Business Journal-Portland articles from October 1998

Business Journal-Portland archives from October 1998

Female sports gear takes the inside track.(Nike creates athletic shoes for women)
October 2, 1998... Michael Jordan wears women's shoes. Or he will anyway. Larry Miller, the Nike Inc. executive who runs the Jordan brand, said for the first time, the Jordan line will include a woman's basketball shoe. The sneakers are so good, he said,...

Separation pain fading for soaring WPH partners.(WPH Architecture's Doug Walton, Steve Pinger and Lynn Henderson)
October 2, 1998... Floating on inner tubes and sipping martinis earlier this month in the expansive waterways at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas, Nev., the stresses of kick-starting a business began to fade for the three partners of WPH Architecture. Since they...

Debt-happy public spurs check chains.(proliferation of check-cashing stores in Portland, Oregon)
October 2, 1998... The proliferation of check-cashing stores in Portland will likely become an explosion in coming months, as a handful of new chains enters the Portland market. The stores cash third-party cheeks for a fee, or advance small loans against a...

$1.1B Taiwanese grain deal won't prevent farm failures.(Taiwan's contract to buy grains from Oregon)
October 2, 1998... A huge grain deal with Taiwan may be too little, too late for Oregon's 3,000 wheat farms and others reaping a meager harvest from low grain prices and stagnant exports. Trade officials signed letters earlier this week at a ceremony in...

Bank Plus woes stretch from L.A. to Portland.(Los Angeles, California; Portland, Oregon)
October 2, 1998... Continued turmoil at Los Angeles' Bank Plus Corp. could eventually breed tumult for the bank holding company'S 300-employee Beaverton credit center. Bank Plus' recent venture into the credit card business, with its emphasis on issuing...

Mentor Graphics, rival testy over takeover bid.(bid for Quickturn)
October 2, 1998... Mentor Graphics Corp.'s chief financial officer is convinced Mentor will wrap up its acquisition of a San Jose, Calif., rival by Christmas, but first the Wilsonville company has to weather a late October that promises to be full of tricks....

Creative services industry finds a niche in Portland.(Portland, Oregon)
October 2, 1998... Picture Tom Cruise wandering into a Pearl District coffee shop. Robin and Marsha Williams visiting local art galleries. Madonna staying at the Benson? Hard to imagine? Well, it could happen soon, right here in River City. The possibility...

Southern Pacific 'heartbeat' away from bankruptcy.(Southern Pacific Funding Corp.)
October 2, 1998... Struggling to keep afloat, Southern Pacific Funding Corp. has replaced top managers, started negotiating loan defaults with creditors and has gone to court with lender Wilshire Real Estate Partnership LP, an affiliate of Portland's Wilshire...

Silicon Valley firm to open engineering office.(Sunnyvale, California's Applied Signal Technology Inc.)
October 2, 1998... A nearly $100 million technology company plans to open an engineering office in Portland and hire between 25 and 30 people from the local technology and engineering ranks. Applied Signal Technology Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., will open a...

Building on a star base.(Oswego Group's multimillion-dollar contract with Paramount Studios' Star Trek World Tour)
October 2, 1998... Oswego Group hopes its ride on The U.S.S. Enterprise will take it into a universe of new graphics business. Ric Kimbell is taking his crew into the 21st century and beyond on the Starship Internet. Kimbell's company, the 35-employee Oswego...

Lawsuit threatens River District project.(Hoyt Street Properties sues Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. over cleanup of contaminated soil)
October 9, 1998... The question of who should foot the bill for a $40 million clean-up of a 26-acre parcel of land could threaten the city of Portland's plans for developing the downtown River District. Hoyt Street Properties has filed a lawsuit against...

Small grape harvest means higher prices.(Oregon)(Industry Overview)
October 9, 1998... Because of a smaller-than-usual harvest, the 1998 wine vintage promises to be a down year for owners of larger wineries and some grape growers. The decline in supply also could lead to a 10-to-15 percent increase in retail prices for...

Amazon.com knock-off here draws $1M in venture capital.(800.com)
October 9, 1998... A Portland start-up that wants to be the Amazon.corn of consumer electronics has simultaneously launched its new web site and attracted an initial round of venture capital. 800.com, run by former Now Software executives, unveiled its...

