San Francisco Business Times articles from January 2001

San Francisco Business Times archives from January 2001

Strapped E-Loan gets a loan of its OWN.
January 5, 2001... GE unit boosts mortgage lender with $50M line of credit E-Loan Inc. has struck an 11th-hour agreement for a $50 million line of credit, an industry source said, that injects the sagging online lender with cash to back the mortgages it makes...

Executive of the Year.
January 5, 2001... Co-CEO David Pottruck drives Charles Schwab with clicks and bricks At Charles Schwab Corp., the founder's name remains above the door, but it's co-CEO David Pottruck who is driving many of the new ventures and strategic alliances that are...

UnderWater World, wharf raise stink.
January 5, 2001... Owners of Underwater World aquarium and Fisherman's Wharf merchants together plan to fight proposals by Pier 39's landlord that they claim will upstage efforts to revitalize the ailing aquarium and spruce up the wharf. Pier 39 Limited...

Voracious Cisco gobbles East Bay space.
January 5, 2001... Networking giant continues expansion with lease deal in Dublin Computer networking giant Cisco Systems Inc. is weaving a larger web in the East Bay with a 220,000-square-foot lease deal in Dublin. The Dublin space will be located at...

Pipe stretches to East Coast.
January 5, 2001... Maryland deal boosts streaming media prospects for Digital Pipe Anxious to tap the growing corporate demand for streaming media-based communications, Foster City's Digital Pipe has signed on with Maryland distance-learning company Caliber...

Hotel deal makes grade at university.
January 5, 2001... A new 400-room luxury hotel is coming to downtown San Francisco via Paris. French hotel chain Accor has acquired a one-third acre building site on Mission Street from Golden Gate University for about $14 million, according to Grubb &...

Ailing NorthPoint cuts costs.
January 5, 2001... San Francisco's NorthPoint Communications, trying to raise cash after the collapse of its planned merger with Verizon Communication's DSL business, said it will sell its 50 percent stake in VersaPoint to its joint venture partner VersaTel...

City's puffing could send tobacconists up in smoke.
January 5, 2001... San Francisco's dozen or so remaining fine tobacco purveyors, olde-worldy bastions of gentlemanly civility for decades, fear they are about to be abruptly stubbed out under the shoe of city officials. Under the noble guise of curbing youth...

Cancel the moving trucks.
January 5, 2001... Shorenstein Co. has decided not to evict itself after all. The part owners and managers of the Bank of America building had put their own 49th floor penthouse digs on the market last year. By November, they said they had a tenant for the...

Rise & Fall.
January 5, 2001... A barometer of the region's movers, shakers and fakers Charles Schwab Saying that his managers have to take a temporary pay cut to help the company weather the bear market storm, Schwab Corp.'s eponymous founder leads from the front:...

Stock wounds won't derail Inktomi's Peninsula plans.
January 5, 2001... Despite its stocks' dizzying fourth-quarter free-fall, Inktomi is pushing ahead with plans to more than double its office space. The Foster City-based Internet infrastructure company penned a deal last spring to lease the two eight-story...

H-P attacks the market with Netserver price cuts.
January 5, 2001... Hewlett-Packard Co. is slashing the prices of its Netserver line by as much as 23 percent in North America, a reflection of both falling component prices and rising competition. Netserver represents H-P's family of Intel-based PC servers....

CORRECTION.
January 5, 2001... The Dec. 1 List of Largest Law Firms in the Bay Area omitted two practice areas -- labor/employment and intellectual property -- from the description for Hanson, Bridgett, Marcus, Vlahos & Rudy LLP.

Union Square renovation begins.
January 5, 2001... San Francisco's Union Square closed for an 18-month, $25 million facelift; Amenities such as a cafe and symphony-sized stage will be added to the 2.6-acre square. The four-level underground parking garage will also be renovated, but will remain...

