San Francisco Business Times articles from January 2000

San Francisco Business Times archives from January 2000

Providian charges ahead with 5,000 jobs.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Credit-card company adding another three call centers An increase of more than 4 million credit-card accounts is driving continued expansion at Providian Financial Corp., which will open three big call centers around the country in the...

Quokka Sports rises a rung.
January 28, 2000... But can America's Cup, Olympics help lift webcaster into the big leagues? Quokka Sports Inc. is speeding toward the America's Cup finals with the wind in its sails, but questions dog the sports webcaster: Can it harness deals for...

BofA rattles e-commerce operations.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Two leaders of Bank of America Corp.'s e-commerce business have left the company in the wake of a major reshuffling of its Internet efforts that shifted more oversight to former NationsBank executives. Chris Callero and Michael DeVico,...

Sybase eyes headquarters move to Dublin.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Software firm set to pack up 1,200 jobs, government officials say Alameda County and Dublin officials say Sybase Inc. is close to a deal that would move the database company and its 1,200 local employees from Emeryville to Dublin. ...

Pets.com will put a smaller bite on investors.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Pets.com has lowered the amount of money it expects to raise in its upcoming initial public offering, even as the online pet retailer sets plans to invade the United Kingdom. The San Francisco-based e-tailer will raise $68.8 million,...

Union Bank thinks small.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Downsizing gives way to small biz push as focus shifts to boosting loans Union Bank of California is hiring loan officers and boosting employee incentives to attract more small businesses, especially those owned by minorities and women....

Film site taps business stars for $35 million.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... IFilm, a San Francisco Internet site for filmmakers and fans, has won the endorsement of industry backers, with Kodak, Sony and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen playing starring roles in a $35 million round of investment. The new...

For startups, home is where bed is.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Firms rent space where 24/7 workers can get some sleep Germaine Brown's home in Mountain View is where she sleeps for a few hours -- sometimes only three nights a week. The rest of the time, the 32-year-old software quality engineer...

Hoopster VC finds the NCAA plays some fierce defense.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... San Francisco's Hummer Winblad Venture Partners is used to going one-on-one in the venture capital arena, but it has met its match in the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Hummer Winblad last November announced it would sponsor a...

Bar tab rises.(first-year legal associates get pay raises)(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Tower Snow has raised the bar, and no doubt other law firm executives would like to beat him with it. Amid skyrocketing pay for young lawyers, the chief of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison trumped all comers by pumping up paychecks for...

Silicon implant.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Forget Silicon Valley and Multimedia Gulch; Alameda leaders have unleashed "Silicon Island" into the marketing lexicon. Sure, Alameda's done a yeoman's job swabbing the decks of the shuttered Alameda Naval Air Station and attracting...

Rise & Fall.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... A barometer of the region's movers, shakers and fakers Tom Jermoluk Proving he's no power tripper, Jermoluk gracefully cedes the CEO role at ExciteAtHome -- the very same week it announces that rarest of Internet commodities,...

WebTV' s Perlman births S.F. digital media incubator.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Steve Perlman, the founder of WebTV who left the Microsoft-owned company last summer, is set to launch his next venture: an incubator for upstart digital media technology companies. Rearden Steel Inc. will birth new technologies and...

Shoe retailer horns in on Union Square.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... The shoe is on the other foot: A Midwestern discount shoe chain has taken over the big Union Square store at 111 Powell St. abandoned by the limping Just For Feet. DSW Shoe Warehouse inked a deal for the three-story, 23,000-square-foot...

Swig finds money to build new S.F apartment tower.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Financing is nearly completed to restart construction next month on San Francisco's largest apartment development, said Kent Swig of Swig Burns Equities. Swig, co-owner of the New York-based firm and grandson of real estate mogul...

A look at buying and selling of shares by Bay Area executives.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... A look at buying and selling of shares by Bay Area executives Raymond Lane President Oracle Corp. Shares sold: 618,750 Were shares said options? Yes Options...

Novo completes merger, readies public offering.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... E-business builder Novo is readying plans for an early February stock offering, hoping to capitalize on the same investor infatuation that has rewarded its rivals with multibillion-dollar market valuations. Novo was created out of the...

