San Francisco Business Times articles from July 2000

San Francisco Business Times archives from July 2000

Cheap housing meets dot-com space.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Two projects costing $207M to provide jobs for residents A pair of nonprofits has snapped up three acres at two. South of Market sites and hopes to develop multimedia space and housing totaling more than 1 million square feet. Citizens...

Quokka torching cash.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... NBC Summer Games' package, Golf.com deal help webcaster in quest for $40M investment Quokka Sports Inc., burning cash almost as quickly as Olympic speedsters shoot from the blocks, is talking with investors who could pump $40 million to...

BefA clients to go online at branches.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Bank of America Corp. will install web enabled computers in its branches; a move that steals page from cutting-edge brokerages and helps shift otherwise wary customers to online banking. A timetable for the project hasn't been set, a bank...

Silicon India plants flag in Bay Area.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Indian entrepreneurs tap national roots to launch 1-in-3 ventures Silicon India? No, it's not the pipe dream of entrepreneurs halfway around the globe. It is the name increasingly used by valley insiders to describe the place itself....

Fast-growing First Banks makes move on S.F.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... First Banks America, planting its flag in San Francisco with its third Bay Area acquisition in 16 months, will consolidate its $2.2 billion-asset California and Texas holdings in the city. The decision to base the new First Bank & Trust...

New boss at BofA Securities.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... NationsBank veteran to take over as last BofA holdover hits the road Bank of America Corp.'s global corporate and investment bank has a new chief as old BofA's last remaining high-ranking officer prepares to head out the door. Ed...

AT&T seeks to plug into Bay Area phones.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... AT&T is expanding its local telephone service in the Bay Area as consumers start to see the blossoming of the 1996 Telecommunications Act. The company is extending its digital local phone service into Santa Clara, raising the total number...

Stock Answers.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Investor seeks to determine whether Spiders have legs Diamonds may be a girl's best friend, but Max Isaacman thinks they might even prefer Spiders and Webs. That's not to say that Isaacman is a graduate of the GomezAddams school of...

Forget dot-com flame-outs, how about dot-com flamb[acute{e}]?(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 7, 2000... As if dot-com culture weren't already omnipresent, now San Francisco diners can enjoy dot-com cuisine. No, we're not talking bagels, coffee or other stark startup nosh. The fare at Venture Frogs, 1000 Van Ness, is Pan Asian and high-tech,...

Gone but not forgotten.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 7, 2000... The Giants are settled into new digs and the A's are battling to lead their division, but when it comes to old-time sports apparel few teams can run with the old San Francisco Seals and Oakland Oaks. Ebbets Field Flannels, a Seattle-based...

Rise & Fall.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... A barometer of the region's movers, shakers and fakers Carl Pascarella You can go home again. Visa USA CEO steers his company back to its roots after two-plus decades away, saying so long to Foster City and hello (again) to San...

Hot downtown properties sold for sizzling profits.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Two more downtown property owners are cashing in on San Francisco's hot real estate market. Less than three years after purchasing 100 Pine and 180 Montgomery, the owners of both buildings have found buyers -- and a hefty profit. ...

Perksatwork gets serious with new Abilizer name.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Perksatwork.com, a San Francisco startup that develops corporate portals for delivering information to employees, has changed its name and is pushing overseas as it adjusts to the chillier dot-com climate. The new name, Abilizer Solutions...

Real estate section best in U.S.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... The San Francisco Business Times' real estate section has been judged the best in the country by the nation's real estate editors. "Real Estate Quarterly," an in-depth look at the people and trends in Bay Area commercial real estate that...

Stanford juggles revenue options after pulling signs.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 7, 2000... The Stanford University athletic department does not anticipate revenue loss from its new policy to eliminate commercial signs in its basketball arena and football stadium. Indeed, it may pull in more. "We're just reshuffling our...

Annual jam session jazzes up retail profits.(North Beach Jazz Festival)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 7, 2000... Six years since the first North Beach Jazz Festival jam session, attendance has grown 2,800 percent, local retailers have seen revenues jump as much as 25 percent during the festival week, and more local corporate sponsors have joined in to...

Yahoo targets eGroups.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 7, 2000... San Francisco-based group email service provider eGroups Inc. was acquired by Yahoo, in a move by the Internet portal to expand email capabilities for its users. The $430 million stock deal also gives Yahoo the ability to generate revenue by...