FDA rebukes Genentech.
January 5, 2001... Genentech Inc. received an order from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to improve quality control at its South San Francisco manufacturing plant. The FDA discovered problems with several batches of products intended for treatment of cystic...

Levi unzips better credit terms.
January 5, 2001... Levi Strauss & Co. announced that it will cut costs under terms of a newly renegotiated deal with bankers for a $1.5 billion line of credit. The new line of credit, $750 million in revolving credit and $750 million in term loans, will be...

Blue Cross, Sutter talks end.
January 5, 2001... Citing inability to agree on a new contract, Blue Cross of California dropped Sutter Health's doctors and hospitals from its provider network. The contract breakdown affects 27 Northern California hospitals and seven doctors' groups owned or...

AT&T Broadband ups rates.
January 5, 2001... The Bay Area's largest cable television company announced it will raise rates about 5 percent, beginning Feb. 2. AT&T Broadband said it is increasing rates earlier in the year than it normally does to coincide more closely with a 10 percent...

Telecom firm files Chapter 11.
January 5, 2001... Burlingame-based Pacific Gateway Exchange Inc. said it plans to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. The international telecommunications company reported it is in talks with its lenders, Bank of America and Bankers Trust Co. over...

Incyte acquires Pruteome.(Brief Article)
January 5, 2001... Incyte Genomics Inc. announced it bought Beverly, Mass.-based Proteome Inc. for $77 million in cash and stock. Palo Alto's Incyte Genomics develops genetic information databases. The acquisition will expand its gene and protein library.

S.F. banks bid on Bay View.(Brief Article)
January 5, 2001... Bay View Capital Corp. has received buyout offers worth roughly $325 million, or $10 per share, from San Francisco's Wells Fargo and Golden State Bancorp. The bank's directors have not yet responded to the offers. Earlier Bay View announced it...

Snowball plans stack buyback.(Brief Article)
January 5, 2001... Snowball.com, the San Francisco online network for young adults, announced it plans to repurchase up to 5 million shares of its common stock for cash in the open market, a deal roughly worth $2.5 million. A portion of the repurchased shares are...

Tumbleweed posts loss, cuts jobs.(Brief Article)
January 5, 2001... Redwood City-based Tumbleweed Communications Corp.. said its fourth-quarter loss would be more than double that of a year ago and. that it will cut 74 jobs, or about 20 percent of its work force. That news sent the secure email service firm's...

Napster files copyright suit.(Brief Article)
January 5, 2001... Napster Inc., the controversial Internet song-swap service that is the subject of a landmark music industry copyright lawsuit, announced it has filed a trademark infringement suit of its own. Redwood City-based Napster said it had filed the...

Internet firms drop off in 2000.(Brief Article)
January 5, 2001... A survey from San Francisco-based Webmergers.com reports at least 210 Internet companies shut their doors during 2000. Sixty percent of the closings occurred in the fourth quarter. The failed companies, mostly e-commerce and online service...

PG&E seeks rate hikes.(Brief Article)
January 5, 2001... Pacific Gas and Electric Co. said it will run out of cash by early February unless it raises rates. The utility company is struggling due to soaring prices for electricity and a state-imposed rate freeze. The California Public Utilities...

Stephen Pelletier.(Brief Article)
January 5, 2001... Name: Stephen Pelletier. Title: Founder, chairman and CEO. Company: OffRoad Capital, the San Francisco firm building an online marketplace for private securities. Background: A bachelor of arts degree in philosophy from Harvard...

BofA goes on 'aggressive' attack to win new money.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 5, 2001... Bank of America Corp. is extending a successful -- but relatively expensive -- tiered money-market account program to California in an effort to reclaim funds that have disappeared from the banking system. While the bank already offers...

Schwab finds a place at Fed banking table.(Brief Article)
January 5, 2001... Need proof that it's a new world for the financial services industry? Look to last month's appointment of Charles Schwab Corp. executive Linnet Deily to a Federal Reserve Board advisory council. Little more than a year ago; Deily's...