J.P. Morgan expands into Valley.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... J.P. Morgan & Co. plans an expansion of its private banking group in San Francisco along with a new Silicon Valley office. A local spokeswoman for the investment bank said a formal announcement was scheduled for late January or early...

S.F. design shop drives Ford into future.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... The San Francisco office of British-born design company Attik is winning praise for its work on Ford's new 24.7 concept car. Attik expects the Ford business to boost the visibility and revenue of its not-quite-two-year-old office here,...

S F. ad firm loses big net customer.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... San Francisco ad agency Gardner, Geary, Coll & Young has lost a $20 million account, online drugstore More.com, to crosstown rival Citron, Haligman, Bedecarre. The defection is even more painful because last month, GGC&Y's new business...

Older properties get new lease on life along I-680.(San Francisco Bay Area)(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... High-tech tenants in a hurry are suddenly shelling out bigger bucks to retrofit older buildings along the Interstate 680 corridor. Nextel Communications Inc., one of the country's largest wireless providers, leased a 33,359-square-foot...

Van Kasper buys Portland brokerage.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Flush with the resources of its parent of less than a year, First Security Van Kasper pulled off the first major acquisition in its 22-year history, purchasing Portland, Ore.-based Black & Co. for an undisclosed amount. Black & Co. has...

Love Goel.(Personify Inc. CEO)(Brief Article)(Interview)
January 28, 2000... Name: Love Goel. Title: CEO. Company: Personify; the San Francisco-based e-marketing software company. Background: Goel recently was chief financial officer of Federated Department Stores' e-commerce business unit. ...

Andersen partner goes dot-corn.(Andersen Consulting)(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Jim Greene, managing partner heading Andersen Consulting's western operations, will leave the firm to join a fledgling dot-com startup Perksatwork.com. Greene's move comes in the wake of a legion of Internet-motivated departures from...

CNet buys mySimon.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... San Francisco-based CNet Inc. agreed to buy mySimon Inc. for $700 million in stock. The deal will create one of the largest comparison shopping web sites on the Net. Closely held mySimon is based in Santa Clara.

Bullock & Jones to close.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Upscale clothier Bullock & Jones said it will close next month. The San Francisco retailer, which was purchased by Saks Inc. in July 1998, has served the Bay Area since 1853. Saks says the store did not do enough business last year to justify...

Pair of deals for Jeeves.(Ask Jeeves)(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Emeryville-based web site Ask Jeeves inked a deal with DaimlerChrysler Corp., which said it will use Ask Jeeves' English-language question-and-answer technology on its family of auto web sites. The automaker will roll out the "Ask Chrysler"...

Well Engaged, Delphi Forums merge.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Discussion software application company Well Engaged of Sausalito merged with another web discussion community company, Delphi Forums of Massachusetts. The new company, Prospero Technologies, will be a new business-to-business firm that will...

McDowell indicted for theft.(McDowell & Co.)(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... A federal grand jury in San Jose indicted San Carlos-based McDowell & Co. and its top executives. The company allegedly stole blueprints from Applied Materials five years ago. The blueprints for Applied's semiconductor parts allegedly allowed...

New Intuit CEO named.(Stephen Bennett)(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Stephen Bennett was named president and CEO Jan. 24 of Intuit Inc., the Mountain View-based provider of personal finance software. Bennett, 45, headed the Internet business efforts of General Electric Corp.'s, financial services arm, GE...

Thomas Weisel gets new partner.(California Public Employees Retirement System )(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Thomas Weisel Partners has a new partner. The California Public Employees Retirement System plans to buy a 10 percent stake in the investment bank for $100 million. CalPERS will also invest $1 billion in various funds managed by the firm.

Cal Fed acquires auto finance unit.
January 28, 2000... California Federal Bank's auto loan subsidiary will buy Downey Auto Finance Corp. Terms of the transaction weren't disclosed. The deal is expected to close by the end of the first quarter. Downey Auto's operations, which include a managed...

Alameda Oks transportation funds.(Alameda County Congestion Management Agency plans highway construction)
January 28, 2000... In Oakland, the Alameda County Congestion Management Agency approved a $47 million countywide transportation spending plan. The plan includes $3 million for work on a connector between Oakland International Airport and the Coliseum BART...

