San Francisco Business Times articles from June 2000

San Francisco Business Times archives from June 2000

Huge city slowdown hits S.F. builders.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Wave of departures at Planning Department stokes a six-month backlog The San Francisco Planning Department has fallen months behind in issuing crucial planning approvals, a situation that could hinder an already constrained development...

Stocks, Bonds pay dividends.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Paychecks for Schwab chief, Giants star leading the leagues in Bay Area You might say David Pottruck is the Barry Bonds of Charles Schwab. For that matter, you might say Bonds is the David Pottruck of the San Francisco Giants. Both...

VCs discover the Continent.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Benchmark launches Europe's biggest venture fund Menlo Park's Benchmark Capital has raised Europe's largest venture capital fund as the Old World seeks to bankroll its New Economy by emulating Silicon Valley. The fast-moving firm...

Rock star Santana to bare his sole.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... What does a Grammy award-winning Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Famer do after he's sold more than 50 million albums and played his signature guitar style to sold-out crowds around the world? If he's Carlos Santana, he lends his signature to a shoe...

on Oakland industrial space.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Other real estate investors doubted developer Francis Rush's wisdom when he purchased a 62,850-square-foot warehouse in West Oakland in December 1998 for $1.5 million. He has since spent $1.5 million to convert the building to rental...

Lifting the veil from mutual fund mysteries.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... MetaMarkets Investments, the upstart South San Francisco mutual fund manager that allows investors nearly instant insight to its trades, is spearheading a drive to increase fund disclosures. It's a purely altruistic venture to help...

Dads buy into family business.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... More fathers giving up exec life for home life John Jeffrey traded an executive post for a non-management job as an engineer, giving up status, power, authority and salary growth potential. He also gave up the grueling hours and work...

Beatnik scratches plans to go public.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... The beat has changed at San Mateo-based audio technology. company Beatnik Inc., which tapped existing and new investors for $30 million in fresh funds instead of going through with its. planned public offering. Citing market conditions that...

Talking trash: Developer, city spar over $1M fine.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Luke Brugnara, the churlish bad boy of San Francisco real estate, has come out on the wrong end of a scrap with the city. Last month, a San Francisco Superior CourtJudge handed Brugnara a nearly $1.1 million fine for a series of health,...

Courting couch potatoes.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... "Judge Judy" just got some competition. A pair of Lafayette lawyers have set up ICourthouse, an arbitration system that will use Internet couch potatoes as its jury. Disputants agree to a binding arbitration online, each presents its...

Rise & Fall.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... A barometer of the region's movers, shakers and fakers Kathy Levinson Online brokerage exec knows a good trade when she sees one. After cashing in $15.8 million in stock options, E-Trade COO decides to trade for a new life, one that...

Hambrecht spins market straw into gold.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... After a slow first year of underwriting that saw 17 deals worth a total of $1.2 billion, San Francisco's W.R. Hambrecht & Co. has matched the number of deals so far in 2000, and doubled the total take to $2.4 billion. Its recent $42...

Alameda joins civilian life in the race for retail riches.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Having honorably discharged itself three years ago from the duties of a military town, the City of Alameda wants to reinvent itself for the civilian world -- and stop more than $233 million in annual retail sales from going AWOL. The...

Inside Traders.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Inside Traders A look at buying and selling of shares by Bay Area executives Nancy Bechtle Director Charles Schwab Corp....

CORRECTIONS.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... An item in the May 25-June 1 "People on the Move" section incorrectly identified the former president of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation. The foundation president was Dr. David Pierpont Gardner, who also joined the advisory board of...

WaMu banks on California after digesting acquisitions.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Washington Mutual, after bursting onto the California banking scene with three large acquisitions in less than two years, is moving to stitch that franchise together with the same speed and a new array of products. It has to: The nation's...

Smoggy East Bay fails the grade in air quality.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... James Paxson is excited about the progress his Hacienda (Business Park) Owners Association has made in persuading more of the park's 18,500 employees to climb out of their cars and into buses and BART trains for their daily commutes. So...

Home sales slip, prices rise.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 2, 2000... April's existing home sales in the nine-county Bay Area posted its sharpest decline in five years, slipping more than 20 percent from one year ago, and down 8.3 percent from March. Prices, however, continued on their meteoric trajectory....

E-Trade gets into the advice trade.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Menlo Park-based online discount brokerage E-Trade Group Inc., led by CEO Mitchell Caplan, formed a joint venture with consulting and accounting firm Ernst & Young LLP to provide E-Trade customers with financial advice. Both companies invested...

Taxi fares rise.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... The bad news: San Francisco taxi fares soon will be raised for the third time in two years. The latest increase puts the cost of riding in a cab at about $2 per mile, up from $1.80 per mile. The good news: Plans are in the works to put 100 more...

Ticketmaster grabs TicketWeb.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Berkeley,s TicketWeb was acquired by Ticketmaster OnlineCitySearch for $35.2 million in stock. The online ticket seller said its new acquisition would be used to market and sell lower-profile events.

Genentech supports janitors.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Striking janitors got a big boost as biotech heavyweight Genentech publicly announced its support of the workers' plight. For months now, the Service Employees International Union Local 1877, which represents about 5,500 Bay Area janitors, has...

Tosco pays $21M to victims' families.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Tosco will pay $21 million to the families of three contract workers who were killed in a 1999 refinery explosion in Martinez. The victims' relatives blamed the tragedy on poor safety practices at the, plant. A Tosco spokesman declined to say...