Providian settles consumer gripes.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 7, 2000... Providian Financial Corp. will refund more than $300 million to consumers under a settlement filed with the San Francisco Superior Court. The San Francisco-based financial services company, the nation's sixth-largest credit card issuer, also...

Kodak catches share of Snapfish.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 7, 2000... In a move to expand its digital image business, Eastman-Kodak Co. reeled in a stake of San Francisco-based Snapfish.com. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Snapfish provides free online film developing, storage and photo sharing. Sales of...

PeopleSoft, IBM partner.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Pleasanton-based PeopleSoft Inc. struck a deal with computer giant IBM to expand both companies' global marketing, sales and development relationship with an IBM database. The deal enables customers to use PeopleSoft applications with the IBM...

Del Monte sees sales dip.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 7, 2000... San Francisco's Del Monte Foods Co. announced it expects a drop in fiscal fourth-quarter sales and earnings as a result of retailers slashing product inventories and a reduction in sales of lower-margin food service products. Analysts had...

Young tackles VC.(Steve Young)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 7, 2000... Former San Francisco 49ers star quarterback Steve Young announced he will form a venture capital firm with former Novell Inc. senior vice president and general counsel David Bradford. The firm, named FirstLight Venture Partners, will be...

Sony ends infringement battle.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Connectix Corp. scored as Sony Computer Entertainment America Inc. dropped its copyright and trademark violation claims against the San Mateo software company. Sony had charged that Connectix's emulations software that allows Sony PlayStation...

Chevron, Phillips deal approved.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 7, 2000... San Francisco-based Chevron Corp. received final approval from government regulators for a $6 billion joint venture with Phillips Petroleum Co. to combine their chemical businesses. The new venture, Chevron Phillips Chemical Company, will be...

Oracle president resigns.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Oracle Corp. announced that president and chief operating officer Raymond Lane resigned. Oracle president Larry Ellison said that company operations are now in the hands of three top executives, Gary Bloom, executive vice president, Jeffrey...

Telegen reorganizes.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 7, 2000... Telegen Corp. completed a U.S. Bankruptcy Court-induced reorganization of operations and announced a 1 for 16 reverse split of its common stock. The San Mateo-based flat-panel display technology, telecommunications and Internet firm said 16...

Judge strikes down ATM fee ban.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... ATM fee bans by San Francisco and Santa Monica were declared illegal by U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker, who said only the federal government has such power. San Francisco City Attorney Louise Renne said the city will appeal the...

Top banker from old BofA retires.(Bank of America Corp.)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Michael Murray, the last remaining top executive from the former San Francisco-based Bank of America at the new Bank of America Corp., announced he will retire effective July 31. Murray will be succeeded by Ed Brown, deputy head of the group.

PG&E to set up floating backup.(floating power plant in San Francisco bay)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... PG&E Corp. announced plans to relieve the Bay Area's power shortage by moving a floating power plant into the San Francisco Bay. The plant would be used only to prevent further power failures resulting from summer hot weather and an increasing...

Hewlett-Packard.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 7, 2000... Redwood City-based EMusic.com Inc. said it would sell at least $3 million of its downloadable music to Hewlett-Packard Co. EMusic sells digital music for 99 cents a track through its web site. H-P plans to include the music with purchase of its...

Gordon Chong.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Name: Gordon Chong. Title: President. Company: Gordon H. Chong & Partners, the San Francisco-based architecture firm. Background: In 1976, Chong launched his own architecture firm, which now has a staff of 92 and specializes in...

Wells riding shotgun to save the ultra-rich folks.(Wells Fargo's wealth planning center)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Wells Fargo & Co. is stepping up its strategy aimed at affluent -- oh, let's just say it- rich customers with the opening this summer of its San Francisco "wealth planning center." The center, says Michael Cole, senior vice president and...

Credit union savior into Co-op Hall of Fame.(Ed Callahan)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... By the time Ed Callahan was named in the early 1980s as chairman of the National Credit Union Administration -- the federal agency overseeing the nonprofit institutions -- the steel mills in his hometown of Youngstown, Ohio, had all closed. ...

Putnam Lovell parent sells 25 percent stake.(Putnam Lovell Group Inc.)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Putnam Lovell Group Inc.'s sale of a quarter interest to CDP Financial Services will help it expand into more capital intensive businesses like private equity, asset securitization and market making, leaders of the firm say. The parent...

