San Francisco Business Times articles from January 1996

San Francisco Business Times archives from January 1996

Executive of the Year. (Wells Fargo Bank N.A. Chairman and CEO Paul Hazen)
January 5, 1996... New Wells Fargo CEO Paul Hazen has wasted no time in putting his stamp on banking industry When Carl Reichardt stepped down as chairman and chief executive officer of Wells Fargo Bank last year, he ended a career where he had transformed the...

Esprit told to sell fast or lose company. (Esprit de Corp.)
January 5, 1996... San Francisco's Esprit de Corp. has been told by debt holders to find a buyer within days or they will take control of the ailing company. Sources say that New York-based Cerberus Partners and Oaktree Capital of Los Angeles have given the...

Real estate firm is on the ropes. (Pacific Gateway Properties Inc.)
January 5, 1996... A torrent of red ink and a foundering stock price has forced the resignation of the CEO of Pacific Gateway Properties and moved the company closer to a possible sale or merger. Roger Snell tendered his resignation Dec. 31 as president and CEO...

Longshoremen's new white-collar style could put pinch on employers.(Waterfront Unions Start Making Waves in the East Bay)
January 5, 1996... Office employees at two Oakland stevedoring companies will vote next month whether to join the longshoremen's union, raising worries among employers that the union's efforts to extend its reach into white- and pink-collar ranks are bearing fruit....

Software fight against pirates comes to S.F. (Software Publishers Association names Elisha Lawrence as director of anti-piracy campaign in Asia)
January 5, 1996... Stepping up its battle against software piracy in the Pacific Rim, an industry group representing 1,200 U.S. software companies has appointed a piracy cop in San Francisco. In most Asian countries, there are more pirated copies of software...

Mother of invention. (Lawrence Livermore National Labs's miniature radar system)
January 5, 1996... Host of companies pick up Livermore labs' radar Efforts to commercialize an inexpensive and miniaturized radar system developed at Lawrence Livermore National Labs has proved to be a hit with private sector companies, and may become the most...

Advanced Micro CEO poised to go for the gold - again. (Advanced Micro Devices Inc. CEO W.J. Sanders III)
January 5, 1996... If history is any guide, Advanced Micro Devices is about to play its seventh round of what I call the Executive Compensation Olympics. In the real Olympics, the high jump bar is set, say, at five feet, and a contestant is invited to jump over...

Two-timer winner cleans up on janitors, deals on wheels. (McCord Enterprises founder Greg McCord)
January 5, 1996... At age 30, Greg McCord has already built two successful businesses - a building maintenance company he started from scratch and McCord Enterprises, a taxi and van operation he developed by acquiring several companies. When he graduated from UC...

Actress casts herself in business. (Voicetrax San Francisco Inc. founder Samantha Paris)
January 5, 1996... Call her the accidental entrepreneur. By her own account, Samantha Paris, founder of Voicetrax San Francisco Inc., a voiceover training and casting firm, developed her business more by chance than by design. "I never set out to be a business...

DHL's court battle with IRS eclipses $580M. (DHL Airways Inc.)
January 12, 1996... DHL Corp. has renewed a high-stakes battle with the Internal Revenue Service, this time for taxes and penalties toting up to $318.6 million. The dispute over taxes from 1991 and 1992 comes on top of a $269.3 million tab the company is disputing...

Blood money: San Mateo startup wants umbilical cords from million-dollar babies. (Jesse Kramer's Blood Cord Registry)
January 12, 1996... Umbilical cords are rich in biologic and genetic material. Jesse Kramer is banking that they also contain a $350 million business opportunity, convincing affluent parents to preserve the cord as insurance for the family against blood disorders,...

Grubb & Ellis is raided by former exec: top agents hired away to start new brokerage. (Grubb and Ellis Co.; Orion Partners Ltd.)
January 12, 1996... Eight of the top-producing commercial real estate brokers in the San Rafael office of Grubb & Ellis have defected to a rival startup led by their former boss, who was dethroned a year ago. William McCubbin, fired from his job as Grubb & Ellis's...

Kaiser skips key payment on Emeryville project: stalling tactic raises further doubt about whether $300 million hospital will be built. (Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc.)
January 12, 1996... Kaiser Permanente has failed to make a payment to keep its option open on a 30-acre site in Emeryville for a proposed new hospital - the latest indication that the huge project may be scrapped. As recently as early last year, Oakland-based...

Pyramid rises in Berkeley: Seattle's Hart Brewing barrels along with $8M brewery and restaurant. (Hart Brewing Inc.'s brewery and restaurant complex in West Berkeley, CA)
January 12, 1996... A Seattle maker of specialty beers will break ground this month on a new $8 million brewery and restaurant complex in West Berkeley. Hart Brewing Inc., which makes 22 different craft beers under the Pyramid and Thomas Kemper labels will begin...

