San Francisco Business Times articles from January 1995

San Francisco Business Times archives from January 1995

Executive of the year. (Intuit Chairman and CEO Scott Cook)
January 6, 1995... After bringing Bill Gates to his knees, Scott Cook plans to revolutionize the finance industries Scott Cook is revolutionizing the way people manage their finances and playing a key role in moving society toward electronic commerce. In the...

Sharper Image to launch division for women. (retailer specializing in menswear and mens' grooming products) (Company Profile)
January 6, 1995... Cosmetics, stress treatment aids expected to drive Spa sales to $10 million in '95 Sharper Image Inc., building on the strength of a 29 percent sales growth for the first 10 months of its fiscal year, is preparing to launch a new retail...

Back on track: once-depressed Home Express to raise $50 million. (housewares and home furnishings store) (Company Profile)
January 6, 1995... Home Express Inc., after a plodding journey to the public stock market, will raise about $50 million to finance growth and a nationwide expansion. The Hayward-based housewares and home furnishings retailer has filed a prospectus with the...

Delta Dental's bite on market tops $2 billion. (Delta Dental of California dental plan)
January 6, 1995... Delta Dental Plan of California, by far the state's largest dental health plan, expects to drill through the $2 billion barrier for the first time when 1994 revenue numbers are posted. That's double the level of five years ago and a symbol of...

PLM fund irks shareholders. (PLM International Inc.'s termination of employee stock ownership program)
January 6, 1995... Shareholders of PLM International, anxiously awaiting the termination of a controversial employee stock ownership plan, are complaining that management is using delay tactics to fatten the fund before liquidation. The San Francisco-based...

Toyota is likely to give NUMMI plant a pickup. (Toyota Motor Corp.; New United Motor Manufacturing Inc.)
January 13, 1995... If new truck sells well, plant may be expanded New United Motor Manufacturing Inc. could be on the road to a major expansion next year, if buyers like a new generation of compact pickup trucks slated to roll off the Fremont assembly line....

S.F. firm lays down the law for Russians. (San Francisco law firm Bronson, Bronson and McKinnon; Russian State Ballet)
January 13, 1995... Struggling to stay on its toes in the post-Communist world, the Russian State Ballet this month hired the San Francisco law firm Bronson, Bronson & McKinnon to choreograph its contracts. BB&M Partner Richard Walker will negotiate contracts for...

Marin air base project is ready for takeoff. (mixed-use project at former Hamilton Air Force Base, Marin County, California)
January 13, 1995... After a 20-year stalemate, developer J. David Martin is within 60 days of starting the conversion of Hamilton Army Air Base into the largest real estate development in Marin County history. Martin's plan: build more than 900 homes, 550,000...

Pacific Bell takes phone heists to FCC.
January 13, 1995... Slammed by more than 7,000 complaints a month from customers claiming that their long distance telephone carrier was changed without their permission, Pacific Bell is pushing for tougher rules from the Federal Communications Commission....

Dealmaker having a ball in San Francisco; Zell plans big parties, big deals to follow One Market purchase. (Sam Zell of Office Equity Properties Inc.; office complex)
January 13, 1995... Chicago real estate kingpin Sam Zell, seeking a higher profile in San Francisco, is using his newly acquired trophy property One Market to get it. Zell will host several parties at One Market in mid-March to debut a $35 million renovation for...

Hailing the end of patent nonsense; industry cheers new loosening of patent criteria. (biotechnology industry)
January 13, 1995... Bay Area biotechnology companies are cheering a recent decision by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to ease standards for obtaining biotech patents. The decision by Patent Commissioner Bruce Lehman to loosen the so-called "utility...

Lens maker eyes IPO. (SOLA Optical U.S.A. Inc.; initial public offering)
January 13, 1995... Sola Groups Ltd., a well-financed manufacturer of plastic eyeglass lenses, is taking itself public, raising $68 million to retire a hefty debt load and create some liquidity for its VIP list of founders. In an unusual skeleton filing with the...

Skin-patch-maker Cygnus to sell 'Rolex' for diabetics. (Cygnus Therapeutic Systems' wristwatch for monitoring blood sugar of diabetics)
January 13, 1995... After developing nicotine skin patches for smokers trying to kick the habit and estrogen patches for women in menopause, Cygnus Therapeutic Systems expects to capitalize on another type of patch: one to help diabetics monitor blood sugar through...