Wells Fargo online unit loses high-ranking woman.(Brief Article)
January 5, 2001... Cathy Graeber, Wells Fargo & Co.'s senior vice president of consumer Internet services, left the company in late November -- the second high-ranking woman to leave the unit in the past year. Graeber joined Wells in the first half of 1999....

Bay Area luxury lappers ready to join the club.(Brief Article)
January 5, 2001... Serious creatures of serious comfort can sign up for The Sonoma Club, a new program offering unlimited access to a slew of tony Bay Area inns and spas and the programs they offer. The catch? Come up with $125,000 to sign up, and follow with...

Business dollars on menu.(Brief Article)
January 5, 2001... Feeding the hungry just got a little easier for Bay Area philanthropists who don't necessarily have a loaf of bread handy. Food Runners, a San Francisco-based network of restaurant and hospitality officials that donate food and man hours to...

Through the grapevine.(Brief Article)
January 5, 2001... In wine country, Wine Enthusiast magazine named Beaulieu Vineyard in Rutherford its first "Winery of the Year" for flourishing for 100 years and creating "excellent wines across all styles and at all price points".... In Rohnert Park,...

California hopitals unwrap $1.7 billion package from the Feds.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 5, 2001... The U.S. government has some good news for hospitals: increased funding. A recently signed Medicare funding package should mean an extra $1.7 billion in the stockings of hospitals throughout the state in the next five years, according to...

Kaiser scores in research.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 5, 2001... New research done by a UC Berkeley professor suggests that the all-inclusive HMO-doctor model at Kaiser Permanente is more than unique, it's the most problem-free. UC Berkeley School of Public Health professor Helen Halpin Schauffler and...

Shorenstein still flirting with BofA building suitors.(Shorenstein Company L.P., Bank of America building)(Brief Article)
January 5, 2001... Shorenstein Co. chairman and CEO Doug Shorenstein said interest in the Bank of America building has been strong, but the company is in no hurry to complete the sale of its 50 percent interest. Among those given the opportunity to bid on the...

LCD puts final touches on Oakland project.(LCB Associates seeks leasing contracts for renovated project)(Brief Article)
January 5, 2001... While Shorenstein has grabbed headlines for starting development of a new tower at Oakland's City Center, LCB Associates is puffing the finishing touches on a smaller renovation project in the same neighborhood. Gary Bettencourt, an agent...

Oakland basks in glow of retail RE growth.(real estate)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 5, 2001... Attention retail real estate shoppers: Oakland has the land and the attitude to earn the top spot in the Bay Area for new retail real estate growth and rate appreciation, according to a recent study released by brokers Marcus & Millichap. ...

Trumark takes bite out of shrinking Valley pie.(Trumark Commercial plans real estate development)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 5, 2001... Hoping to cash in on Silicon Valley's shrinking commercial space, Trumark Commercial recently announced plans to buy 23.5 acres in Newark for six office and research and development buildings as part of the 93-acre Stevenson Point Tech Park....

Dot-calm down.(internet firms announce Decembeer job cuts)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 5, 2001... It's getting ugly in dot-com land as layoffs continue to accelerate. December job cuts announced by Internet firms exceeded 10,400 a 19 percent jump over November and a new record. It was the seventh consecutive month of increases,...

A cozy deal.
January 5, 2001... British media giant Pearson purchased a 34.4 percent stake in MarketWatch.com from founding investor Data Broadcasting Corp. for $28.9 million, a 25 percent premium over the 30-day average price for the stock. Pearson, which owns such...

Running for coverage.(online insurance companies have not met optimistic forecasts)(Brief Article)
January 5, 2001... Online insurers face heat of slumping stocks, dot-com downturn Gone is the insurance agent, the confusing insurababble and the inability to compare rates from several companies without your head exploding -- that much online insurance...