Health giant offers $25M for Sequoia. (Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp.; Sequioa Hospital, WA)
January 12, 1996... An offer of $25 million cash from hard-driving Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. is threatening to trump Catholic Healthcare West's plans to affiliate with Sequoia Hospital. According to hospital officials, Columbia has offered to either buy...

Intuit's goal: electronic banking for small banks. (Intuit Inc.)
January 12, 1996... Seeking to reach out to thousands of small banks, Intuit Inc. is talking with several ATM networks about partnerships aimed at letting small banks in on the electronic-banking gold rush. But the Menlo Park-based company may run into obstacles...

Railroad baron steams into S.F. with business park deal. (Pat Broe's purchase of the Francisco Bay Office Park)
January 12, 1996... Denver railroad and real estate magnate Pat Broe has purchased the Francisco Bay Office Park after more than 18 months of on-again, off-again negotiations with the property's Japanese owners. Sale price for the 285,000-square-foot property on...

Real estate firm hopes marriage will widen its horizons. (MH Realty Advisers Inc.'s investment in TRI Commercial Real Estate Services)
January 12, 1996... Oakland-based MH Realty Advisers Inc. has acquired an equity interest in TRI Commercial Real Estate Services in what company insiders are calling a "marriage" of the two real estate services firms. The extent of MH Realty's investment in TRI...

Deal of the year: Wells Fargo's bold bid. (Wells Fargo and Co.)(Deals of the Year: A Review of the Bay Area's Largest Transactions in 1995)
January 12, 1996... Wells Fargo & Co.'s hostile bid for First Interstate not only pits Wells against rival bidder First Bank Systems, it pits First Interstate's employees against its shareholders. Few employees at First Interstate will shed tears if Wells fumbles...

Wireless firm makes foreign connection with new finance. (International Wireless Communications Inc.)
January 12, 1996... Aiming to double its worldwide subscriber base, a San Mateo wireless communications company has lined up a triple dose of financing to help it accomplish the feat. Privately held International Wireless Communications Inc., which has 17...

Catellus Development Corp. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
January 12, 1996... NYSE, PSE: CDX 201 Mission St. San Francisco, CA 94105 (415) 974-4500 UPDATE Catellus Development Corp. owns, develops and manages properties in California and 10 other states. Operating properties consist mainly of industrial facilities and...

Broderbund raids Learning Co.: software maker lost buyout bid, but may lure away key talent. (Broderbund Software Inc.)
January 19, 1996... Software maker lost buyout bid, but may lure away key talent Broderbund Software appears poised to acquire a good portion of the Learning Co. without having to pay the $516 million it offered last year to buy the company. Novato-based...

New Kmart takes bite out of unions, rivals: food workers step up organizing efforts as competitors worry. (Super Kmart in Oakland)
January 19, 1996... A food workers' union has launched a major push to unionize employees at Oakland's new Super Kmart, fearing that the success of the mammoth nonunion store could drive down wages and benefits at supermarkets throughout Alameda County. The...

BofA's new floor show opening to rave reviews. (Bank of America)
January 19, 1996... Bank of America's experimental floor plan, designed to sell more financial services, appears to be off to a flying start. Last spring, BofA opened the doors of its main branch in Oakland to show its customers a radical new layout. An internal...

Hewlett-Packard piles on 493 patents to lead region. (San Francisco Bay Area)
January 19, 1996... For the third consecutive year, Hewlett, Packard leads all Bay Area companies in the number of U.S. Patents obtained during 1995. The Palo Alto-based technology giant was granted 493 U.S. patents, easily outdistancing No. 2-ranked Intel, which...

Merged CHS, Sutter try to discover the power of two. (California Health Care System; Sutter Health System)(Health Care Quarterly)
January 19, 1996... A lot of people thought it was inevitable. Others say it was unnecessary. And a few thought - and still think - that it was unworkable. But in any case, the Jan. 8 merger of San Francisco's California Healthcare System and Sacramento's Sutter...

Rivals whittle away at Kaiser's big lead in HMO race. (Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc.; health maintenance organization)(Health Care Quarterly)
January 19, 1996... The local HMO competition is finally beginning to gain on regional giant Kaiser Permanente. Kaiser still leads the pack by several laps, of course, with more than 1.16 million HMO enrollees in San Francisco, Alameda, Contra Costa, San Mateo...

Fair, Isaac and Co. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
January 19, 1996... NASDAQ: FICI 120 North Redwood Drive San Rafael, CA 94903 (415) 472-2211 UPDATE Fair, Isaac and Co. develops data-based decision management software systems and services for the credit, insurance and data systems marketing industries. Based...