Charter sees dollar signs with second venture fund.(Charter Growth Capital)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Charter Growth Capital closed its second late-stage venture capital fund at $465 million, hoping to repeat the 280 percent annual return that made its $106 million 1997 fund one of the top-performing in the industry. Charter's first fund...

CalPERS ups investments.(California Public Employees Retirement System)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... The California Public Employees Retirement System has boosted its private equity commitment by another $1 billion, adding two half-billion dollar initiatives. Michael Flaherman, chairman of CalPERS' investment committee, said the board...

Brooks Brothers loosens its tie in new San Francisco store.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Brooks Brothers, the clothier that has, until recently, been synonymous with the image of a perfectly coiffed, straight-laced, pinstriped executive, is ready for a new look at a new location. "If you'd ever been in our old San Francisco...

Sephora sniffs opportunity.(opens new San Francisco location)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... A few blocks away from Brooks Bros., the French cosmetics and perfume chain Sephora recently opened an expanded flagship store at 1 Stockton St., while Henry Cotton's, a men's apparel shop, announced plans to open their 10,000-square-foot...

Another java house?(The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf opens 3 new locations)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Sunny Sassoon, CEO of The Coffee Bean & Tea leaf, seems to think the city needs one, and let the Starbucks, Peets and Tullys be damned. The Bean & Leaf--which boasts of about about 155 outlets worldwide and $100 million in annual sales -...

Another condo highrise sprouts up by the Bay.(San Francisco)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... More San Francisco condominiums with Bay Bridge views are under way. Construction began in April on Emerald Fund's 400 Beale St., a 26-story highrise. The building will feature 245 for-sale units. The "$100 million plus" development...

URS lands Air Force gig.(Air Force contract for URS Corp.)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Construction firm URS Corp. is flying high after winning a five-year, $15 million contract with the United States Air Force Center for Environmental Excellence. URS will provide program and construction management services for new military...

Zahn finds cheap digs.(Zahn Group contract)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... The Zahn Group has won a bid to manage the construction of a $20.4 million affordable housing project in San Francisco's SoMa district. President Elyce Zahn runs the 30-person firm. The 48-unit complex at 165 Eighth St. is being developed...

Novato building going up.(Mann Business Center)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Simeon Commercial Properties of San Francisco has launched the Mann Business Center, a three-story, 126,000-square-foot building in Novato. The project, designed by San Rafael-based TWM Architects & Planners, will feature a sloping...

Corporate service: Search engines new fuel.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Bay Area search-engine firms are greasing the cogs of their internal machinery as a behind-the-scenes race intensifies to connect millions of web browsers with increasingly elusive information online. With increased activity in the search...

Hungryminds may be next course on dot-com menu.(company may be sold)(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Stuart Skorman, the ancient mariner of stormy dot-com seas is planning a long vacation, he says. Skorman, you may recall, was the former video store owner who founded movie rental site Reel.com only to sell it off to Hollywood Video for...

Craig's List drops its arbitration with ex-CEO.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Craig's list Inc., the popular San Francisco-based bulletin board site, is pulling out of arbitration to settle a dispute with former CEO Nancy Melone. Craig's List had filed a complaint against Melone for breach of contract, trademark...

Software pirates rounded up during Sweeps Week.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Last week was a bad time to be a software pirate. The Business Software Alliance, a little-known Washington, D.C., nonprofit, says its national Sweeps Week netted $2.4 million in settlements from companies big and small that were found with...

CNET unfairly slammed RealNames, says chief.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... RealNames CEO Keith Teare isn't happy about the way his Redwood City Internet company is being hounded by CNET.com, the online news site. RealNames is in good shape despite a recent round of layoffs reported on CNET Tear insisted. "It's...

Revamped 'blacklisting' rules 'not one bit better'.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... The Clinton administration's revised regulations on government contractor responsibilities disappointed business groups, who say the rules still give contracting officers arbitrary power to blacklist companies tussling with labor unions or...

Backers crave new bankruptcy reform bill.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Despite President Clinton's threats to veto the legislation, supporters of bankruptcy reform hope to find a legislative vehicle for the long-stalled measure when they return from their Fourth of July recess. But, says Senate Minority Leader Tom...

