastate trucking business since the 1930s....

Composter sinks Riedel, spares Metro: a rebirth of composting. (Riedel Environmental Technologies Inc.; Portland, Oregon)
December 9, 1994... Now that the stench has cleared from Art Riedel's abandoned Portland composter, Metro is wading back into the composting field. Metro staff wants to commission a compost pilot project in the next fiscal year, said Solid Waste Director Bob...

Riedel Environmental's rise and fall. (Riedel Environmental Technologies Inc.)
December 9, 1994... In the end it took just 16 minutes to lay to rest a company that alternatively struggled and thrived for nine years. The annual meeting last month of Riedel Environmental Technologies Inc. was a sober affair. Fewer than 30 people were...

Pendleton rounds up new logo after 131 years. (Pendleton Woolen Mills)
December 9, 1994... Venerable Portland-based sportswear maker Pendleton Woolen Mills has changed its logo for the first time since Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. "We're trying to take 131 years of history and bring it up to date a bit,"...

Mentor pays hefty price for maker of simulation software. (Mentor Graphics Corp.)
December 9, 1994... Hoping to restore its premier position in the design automation world, Mentor Graphics Corp. acquired Model Technology Inc., the makers of VHDL simulator software, in a deal worth approximately $32 million. No cash changed hands in the Dec. 1...

GST Telecom gets financial backing to fuel growth. (GST Telecom Inc.)
December 9, 1994... John Warta is at it again. The former president of Electric Lightwave Inc. has convinced a mammoth Japanese trading company to provide a major cash infusion for GST Telecom Inc., the next-generation telecommunications company Warta founded....

McAlear's firing hints at PayLess merger turbulence. (Thrifty PayLess Inc. Pres. and CEO Tim McAlear)
December 9, 1994... Top management at Thrifty PayLess Inc. has taken some strong medicine from the company's board of directors. The board decided that Tim McAlear, the company's president and chief executive officer, didn't fill its prescription for leadership...

Beyond sound bites: making welfare reform work. (interview with Department of Human Resources Director Kevin Concannon) (Interview)
December 9, 1994... Bill Clinton wants to "end welfare as we know it." Newt Gingrich wants to put welfare babies into orphanages. But now that the fall campaigns are over, welfare-bashing rhetoric is passe. Politicians must craft workable reforms of a system...

Bank business lending is up in Washington state, nation.
December 9, 1994... Commerce Bank of Washington records 17 percent loan growth BANK BUSINESS LENDING in Washington state and nationally is swinging up as the economy improves and corporate cash no longer suffices to finance inventory and equipment. For this...

Area per capita income below national average. (Portland, Oregon)
December 2, 1994... When it comes to Portland wages keeping pace with the nation, it's a case of running as fast as you can just to stay in place. The state's economy has been booming by local standards for at least five years, with high-tech companies...

Greenbrier Cos. purchasing Canadian rail car maker. (Trenton Works Inc.)
December 2, 1994... The Greenbrier Cos. will nearly double its capacity to build rail cars with the planned acquisition of a Canadian manufacturer. The Lake Oswego-based Greenbrier Nov. 23 signed a letter of intent to purchase controlling interest in Trenton...

AcryMed stakes growth on wound-dressing technology.
December 2, 1994... AcryMed President Bruce Gibbons is looking to sell a better Band-Aid. The former New Zealand scientist is using medical technology he helped develop to start a new Portland company, AcryMed Inc. The company's first product, called AcryDerm,...

Sass hopes to make breakthrough in glucose monitoring. (entrepreneur Dick Sass)
December 2, 1994... Portland entrepreneur Dick Sass, the founder of Precision Interconnect, is hot on the trail of a new biomedical pursuit: glucose monitoring. Sass, who sold his company for approximately $25 million in 1991, is flying a group of 40...

ITT Hartford plans to trim workers' comp rates in 1995. (ITT Hartford Group Inc.)
December 2, 1994... ITT Hartford Insurance Group, the nation's third largest workers' compensation insurer, plans to cut its standard workers' compensation rates in Oregon by 10 percent starting in 1995. At the same time it plans to increase the discount afforded...

Electronic muscle stimulator boosts Vancouver start-up. (Electronic Medical Systems Inc.)
December 2, 1994... Electronic Medical Systems Inc. of Vancouver hopes people will slap on electrodes and take some juice to cure what ails them. The company has developed an electronic muscle stimulator called the Neuro-Care 1000. And they believe what's good...

Victorious Republicans may slow defense spending cuts.
December 2, 1994... SEATTLE--November's Republican sweep of Congress may benefit Boeing's Defense and Space Group by slowing the erosion in defense spending that currently threatens several aerospace programs. Analysts say the F-22 fighter, the V-22 tilt-wing...

Working in paradise? Portland's best companies to work for.
December 2, 1994... Survey finds pay and benefits mean a lot, but so do atmosphere and camaraderie Focus on Travel Why do you never hear about a career military officer retiring after a 20-year hitch and then starting a business empire with the accumulated...

'You don't want to hear this, but these places stink.' (compost plants)
December 2, 1994... Alex Cross remembers the fateful call from Europe in early 1991, just before Portland's $28 million compost plant was completed. Cross, then vice president of Riedel Environmental Technologies, had dispatched two lieutenants abroad to learn...