Gardenburger's rival in Ohio beefs up products.(Worthington Foods Inc. acquires Harvest Burger brand from Archer Daniels Midland Co.)
October 9, 1998... Worthington Foods Inc., the closest competitor to Portland's Gardenburger Inc., hopes to take a bigger bite out of the vegetable burger market with its recent purchase of the Harvest Burger brand. Gardenburger officials, however, downplayed...

KVO puts emphasis on PR, marketing units.(KVO Advertising & Public Relations)
October 9, 1998... KVO Advertising & Public Relations officials say the firm was squeezed out of the traditional advertising business because of its mid-range size. It had too much overhead to compete with the little guys, but was too small attract the mega...

KXL becomes Allen's one and only radio station.(billionaire Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft and owner of Portland Trailblazers)
October 9, 1998... It was a three-point shot from the field for Paul Allen, the billionaire owner of the Portland Trail Blazers. He's snapping up KXL, the last of the independent radio stations in Portland, from long-time owner Les Smith, who has been...

Perkins Coie moves into Bay Area with merger.(to merge with Hosie, Wes, Sacks & Brelsford)
October 9, 1998... Perkins Cole has put itself on the map in Silicon Valley. Literally. The Seattle-based firm announced earlier this week it will merge with Hosie, Wes, Sacks & Brelsford, making Perkins Cole the first Seattle-based law firm to open an...

Pope & Talbot appeals IRS' $5.32M tax demand.
October 9, 1998... WASHINGTON - If Pope & Talbot Inc. has its way, the courts will give the ax to Uncle Sam's $5.32 million tax demand. The Portland-based timber products company filed a petition asking the U.S. Tax Court here to overturn the Internal Revenue...

Bechtel battles Asian flu by moving, cutting costs.
October 9, 1998... Bechtel Group is weathering economic turmoil in Asia by cutting costs and shifting operations from Hong Kong to Singapore. While the San Francisco engineering and construction giant lost at least four projects in Thailand and Indonesia, it...

Flir makes the transition.(FLIR Systems)(Company Profile)
October 9, 1998... Growing commercial markets enhance solid government work Kenneth Stringer III doesn't want Flit Systems Inc. to be a cool technology company any more. Stringer, the 45-year-old president and chief operating officer of the Portland...

Targeting the high end.
October 9, 1998... At $2,000 and up per bicycle, Ti Cycles aren't for the faint-of-pocketbook. And Portland is one market the company's targeted. Dave Levy got a torch for his 12th birthday and he's been welding with it ever since. Levy, founder of...

Lawyers line up to sue Southern Pacific Funding.
October 16, 1998... Multiple law firms have filed class-action lawsuits against Lake Oswego's Southern Pacific Funding Corp., alleging that the company and certain of its officers and directors misled shareholders. The lawsuits were filed on behalf of...

Robert Parsons.(managing director of The Benson Hotel, Portland, OR)(Interview)
October 16, 1998... PERSONAL INFORMATION Name: Robert J. Parsons Organization: The Benson Hotel Title: Managing director What we do: We provide hospitality. If we do that right, people will rent rooms, buy food and drink drinks here. ...

Making a bigger difference.(Collins Group)(Company Profile)
October 16, 1998... The Collins Group knows how to pry open the fat wallets In 1989, Stuart Grover says he had hit the wall. There he was, a Russian history professor turned Seattle-based fund-raising consultant. He had four employees, a decent reputation and...

Software maker eyes public defenders office.(KeyPoint)
October 16, 1998... The president of a small Portland software firm hopes other states will soon follow suit after the completion of its first sale to a statewide public defenders office. KeyPoint makes software that allows public defenders offices to more...

Pending FDA OK, plastic dental drill ready to roll.(Ora Innovations Inc.)
October 16, 1998... Ora Innovations Inc. is poised to go to market with the first of its dental devices during first-quarter 1999. The Portland start-up has finished an initial $1.2 million private placement and expects to head back to investors in a couple of...

Lasco Shipping's Asian push includes new hires.
October 16, 1998... Lasco Shipping Co., an affiliate of the Schnitzer Group, has strengthened its management muscle in order to push further into Asian markets and meet growing technological challenges. Portland-based Lasco manages a fleet of 25 vessels with a...