H-P, Sybase to soup up Singapore TV. (Singapore Telecom's planned video-on-demand service)
January 13, 1995... Hewlett-Packard Co. and Sybase Inc. have joined an international consortium that will hook 300 households in Singapore to video-on-demand and may be expanded to encompass every residence in the country. Mitsui & Co. Ltd. of Japan, which is...

Mervyn's goes shopping, picks up stores for $74M.
January 13, 1995... Hayward-based Mervyn's has acquired seven store sites in Minnesota for $74 million and will implement a new prototype store design that is considered key to the continuation of its nascent turnaround. The new stores, purchased from Carson...

'Underwater' research fits scientists swimmingly. (Genentech Inc.'s discretionary research program) (Health Care Quarterly)
January 13, 1995... On any given day, in the labs at Genentech's sprawling South San Francisco campus, scores of scientists are working on what they call "submarine" research: cutting-edge science conducted "underwater," out of the range of management oversight....

Contra Costa politics holds hospital decision hostage. (Contra Costa County, California) (Health Care Quarterly)
January 13, 1995... A long-running controversy on whether to rebuild Contra Costa County's public hospital in Martinez or divvy up its patient load between other half-empty hospitals in the county may finally be reaching its end. Critics say building a 144-bed...

Kaiser floating on top of stagnating HMO insurance pond. (Kaiser Foundation Health Plan; health maintenance organization) (Health Care Quarterly)
January 13, 1995... Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, part of the giant Kaiser Permanente medical empire in Northern California, remains - as always - the Bay Area's No. 1 health maintenance organization. But the bigger news may be the stagnant state of HMO...

Wells Fargo & Company. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
January 13, 1995... NYSE: WFC 420 Montgomery St. San Francisco, CA 94163 (415) 477-1000 UPDATE Wells Fargo & Co. is the holding company for Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. The bank's holdings include 600 branch offices and 1,800 Wells Fargo Express ATMs. Aside from its...

Hospitals on red alert over pending Medicare cuts; effects locally will be 'devastating.'
January 20, 1995... The possibility of massive budget cuts in federal Medicare and Medicaid programs by the Newt Gingrich-led 104th Congress has beleaguered Bay Area hospitals bracing for a potential financial crisis. "It's going to be devastating," said Jack...

Media Vision's second coming. (Media Vision Technology Inc.'s comeback strategy)
January 20, 1995... After a tumultuous year of staggering losses, shareholder lawsuits and federal investigations, a streamlined Media Vision Technology has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy with a clean slate, a $15 million credit line and some still-promising...

S.F. real estate recovery stalling. (San Francisco, California) (Industry Overview)
January 20, 1995... An unexpected downturn in San Francisco's commercial real estate market has caught most brokers by surprise and raised questions whether the market can sustain the recovery it began last year. Vacancy rates, which fell through most of 1994,...

$55M buyout of Pacific Bank will give birth to new regional player.
January 20, 1995... The Pacific Bank has signed a letter of intent to be acquired by Western Bank of Medford, Ore., for $55 million in cash, in what could prove to be the first step in establishing a new regional banking force. For $354-million-asset Pacific Bank,...

GE fund, eShop go electronic shopping together; alliance gives software startup cash, competitive edge. (GE Capital Retailer Financial Services; eShop Inc.)
January 20, 1995... San Mateo-based startup eShop Inc. has won a major endorsement and alliance, entering a deal with GE Capital Services to offer a sophisticated system for on-line electronic shopping. GE Capital, which earned about $2 billion last year, will...

Cal Pacific may part with Transplant Bank. (California Pacific Medical Center)
January 20, 1995... As part of a continuing belt-tightening effort, financially stressed California Pacific Medical Center is negotiating to sell its Northern California Transplant Bank to a Baltimore-based nonprofit. The San Rafael-based Transplant Bank - which...

Esprit's sun also rises in Japan. (Esprit de Corp.'s expansion)
January 20, 1995... Despite laggard U.S. operations, San Francisco's Esprit de Corp. is further expanding internationally, where its latest assault is expected to blanket Japan with Esprit stores. The company opened its first store in the island country in...