Senate unlikely to give doctors bargaining rights.
July 7, 2000... Legislation that allows independent doctors to negotiate managed care contracts as a group appears to be dead on arrival in the Senate, despite a healthy margin of victory in the House. Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., opposes...

Armey: Democrats play politics on H-1B visas.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... House Minority Leader Richard Armey, R-Texas, accuses Democrats of "playing politics" by insisting that legislation raising the limits on H-1B visas include provisions granting permanent residence for political refugees from Central America and...

SBA ups size rules.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... The Small Business Administration raised its size standards for companies in construction, dredging and waste-related industries, allowing more than 2,500 more companies to qualify as small businesses when competing for government contracts....

Feeding Frenzy.
July 7, 2000... New media publications draw blood in the battle for good business writers According to Dean Rotbart, a business press chronicler, what happened at the most recent meeting of the Society of American Business Editors and Writers says it all....

Swimming with sharks - pint dailies in web's waters.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Bay Area newspapers deliver the goods with each new sunrise, but that timetable can be considered a day late and a dollar short when competing against an increasing number of online web sites that deliver information in the blink of an eye....

Hollywood goes high-tech, inks deals with S.F. firms.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Although its hills and streets have served as a convenient backdrop for television serials and sitcoms, and its Victorian homes have provided quaint scenery for films, San Francisco has always been a bit player, far removed from the. glamour...

New media firms lose if they don't schmooze.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... When Red Herring launched its new London office May 31 with an invitation-only party for 400 of Europe's top entrepreneurs, the popular Internet business magazine reaped a harvest that it planted five years ago. In 1995, Red Herring's...

Small Biz Network walks softly and carries a big memo.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... The Small Business Network in San Francisco is taking its first step to expanding statewide with a formal partnership with the Small Business Administration. The network plans a joint campaign with the SBA that includes running "Meet the...

Bright ideas awarded.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Students from Australia, Argentina, MIT and Stanford University won top honors June 21 at Stanford's Global Entrepreneurs Challenge 2000. The top prize, a scholarship from Hewlett-Packard Co.'s Garage program for early-stage startups, was...

Plastic profits.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Technology molds Harbor Plastics for future success Jonathon Lawlis has nothing but time on his hands--all the time he can sell. Time on one of his 12 injection molding machines, shiny gray monsters with 50 to 300 tons of clamping...

Rachel Schall.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Title: Co-founder and co-CEO. Company: BrainTrust, a San Francisco staffing agency catering to high-growth new media and Internet technology companies. BrainTrust specializes in providing people experienced in marketing communications,...

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... ADVERTISING/DESIGN James Magill was named president of Corsi San Francisco. Magill previously served as executive vice president of Zuckerman Fernandes. Corsi is an advertising, design and public relations firm with offices in San...

Airport hikes parking fees to get expansion off ground.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Business travelers using Oakland International Airport are having to fork out money now before even arriving at their flight gates. Rates on some short-term, long-term and economy parking lots increased from 20 percent to 25 percent on...

Stanford gets on the ball with online ticket alliance.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Stanford University hopes an expanded deal with Justarrive Inc., a San Francisco company that specializes in fan loyalty and innovative ticketing systems, will help boost attendance at home football games. The program will target families...

More visas can bridge the high-tech job gap.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... The controversy over importing foreign workers under the federal H-1B visa program has been a long-standing one. Real or imagined, many feel these foreign workers pose some sort of threat. But the reality is a different matter: These...

Ralph Nader, you capitalist pig!(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 7, 2000... Life is so full of delicious ironies. Just ask Ralph Nader. He's blushing these days. As fate would have it, the man who has endlessly accused the corporate world and its chieftains of greed and slipshod products has profited handsomely...

Bestest achievements can lead to baddest laws.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... My favorite quote relating to the successful mapping of the human genome didn't have anything to do with God, Galileo, Columbus, the Lewis and Clark expedition, the Manhattan Project, landing a man on the moon or other metaphorical...

Drivers get lost in California's smoggy bureaucracy.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... In California, more than any other place, the process of registering an automobile provides a timely lesson in government. Fond as I am of clean air, I do not object to this measure. In fact, I already contribute to the general air quality...

LETTER.(Brief Article)
July 7, 2000... Chela's lesson to students: Practice safe borrowing The article in the June 23-29 issue, "Chela uses web to drum up student loan business," by Ron Leuty, was very well written and accurately conveys the business strategies at Chela...