Management shifts continue at 'new' Kaiser.(Kaiser Permanente)
October 16, 1998... Kaiser Permanente executive director Barbara West's duties will expand as a result of the recent spate of management shifts at Kaiser Permanente and its affiliate Group Health Cooperative. But her paycheck won't enlarge, said West, who...

GST's Basile may lose 'acting' CEO label soon.(Joseph Basile to be appointed as CEO of GST Telecommunications Inc.)
October 16, 1998... GST Telecommunication Inc.'s board of directors is expected to select Joseph Basile as the company's new chief executive officer when the board meets soon, possibly as early as Tuesday. Basile has been acting chief executive officer since...

GST sees light at end of dark Wall Street tunnel.(GST Telecommunications Inc.)
October 16, 1998... GST Telecommunications Inc.'s stock has taken a beating since mid-July and has been in virtual free-fall since early September, losing more than half of its value. The stock was trading at around $16 per share in mid-July, fell to around...

In Focus has optimistic 3Q, but analysts still aren't convinced.(In Focus Systems Inc.)
October 16, 1998... Third-quarter earnings indicate In Focus Systems Inc. is on the comeback trail, but the financial community says the Wilsonville company still has a ways to travel before it's out of the woods. Analysts, however, said the maker of...

Renegotiation key to Rose Quarter future.(Portland City-owned parking garage)
October 23, 1998... Unless Paul Allen's Oregon Arena Corp. can renegotiate its 1992 development agreement with the city, further development of the Rose Quarter must follow a predetermined order. Beyond giving OAC the right of first refusal to develop...

Battling for bank share: CFI ProServices gears up for a major market share assault.
October 23, 1998... A year ago, Matt Chapman's primary concerns were getting late products to market and generating some major sales. Now, with the key banking industry software products available and big-name customers like CitiGroup and NationsBank in tow,...

Bridging cultures first step in bank merger.(NationsBank Corp. and BankAmerica Corp. merger)
October 23, 1998... Will there be a melding of the minds or a clash of cultures now that NationsBank Corp. and BankAmerica Corp. are merged? Observers wonder how the Charlotte banking giant, an aggressive, young bank, will fit with the old-line bank that...

HR hospital considers Providence or independence.(Hood River Memorial Hospital; Providence Health System)
October 23, 1998... Hood River Memorial Hospital is one step closer to tying the knot with Providence Health System. The 32-bed nonprofit nixed a proposal to sell out to its neighboring Mid-Columbia Medical Center in The Dalles and is considering affiliating...

Phoenix Gold removed from NASDAQ's top list.(National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotation Systems)
October 23, 1998... Phoenix Gold International Inc. has been demoted from the NASDAQ National Market listing to the small-cap listing, capping a difficult 11 months for the maker of high-end audio equipment. The market listing change follows, in order, the...

Protocol Systems' stock jump surprises analysts.
October 23, 1998... Protocol Systems Inc. stock bumped up more than 16 percent Wednesday, closing at $7.82, buoyed by a third-quarter report that beat analysts' expectations. Earlier this month Protocol's stock had closed as low as $6.25 per share, and Oct....

Ailing Portland Brewing restructures debt.
October 23, 1998... Financial troubles have prompted Portland Brewing Co. to undergo a debt restructuring that will put company founders back in control of the publicly held microbrewer. Documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission in September...

Lloyd Doubletree to grow by 300 rooms.
October 23, 1998... Doubletree Hotels Corp. plans to expand its Lloyd Center hotel by 300 rooms anti 20,000 square feet of meeting space in order to become the "headquarters hotel" for the Oregon Convention Center. The Lloyd Center Doubletree, which would...

Should public have voted on Clark Utiiities plant?
October 23, 1998... Two years after Clark Public Utilities threw the switch on its $160 million electric power plant in Vancouver, sparks are still flying between the utility and critics who claim the plant should not have been built without a public vote. ...

It actually worked: Praegitzer's turnaround tactics paying off.(Praetgitzer Industries)
October 23, 1998... The latest batch of technology company earnings reports present a mixed bag, with one continuing its record-setting pace, another capably battling in a tough industry and a third waiting for its industry to show signs of a turnaround. ...