Newsprint supply becomes papers' pressing problem. (newspaper publishers)
January 20, 1995... Already hit by sharply escalating newsprint prices, fresh uncertainty over newsprint supply has newspaper publishers facing a double-barreled predicament. In the last 12 months some Bay Area newspapers have seen newsprint increases of up to 40...

Changes in laws lighten trucker's regulatory cargo. (Con-Way Transportation Services Inc.)
January 20, 1995... Con-Way Transportation Services, the short-haul truck division of Consolidated Freightways, will expand its fleet of trucks, hire additional drivers and expand its truck terminals as a result of new changes in federal transportation laws. A...

Suit fights securities firms' stock solution to disputes. (lawsuit against Robertson, Stephens and Company L.P.)
January 20, 1995... A former trader at Robertson Stephens & Co. has filed a lawsuit charging the firm with sexual discrimination and sexual harassment in a case that could permanently alter the way the securities industry resolves employment disputes. The...

Local commuters use of trains, buses isn't transitory. (San Francisco, California)
January 20, 1995... Although local denizens are fond of grumbling about the Muni, CalTrain and BART systems, San Franciscans are second only to New Yorkers for their reliance on public transportation to get to work each day, according to a new Business Times study....

Business begins to build for Bay Area contractors. (San Francisco Bay Area; commercial contractors)
January 20, 1995... For Bay Area commercial contractors, 1994 was the bounce-back year. The cumulative value of the 25 largest contractors on The Business Times' List rebounded to $17.4 billion from $16 billion in recession-racked 1993. And although many of the...

Drug guru now pushing his expertise. (former Syntex Corp. CEO Paul Freiman)
January 27, 1995... Former Syntex Corp. CEO Paul Freiman, who merged himself out of a job by overseeing Roche Holding's $5.3 billion-acquisition of the company, is carving out a new career as a godfather to smaller biotechnology concerns. As he prepares for an...

City gets tough on business lobbyists. (San Francisco, California)
January 27, 1995... A new law that took effect this month will force San Francisco lobbyists to publicly disclose the amount of money companies pay them to wield influence at City Hall. The new legislation, pushed through by Supervisor Terence Hallinan the end of...

Big S.F. law firms may call for change of venue; 750,000 square feet of legal office space is under negotiation. (San Francisco, California)
January 27, 1995... San Francisco's four largest law firms - which collectively occupy a whopping 750,000 square feet of financial district office space - may soon be on the move. Though in negotiations with their current landlords, Pillsbury Madison & Sutro;...

Software union: if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. (Ernst and Young's plan to develop software package with PeopleSoft)
January 27, 1995... Big Six accounting firm Ernst & Young has teamed up with Walnut Creek-based PeopleSoft to develop a new software package it hopes will dominate the market for global work force management systems. Under terms of the agreement, Ernst & Young...

A bit of foreign sparkle. (European-owned wineries' record 1994 sales of California sparkling wines)
January 27, 1995... European-owned wineries toast a banner year for sales of their California sparkling wines A gush of favorable critical attention and record 1994 sales has producers of California's top-quality sparkling wines bubbling with optimism. When...

Technology trade group to launch 'bank' for startups. (American Electronics Association)
January 27, 1995... The American Electronics Association is about to step into the world of technology lending, according to sources close to the trade group. Two years ago, the AEA, which represents most of the nation's computer and electronics companies,...

S.F. ranks near the head of the class for college grads. (San Francisco, California)
January 27, 1995... College graduates Washington 37.0% San Francisco 34.9% San Jose 32.6% Raleigh-Durham 31.7% Austin 30.7% Oakland 29.9% Denver 29.7%...

Caltrans tells environmental firms to get the lead out. (California Department of Transportation; lead-contaminated soil along San Francisco Bay Area freeways)
January 27, 1995... Lead-contaminated soil along Bay Area freeways has resulted in a spate of new cleanup contracts for local environmental consulting companies. Although California motorists have been using lead-free gas for more than a decade, lead has...