Crowded 'zine field fights for ad dollars.(technology magazines face market constriction)(Brief Article)
January 5, 2001... As the ongoing Internet sell-off sparks pandemonium among web-based firms, one of the low-tech casualties in the coming year could be technology magazines. With dot-coms going out of business by the dozens and technology stalwarts issuing...

Doerr applauds shakeout.(Kleiner Perkins Caufield partner John Doerr on the venture capital industry and overall economcy)(Brief Article)(Interview)
January 5, 2001... John Doerr is one of Silicon Valley's most influential venture capitalists in his role as a partner in Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. Since joining the firm in 1980, the St. Louis native has sponsored a series of investments in some of...

Bankruptcy law reform could pass under Bush.(new president George W. Bush)(Brief Article)
January 5, 2001... Supporters of bankruptcy reform are optimistic they finally will get a bill signed this year that will force more creditors to repay their debts. Bankruptcy reform legislation passed both the House and Senate by wide margins last year, but...

Small business has voice, not Cabinet seat.(with president-elect George W. Bush)(Brief Article)
January 5, 2001... Small business lobbyists do not appear to be concerned that President-elect George W. Bush is tapping big business executives, not small business owners or advocates, for Cabinet positions. "We do feel like small business has a seat at the...

SBA now offers film loans.(Small Business Administration funding to independent filmakers)(Brief Article)
January 5, 2001... The Small Business Administration has gone Hollywood. Independent filmmakers are now eligible for SBA-guaranteed loans for their projects, as long as the films are produced in the United States and part of the distribution rights are...

Catering chemistry.(Jane Hammond Events)(Brief Article)
January 5, 2001... Former scientist concocts recipe for growing catering firm Where does a talented chef go out to eat? The answer, according to Jane Hammond, who runs Jane Hammond Events, a Berkeley-based catering and event planning business, is obvious. "I...

Don Daglow.(profile)(Brief Article)
January 5, 2001... Title: President and CEO Company: Stormfront Studios in San Rafael. 1999 revenue: $9.2 million. Founded: 1988. Number of employees: 80. Source of startup capital: $14,000 personal savings. Background: B.A. in creative...

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE.(brief industry personnel information)
January 5, 2001... ACCOUNTING/CONSULTING Ernst & Young LLP promoted Susan Meyer, Michel Kapulica, Steven Clausen and Thomas Trauger to partners in the San Francisco office. Meyer, a partner in the mergers and acquisitions advisory and due-diligence services...

E-Trade plays at another Super Bowl.(marketing procedures)(Brief Article)
January 5, 2001... In the last year, the marketing strategy at E-Trade Group has shifted from building brand awareness to a focus on acquiring new accounts. Why, then, is the company again spending millions of dollars to sponsor the Super Bowl halftime show?...

Power players all demand perfect happy ending.(California power crisis)(Brief Article)
January 5, 2001... "Just say no" wasn't an effective strategy for curbing drug use. It's not very useful at solving California's power crisis, either, but that's what the main players in our electricity drama are essentially saying: Find a solution that causes us...

Republicans' new rules of the road.(effects of presidential election)(Brief Article)
January 5, 2001... The revolution has begun. You may want to notify your body shop. In Palo Alto this week, an allegedly left-leaning vandal attacked an automobile belonging to the wife of a right-leaning education adviser to President-elect George W. Bush....

Handicapped parking puts public on the spot.(opinion on car parking in America)(Brief Article)
January 5, 2001... Coast to coast, parking spaces are so scarce that squabbles erupt. A major reason for the dearth of spaces is the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) and its rigid mandates. When the ADA became law 10 years ago, disability activists drew...

Goofy, geeky ads may mend Levi's marketing woes.(marketing strategy)(Brief Article)
January 5, 2001... Can it really be 20 years since Levi Strauss defined the quintessentially American jeans lifestyle with its legendary "501 Blues" campaign? Since those halcyon indigo days, the company, historically an enormous player on the advertising scene,...