Van Kasper makes acquisition.(First Security Van Kasper to acquire Black and Co.)(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... First Security Van Kasper signed a definitive agreement to acquire securities firm Black & Co. Inc. Financial terms were not disclosed. Portland, Ore.-based Black has more than 50 employees and 20,000 clients nationwide.

Bigwords.com raises big money.
January 28, 2000... Bigwords.com, the San Francisco-based online textbook retailer, has raised $30 million in third-round financing. Lead investors include Attractor Investor Management, Media Technology Ventures and St. Paul Venture Capital.

Engage buys online ad businesses.
January 28, 2000... Engage Technologies Inc., the marketing unit of San Francisco's CMGI Inc., is buying online advertising businesses Adsmart and Flycast Communications Corp. of San Francisco for a total of about $2.46 billion in stock. All three units will be...

Homestead.com, raises $25M.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Homestead.com, a Menlo Park builder of interactive web sites, recently announced that it has raised $25 million in third-round venture financing. The company has raised $57 million since 1998.

Purchase for First Republic.(acquisition of Froley, Revy Investment Co.)(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... First Republic Bank of San Francisco has purchased nearly 18 percent of the holding company of Froley, Revy Investment Co. Froley, Revy Investment Co. has $3 billion in assets under management and specializes in managing convertible...

Bean-counting software shrinks CFO grunt work.(DiCarta Inc.'s accounting software)(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... If CEOs are the celebrities of the New Economy, CFOs are the grunts. While CEOs think big thoughts, ink deals and end up on magazine covers, CFOs do the dirty work. They sit in the back room, surrounded by piles of contracts and revenue...

Ask Jeeves takes Direct Hit.(discusses the acquisition of Direct Hit)(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Make no mistake about it, Ask Jeeves, with this week's $506 million purchase of Direct Hit; is now a fully credentialed business-to-business hotshot. Yes, the Emeryville-based company operates a consumer site, but it seems an incidental...

Newest Net idea: Hold-the-starch.com.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Further proof that the Net is a shackle forcing us to spend 24/7 in front of our computer screens: online dry cleaning. The Ghazvini family has sold its seven Bay Area dry cleaning stores and moved the business to the web. Customers with...

Small banks earn keep but eye interest-rate changes.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 28, 2000... Is there light at the other end of the small-bank tunnel after all? Take one look at recently released financial reports. Yes, Wells Fargo & Co. and Bank of America Corp. still appear strong, but so did the likes of Bank of Mann, San...

Foods for thought: Downey lands ATM deal.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... With a nice boost from Cala Foods and pals, Southern California thrift Downey Savings and Loan is expanding its Bay Area presence. Downey's ATMs have landed in 13 area Cala and Bell Market stores and two FoodsCo outlets. That opens the...

BancWest bears down on Utah, Winter Olympics.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Hours after BancWest Corp. agreed to buy 68 Zions Bancorporation and First Security Corp. sites in Utah and Idaho, each branch found a package from its soon-to-be new owner at its doorsteps. Inside each box: a letter from BancWest...

Shorenstein VP jumps to high-tech NetsWork Inc.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Tom Donoghue, former vice president of San Francisco-based Shorenstein Co., has joined NetsWork Inc. to oversee real estate services for the networking infrastructure company. Based in Pleasanton, NetsWork helps companies manage voice,...

Acteva.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Internet company Acteva has signed a 32,000-square-foot lease at 1550 Evans Ave., one of the first high-tech companies to take office space in India Basin. The lease is the biggest office building deal in India Basin, historically an...

Todd Robinette.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Todd Robinette has been promoted to director of property management for Equity Office Properties Trust Inc. In his new position, Robinette will oversee the Chicago-based REIT's San Francisco portfolio, which includes more than 3.5 million...

Shipper.com.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Shipper.com has inked a 75,000square-foot lease at 41490 Boyce Road in Fremont. The company, which provides same day delivery for Internet purchases, will occupy the space for three years. It is subleasing the space from Ingram Micro for...

Skjerven.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... The law firm of Skjerven, Morrill, MacPherson, Franklin & Friel has taken 25,000 square feet on the 28th floor. of Three Embarcadero Center in San Francisco. Colliers International's Scott Best and Duffy D'Angelo negotiated the six-year plus...