Legal duo offers cash to litigation-weary plaintiffs. (Michael Blum and Alan Zimmerman of Legal Purchase Corp.)
January 27, 1995... A firm launched by two San Francisco lawyers aims to help plaintiffs and their attorneys survive the long and expensive appeals process by purchasing stakes in judgment awards and contingent fees. Judgment Purchase Corp. believes it is the...

Relocation firm diversifies to bring profits home. (Corporate Homes America) (Small Business Entrepreneurs)
January 27, 1995... As a residential real estate broker in the early 1980s, Raymond Link saw a recession put the brakes on the housing market. But he noticed that the corporate relocation business didn't fluctuate with market conditions. "It was much more...

Clothier fashions duds for N.E. Wear, time and place. (Chuck Doyle and Kevin Murphy of N.E. Wear Inc.) (Small Business Entrepreneurs )
January 27, 1995... When Chuck Doyle launched N.E. Wear Inc., a San Francisco men's sportswear firm, his resume included brief experience as a real estate developer and a stint as a running back with the Buffalo Bills. He knew virtually nothing about the apparel...

Tech company thrives on closer inspection. (Isys Controls) (Small Business Entrepreneurs)
January 27, 1995... In modern-day paper manufacturing, product streaks off the production line at speeds of up to 60 miles-per-hour. Even if human attendants can stay alert watching the relentless roll of paper for hours on end, they probably can't spot defects...

Bay Area printers press ahead with tactical changes. (San Francisco Bay Area commercial printers)
January 27, 1995... Pressures from low-cost foreign competition and high capital costs of keeping up with new technology have squeezed Bay Area commercial printers - once the industry leaders in the Western United States. Those pressures, along with other changes...

Fair, Isaac and Company Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (Company Profile)
January 27, 1995... NASDAQ: FICI 120 North Redwood Drive San Rafael, CA 94903 (415) 472-2211 UPDATE Fair, Isaac and Co. and its subsidiary, Dynamark Inc., are leading developers of software systems and marketing database management services used in the credit,...

Execs stock up and keep options open; stock options help young companies to lure executive talent. (Fast Track Quarterly: Wind in Its Sales)
January 27, 1995... With the Financial Accounting Standards Board shelving a proposal to make companies take charges against earnings for the stock options they grant employees, corporate printing presses continue to crank out their own currency to executives....

Computer magazine boom lifts publisher; Miller Freeman missed first tech wave, but now riding it like a pro. (Miller Freeman Inc.) (Fast Track Quarterly: Wind in Its Sales) (Company Profile)
January 27, 1995... The turning point for Miller Freeman may have come in 1980, when an unknown entrepreneur named David Bunnell approached the company with an idea for a new magazine about a brand-new phenomenon: personal computers. The San Francisco publishing...

Sound workstations create Sonic's boom; stock price drop is only sour note for Sonic Solutions. (Fast Track Quarterly: Wind in Its Sales) (Company Profile)
January 27, 1995... The problems Bob Doris faces are the envy of many businesses: How to continue a string of 29 consecutive profitable quarters, while maintaining a line of revenues that keeps going up the chart. Sound finances are at the core of Sonic Solutions,...

Kenetech rides the foreign trade winds. (KENETECH Corp.) (Fast Track Quarterly: Wind in Its Sales) (Company Profile)
January 27, 1995... Windmill sales overseas are powering a turnaround, and company is convinced it's not hot air Kenetech Corp. has struggled for the last decade to prove the viability of wind power generation, but the company is convinced it finally has the wind...

Temporary offices, long-term success. (executive-suites operator HQ Network Systems Inc.) (Fast Track Quarterly: Wind in Its Sales) (Company Profile)
January 27, 1995... At HQ Network Systems, offices can be here today, gone tomorrow Back in 1967, when HQ Network Systems was founded, the idea of a virtual office wasn't even a glimmer in the eye of workplace futurists. In fact, what is now the world's largest...

Office equipment firm not just copy-cats; Better Office Systems distributorship battles international giants. (Better Office Systems Inc.) (Fast Track Quarterly: Wind in Its Sales) (Company Profile)
January 27, 1995... Steve Havis and Rod Marcoux got tired of the grind of constant travel, working as executives for Savin Corp., which distributed Ricoh office equipment. So in 1984, with $800,000 of their own money and a line of credit from their old employer,...