LETTER.(Letter to the Editor)
January 5, 2001... California doesn't deserve help with energy problems Note to Gov. Gray Davis: As a visitor to your area, I was amazed and appalled to see that as your state closely watches energy availability to ensure there are no brown-outs to your...

Inside Traders.
January 5, 2001... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

Oldest Companies in the Bay Area.
January 5, 2001... [TABLE HAS BEEN CLIPPED]

Dead dot-com space bound for limbo?(office space in San Francisco)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2001... Planning loophole could turn into noose for S.F. landlords San Francisco landlords who eagerly used a planning loophole to fill nearly 1 million square feet with dot-coms and multimedia companies may face difficulties releasing those...

Facing judgment day.(several companies delisted from Nasdaq)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2001... 'The small cap is like Siberia. The pink sheets is like a gulag in Siberia.' Health Central CEO Albert Greene knew a fax from Nasdaq was on the way, and it wasn't a new year's greeting. On Jan. 4, the company's stock, once topping $14, had...

Bloomingdale's tough sell: Bagging stores.(Forest City Development has difficulty finding tenants)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2001... Forest City project has floors of space to fill, but will retailers buy in? Despite surviving a thicket of city approvals and blazing a trail through a dense forest of community and labor demands, the Bloomingdale's-anchored shopping and...

Sharks circle East Bay for arena sites.(San Jose Sharks search for ice rink sites)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2001... The San Jose Sharks are scouting East Bay sites for arenas that could net the National Hockey League team long-term revenues and hockey fan interest. But costs, including the potential deicing of electricity rates in California, and the...

New Sun operation wants to rise over biotech.(Sun Microsystems introduces software service)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2001... Sun Microsystems recently launched a new software service for biotech companies in the United Kingdom -- a stealthy operation which, if successful, could be available here next year. The low-key offering wasn't announced. It is buried on...

Delta Dental's new drill.(company reorganizes)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2001... New CEO, reorganization plan give giant dental insurance firm a polish San Francisco-based insurance plan Delta Dental has appointed a new CEO and adopted a reorganization plan that will merge the company's California and Pennsylvania...

Stock Answers.(analysis for 2001)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2001... Net infrastructure can't detour aroung don-com crash site Alan Greenspan loomed large on the landscape during the first week of trading this year. That's easy enough when you can raise and lower interestrates, but there were other people...

Oakland Airport earns wings for business travel.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 12, 2001... Business travel is taking off at Oakland International Airport. The percentage of passengers using the airport for business skyrocketed from 32.9 percent in 1995 to 46.9 percent in 2000, according to a survey by the Metropolitan...

Bankers' bonuses show your pain was their gain.(investment bankers will still see bonuses after poor showing in 2000)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2001... It looks like it will indeed be a happy new year for San Francisco investment bankers: Despite the carnage on Nasdaq and elsewhere, big bonuses will still be paid for 2000, according to those who claim to know. No doubt it will warm the...

Rise & Fall.(San Francisco Bay area executives)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2001... A barometer of the region's movers, shakers and fakers * Billy Deane Cheap and smart is proving to be one heck of a combination for Oakland A's. GM Beane, who provides the smart, whisks away baseball's biggest off-season trade for...

ExciteAtHome braces for battle over broadband.(sees subscriber increase)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2001... ExciteAtHome has hit its fourth-quarter targets for subscriber growth, a critical step as the Redwood City broadband service provider approaches a possible battle with the soon-to-be merged titan AOL Time Warner. The company, led by...

Deal with EDS helps keep Evolve among the fittest.(Evolve Software contract with E.solutions)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2001... In its largest deal to date, Emeryville-based Evolve Software signed a $6 million contract with the E.solutions division of Texas-based professional services giant EDS, which will use the company's ServiceSphere application to help manage the...