Joie de Vivre hopes to charm its way around opposition to hotel plans.
January 28, 2000... San Francisco's Joie de Vivre Hospitality is gearing up for the first big political battle of its 14-year history. In characteristic fashion, it is already laying ground to charm its way through opposition. The boutique hotel company...

Kimpton adds to menu.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Former Kimpton Group restaurant chief Bob Puccini has quite a string of success going since he put San Francisco's Oritalia Restaurant in expansion mode. Following his acquisition and reopening of the San Francisco outlet in August 1998,...

Surfing the new frontier.(Brief Article)(Industry Overview)
January 28, 2000... 'B2B' companies are chasing the Internet's most glittering prize -- a $17 trillion market Business-to-business e-commerce -- "B2B" in Internet-speak -- has exploded into not only the slickest nickname for a tech sector since Y2K, but the...

Restaurant B2B puts food on top tables.
January 28, 2000... In the summer of 1998, when a hot Internet startup still meant the next big portal or consumer play, Jon Cronander took a narrower view. Before B2B was even a buzzword, his Restaurant Efficiencies Inc. was looking a step ahead,...

Life-science firm clones B2B site for researchers.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Psssst, buddy, got any cytokines? Sure, say leaders of BioSpace.com -- and compressed helium, radiosensitizers and whatever other products life sciences companies need. With a cadre of top-line investors, managers and users, San...

Winning by cutting in the middleman.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Comergent makes B2B work for companies where direct-to-consumer sales won't When most people think about the benefits of e-commerce, they think about a company like Dell, which eliminates the middleman by selling its computers directly...

Top 25 Construction Projects in San Mateo County.
January 28, 2000... Top 25 Construction Projects in San Mateo County Ranked by project construction cost Project description Location Project Rank Project Manager ...

Largest Bay Area Mergers & Acquisitions of 1999.
January 28, 2000... Largest Bay Area Mergers & Acquisitions of 1999 Ranking based on value of deal Company name Address Phone Value Rank Web site ...

Small biz basics the same from Prague to Pyramid.
January 28, 2000... The new year marks a fresh start in our small business coverage here at San Francisco Business Times, with a new small business editor (that would be me) and plans to expand coverage of the Bay Area's vibrant small business community (that...

Clear water crusade.
January 28, 2000... AquaPrix makes standing around the water cooler healthier Lynne Leahy drank tap or bottled water most of her life. Now she cringes at the thought of five-gallon plastic bottles loaded on a truck and collecting road grit. Even more...

Gina Gregori.
January 28, 2000... Title: Founder. Company: GMG Inc., a full-service janitorial company based in San Francisco. Revenue: $5 million. Employees: 150. Founded: 1990. Source of startup capital: Personal savings and a $5,000 buyout from her...

Obtaining customer info can be a teddy bear picnic.
January 28, 2000... Istumbled upon an ingenious computer system at, of all places, a company that sells teddy bears. Actually, my wife and I were dragged to the Build-A-Bear Workshop at a local mall by our children, ages 6 and 9. Friends told them they...

Customer info the easy way.
January 28, 2000... The computer setup intrigued me the most Kids crowded around the computers on this Sunday afternoon. They couldn't wait to enter their names, birthdays, addresses and email addresses. In my line of business, you call such people...

Genius behind the database.
January 28, 2000... I decided to track down the genius behind this operation. I found Maxine Clark on a buying trip in Hong Kong and interviewed her via email. She carries a laptop wherever she goes to respond to 500 to 1,000 messages she receives daily from...

Customers want to participate.
January 28, 2000... Build-A-Bear succeeds where others fail because of a key difference: The company actually provides something in return for going through the process besides a long wait in line and some unsolicited junk mail. First, it's fun. Clark says...

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE.
January 28, 2000... ACCOUNTING/CONSULTING Accuchex, a Novato-based independent payroll management company, has named Steve Better chief operating officer. United Customer Management Solutions, the Redwood Shores customer relationship management...

Legislation would lock OSHA out of home offices.
January 28, 2000... As Congress prepared for hearings on OSHA's attempt to regulate telecommuting, Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., introduced legislation that makes work performed at home with a telephone, computer or electronic device off limits to the agency. The...