Coalition to lift building cap collapses.
July 14, 2000... Pro-, anti-growth factions split, get ready for ballot battle A Coalition seeking to revise San Francisco's 14-year-old building restrictions has shattered; leaving anti- and pro-growth factions scurrying to put their own measures before...

Taming the telecom monster.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 14, 2000... QuantumShift scoops up $50 million to untangle firms' phone connections A Novato company bagged $60 million last week from investors excited about its plan to cure a painful headache for growing businesses -- managing their increasingly...

Buyers pluck morsels from cooked Goose.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 14, 2000... Granny's funeral: Auction will dispose of failed Oakland snack maker's assets Granny Goose Foods may not have been able to produce a golden egg, but creditors of the defunct snack maker hope to salvage a few crumbs at a July 20 auction of...

Sony to play high-stakes game in S.F.(opens SF office for "incubator" capital firm)(Brief Article)
July 14, 2000... Japanese electronics and entertainment giant Sony Corp. has waded into the local venture capital market, opening an incubator and planning to invest heavily in emerging Bay Area technology firms, the Business Times has learned. The new San...

Dot-com downturn has eAlity facing harsh reality.(Brief Article)
July 14, 2000... EAlity Inc., an Internet software provide that launched last year with top-flight Silicon Valley backers and brand-name clients, is now battling to stay afloat amid management departures and dwindling resources. EAlity, which plunged into...

Wake up ... and smell the onions.(Brief Article)
July 14, 2000... Companies use cooking classes to boost morale Give a lawyer a fish, and he'll eat well one night, but teach a lawyer to grill it, and he'll eat well all his life. So goes Charlie Vollmar's philosophy, roughly. Vollmar, founder of...

Copy this: iPrint.com partners with IKON.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 14, 2000... Alliances heat up battle to dominate $8 billion photocopying market Redwood City-based iPrint.com has teamed with copy giant IKON Office Solutions Inc. in a bid to dominate the $8 billion photocopying market. The alliance marks the...

Award winning ad school sets up shop in SF.(Brief Article)
July 14, 2000... A nationally renowned advertising school is setting up shop at the San Francisco agency Goldberg Moser O'Neill/Hill Holliday, and hopes to later open a satellite campus here. Co-founder Ron Seichrist said the Miami Ad School started the...

Last rites for dead dot-com sites is a four-letter word.(Brief Article)
July 14, 2000... Now there's a web site for everyone who resents being left out of the dot-com millionaire's club. F***edCompany.com (use your imagination), which began as an inside joke, is luring 200,000 daily visitors after just one month -- without a...

Rise Fall.(Brief Article)
July 14, 2000... A barometer of the region's movers, shakers and fakers Ed Whitacre Hard-charging SBC and PacBell boss grasps his Holy Grail, winning at long last permission to enter the long-distance market in its Texas homeland. Too bad that the real...

Tweaks to state's labor laws spark overtime furor.(Brief Article)
July 14, 2000... California companies might be able to dodge paying daily overtime by reclassifying certain workers as managers, following recent changes to the state labor law. Or maybe not. Depending on who's talking, the Industrial Welfare...

CORRECTIONS.(Brief Article)(Correction Notice)(Statistical Data Included)
July 14, 2000... On the List of Largest Radio Stations (July 13), the person identified as the general manager of KGO Radio was incorrect. Michael Luckoff is the current KGO general manager. On the same list, the correct spelling of the general manager of KCBS...

National Geographic picks a Wildflower.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 14, 2000... National Geographic magazine's map division this week acquired Wildflower Productions, a 15-person San Francisco firm that delivers topographical hiking maps over the Internet. The deal brings together one of the world's premier media...

Quintus finds its dream home in new Dublin HQ.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 14, 2000... For CEO Alan Anderson, the decision to move Quintus Corp.'s headquarters from Fremont to Dublin came down to land. Dublin will give his growing technology company room to move, unlike Quintus' cramped Fremont home. The e-customer...

JetBlue flies into Oakland Airport.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
July 14, 2000... JetBlue Airways, a New York-based discount carrier that started flying only last February, is the latest airline to announce plans it will begin service out of Oakland International Airport. On Aug. 3, the airline will begin once-daily...