Piers proposal sails by the port.(San Francisco port development)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2001... The port commission has approved a $37.2 million plan for Piers 1.5 to 5 that includes four restaurants, docking for boats, offices and an expanded portwalk. The port commissioners voted unanimously on the proposal. The commissioners...

Inside Traders.(stockholder activity)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 12, 2001... Inside Traders A look at buying and selling of shares by Bay Area executives Lawrence Ellison John Shoemaker ...

Kaiser HMO gets fewest patient gripes, study says.(health care organization survey)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2001... While no one type of health insurance plan is perfect, integrated models such as Kaiser Permanente tend to generate the least complaints from members, according to a recent survey of California insured adults. The independent study was...

Valley companies eye Union City business park.(land available)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2001... Billed as the East Bay's gateway to Silicon Valley, one of the last major chunks of land along the Interstate 880 corridor has just landed on the market. Not only is it a sizable piece of open space, but the 25-acre parcel located in Union...

Bid could save withering Tri Valley Growers.(Brief Article)
January 12, 2001... California farmers are hailing a bid to bail out the bankrupt Tri Valley Growers of San Ramon as an answer to their prayers, especially after last summer's disaster when thousands of tons of peaches, pears and tomatoes rotted in the sun. ...

CPUC hikes utility rates.(Brief Article)
January 12, 2001... The California Public Utilities Commission voted unanimously to temporarily raise residential utility rates by 9 percent, small business rates by 7 percent and big business rates by 15 percent The commission will also consider a Pacific Gas and...

Mervyn's sales slump.(Mervyn's California reports lower sales for five weeks ended December 30, 2000)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 12, 2001... Hayward-based department store chain Mervyn's California reported lower sales for the five-week period ended Dec. 30. The struggling chain said sales for the period totaled $647 million, down 2.4 percent from the same period last year. The...

Listen.com cuts 25 percent of staff.
January 12, 2001... Listen.com, a San Francisco distributor of products and services for music on the web, laid off 42 employees, or 25 percent of its staff. The company said it is restructuring since its business changed from a business-to-consumer model to a...

Ross Stores sales increase.(in 11 months ended December 30, 2000)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 12, 2001... Newark-based Ross Stores Inc. reported sales of $2.52 billion for the 11 months ending Dec. 30, an increase of 8 percent over the same period last year. Comparable store sales increased a scant 1 percent over the previous year compared with a 6...

Wine.com lays off 75.(Brief Article)
January 12, 2001... Wine.com, a San Francisco online wine retailer, cut 75 jobs as part of a restructuring process. Wine.com merged with rival WineShopper.com in August. The company is backed by TH Lee Putnam Internet Partners, New Millennium Partners, GE Capital,...

Next Level sales slow.(Next Level Communications Inc. sales fall short of projections)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 12, 2001... Next Level Communications Inc., based in Rohnert Park, posted a fourth-quarter loss of 22 cents per share before a charge of as much as $10 million as sales missed targets. Analysts had estimated that Next Level would see a loss of about 12...

Fiorina returns part of $1.25M bonus.(Hewlett-Packard chairperson)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 12, 2001... Hewlett-Packard chairman and CEO Carly Fiorina said she would return $625,000 in bonus money because the company failed to meet earnings targets. Under her employment contract, Fiorina was to get a minimum bonus of $1.25 million, $625,000 in...

Levi Strauss' earnings decline.(in fiscal fourth quarter 2000)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
January 12, 2001... Struggling Levi Strauss & Co. said it fiscal fourth-quarter sales fell 8.6 percent and net income dropped more than 50 percent The San Francisco jeans maker reported sales declined to $1.29 billion from $1.4l billion a year earlier in the...

The Standard cuts jobs, restructures.(tech magazine The Industry Standard cuts 7% of workforce)(Brief Article)
January 12, 2001... San Francisco-based tech magazine The Industry Standard announced a restructuring that included slashing 7 percent of its work force. The layoffs of about 36 employees came primarily in the company's online and marketing divisions. Standard...