AEA: Grass-roots effort will win China trade deal.
January 28, 2000... The American Electronics Association says granting China permanent normal trading relations status is the high-tech industry's No. 1 legislative priority this year, and it plans a grass-roots lobbying campaign through its 17 regional councils...

Four airlines seek right to enter Chinese market.
January 28, 2000... Four airlines applied with the U.S. Department of Transportation for the right to enter the Chinese market next April. American Airlines, Delta Airlines and United Parcel Service applied for all 10 of the new weekly flights authorized by...

Japanese told to open construction market.
January 28, 2000... A top U.S. trade official told his Japanese counterpart that Japan needs to do more to open its public construction market to American companies. "Japanese firms do 12 times as much public construction business in the United States as...

New Web site tracks lawyers' contributions.
January 28, 2000... The American Tort Reform Foundation launched a new Web site that tracks political contributions from trial lawyers. The site identified $18.7 million in political contributions from plaintiffs' lawyers in the Jan. 1, 1997 to Oct. 31, 1999...

Uncle Sam needs to keep our options open.
January 28, 2000... The government is thinking of clamping down on stock options? We can guess the general reaction: Hooray! I'm sick of hearing about another 26-year-old Internet zillionnaire! Sick of being nearly run down by some dot-commer in his...

'Peanut' shelling: The untold truth.
January 28, 2000... The comic gods -- Pogo, Nancy, L'il Abner--are frowning from on high. Last week, Michael Miller, a guest columnist from afar, occupied this space and took "Peanuts," including Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the comic strip's creator, Charles...

'Open access' debate disconnects with reality.
January 28, 2000... ast week's deal between America Online (AOL) and Time Warner should have closed the book on whether government should enter the business of regulating high-speed Internet access over cable lines. Instead, it is pushing rules that will...

Open vs. forced.
January 28, 2000... The whole notion of open access is riddled with contradictions. For one, if the government is forcing cable companies to open their lines to competitors, it can hardly be called "open" access. A better and more precise phrase is "forced."...

New and future competition.
January 28, 2000... In San Francisco, there's already the option of Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL), with the possibility in the near future of wireless and electrical web access. With all this competition present and on the horizon, government enforced open...

Demand should rule.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... That is why government officials at the local, state, and federal levels are wise to reject forced-access regulations for their cable service. Governments should refrain from forcing political decisions on an industry in which economics...

GOP presidential hopefuls on mom, apple pie and Net taxes.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... The Republican debates have always provided ample opportunity for voters to learn where candidates stand on tax issues. What's new this year is an emphasis on taxation of the Internet and electronic commerce. It appears the candidates...

Heart of communication.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... The underlying infrastructure of me internet is quickly becoming the means by which Americans communicate with one another and the rest of the world. Polls in Iowa show that more than 3-in-4 voters think that the revolution in...

Candidates weigh in.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Most of the other Republican candidates have endorsed a permanent moratorium on taxes that single out consumers who use the Internet. Lately, John McCain has been the most outspoken candidate on the issue. During the Manchester debate, McCain...

Taxing communication.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... The debate is headed toward a more thorough explanation of Internet taxation. Sales taxes on electronic commerce already exist What is on the table are new proposals to allow taxation from an out-of-state government in addition to the myriad...

The price of prosperity.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Traffic congestion, housing shortage dampen Peninsula real estate boom It's the best and -- increasingly -- the worst of times on the Peninsula. Nestled between the region's two technology hot spots, San Francisco and San Jose, and...

A letter from the publisher.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... The San Francisco Peninsula is a golden corridor, with its prime position between the booming Silicon Valley and San Francisco, its string of 22 vibrant municipalities, its sunny climate and its proximity to the region's largest airport. ...

Housing crunch.(Statistical Data Included)
January 28, 2000... 'Housing -- particularly multi-family housing -- is viewed as a tax loser.' Barbara Kautz San Mateo community development director Producing new jobs is relatively easy for the Peninsula's prosperous populace. Producing...

Dot-com phenomenon ramps up real estate.(Brief Article)
January 28, 2000... Gary Willard CB Richard Ellis 'Clearly 1999 was the year of the dot-com. We had a record year as far as total square footage that was absorbed.' Ask anyone -- anyone, however remotely connected with Peninsula real estate -- and...