Webvan drives into Sacramento.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Webvan Group Inc., an online grocer based in Foster City; said it will begin coverage in Sacramento June 1. Webvan also plans to expand its coverage in the San Francisco metropolitan area, including Novato, Martinez, Kensington, Castro Valley,...

Just-for-teens ATM card in the works.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... A San Francisco-based online financial portal for teens and young adults has partnered with USABancShares.com to launch the first ATM card geared for teens with online accounts. DoughNET.com said teens can start an account with a $1 opening...

URS Corp. inks $50M FEMA contract.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... San Francisco's URS Corp. won a five year, $50 million contract with the Federal Emergency Management Agency to support its hazardous materials programs throughout the United States and its territories. URS will provide FEMA engineering and...

Sun to expand presence in India.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 2, 2000... Palo Alto's Sun Microsystems will spend $9.5 million to boost its presence in India. The company will sink $3.5 million into opening offices in New Delhi and Bombay and expansion of an office in Bangalore, and will put another $6 million into...

Equipment leasing firm sells division.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... PIM International Inc., a San Francisco-based equipment leasing and management company, will sell its trailer leasing operations to Marubeni America Corp. The $63 million cash deal includes 3,800 trailers and Marubeni's assumption of $50...

Goodby nabs $100M Sirius account.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... San Francisco ad shop Goodby, Silverstein & Partners was tapped for a $100 million account offered by Sirius Satellite Radio. Goodby will handle marketing for the 100-channel subscription radio service that Sirius plans to launch later this...

Bay View explores possible sale.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Embattled Bay View Capital retained Merrill Lynch and Co. to evaluate "strategic options," including a sale. The San Mateo-based parent of 58-branch Bay View Bank has seen its stock price tumble from a 52-week high of $20.75 per share to under...

Competix.com closes $15M round.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Burlingame automated credit-checking system company Competix.com raised $15 million in financing. Investors included J.P. Morgan & Co., which created a $1 billion incubation fund for Internet startups earlier this year.

Biotech startup raises new funds.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Biotech information provider eBioinformatics Inc. raised $10 million in new venture capital. The new investors to the company are Colonial First State Private Equity, International Biotechnology Trust and CSL Ltd.. Current investors...

Alan Collenette.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Name: Alan Collenette. Title: Regional Manager, based in San Francisco. Company: Grubb & Ellis Co., the commercial real estate services firm, in San Francisco. Residence: Kentfield. Business philosophy Essential business...

German investors pop up again in San Francisco.
June 2, 2000... They're back! Just when it seemed the Germans had gone Bundesbank and taken all their deutsche marks back home, the Teutonic titans have reappeared on the investment scene. The latest Germanic acquisition: 100 First St., a...

Berkeley students rack up awards.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... The graduate real-estate program at the Haas School of Business at the University of California-Berkeley has added some impressive hardware to its trophy case during the first half of 2000. The university's Fisher Center for Real E8tate & Urban...

Presidio Trust.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... The Presidio Trust board of directors unanimously endorsed George Lucas' digital arts center May25 as its development choice for reuse on 23 acres of the Letterman Complex. The vote brings the 900,000-square-foot project one step closer to...

Zions shaves bad Sumitomo loans from its books.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 2, 2000... Zions Bancorporation continues to deal with bad Sumitomo Bank of California loans more than one-and-a-half years after it snatched up San Francisco-based Sumitomo and made it the backbone of its California Bank & Trust subsidiary. Zions,...

Federal Reserve gives urban bankers an earful.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... A boom-and-bust economy is most risky for those heading into the job market for the first time, said Federal Reserve Board Vice Chairman Roger Ferguson--and that typically means the urban poor and minorities. "We know who is the last hired...

Providian shucks troubles, tops banking survey.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Embattled Providian Financial Corp.? Yes. Confounded? No. Despite a long-running investigation into its sales and accounting practices by the district attorney's office and federal regulators, the San Francisco-based credit card issuer was...

Haggard Salon.com seeks a revenue wonder cream.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Salon.com soon may need a clinic if things continue as they have been. The ailing online magazine is one of the Internet's most highly praised and widely read content sites but as its recent revenue report shows, mere words may not be enough in...

Now is the summer of our dis-content.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Peninsula automotive writer Tony Leopardo is facing problems of his own getting his words out online, let alone profiting from them. Leopardo, who publishes an auto review site called AutoWire.Net, says a handful of major auto companies is...

Not all content is dead.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... The deals just keep coming for anyone making digital content, it seems. Wildbrain.com, an animation content provider, has raised $20 million in its second round of financing led by Interfase Capital Partners. Also helping to "pump up"...

CMA goes to court over HMO payment practices.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Having failed to win Congressional support for its efforts to help doctors battle HMOs, the California Medical Association is turning to the courts. In late May, the CMA sued Blue Cross, PacifiCare and HealthNet for knowingly paying...

CalPERS ups health costs.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... The California Public Employees Retirement System (CalPERS) board voted last month to raise members' health care premiums for 2001 by an average of 9.2 percent. It expects the effective rate to be slightly less. By also doubling the copayment...

New workers' comp guide.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... The Employer's Guide to Workers' Compensation has been released by the Division of Workers' Compensation at the California State Department of Industrial Relations. The 50-page booklet is intended to help employers understand how to...

Ferret and frogs help Goodby, Silverstein catch Clio Awards.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Kudos to the San Francisco shops that recently won a covey of coveted Clio Awards in advertising and design. No surprise that Goodby, Silverstein & Partners won the bellringer nod for the most awards -- nine in all -- of any local shop....

Studio links print ads, PCs.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... A San Francisco imaging studio will help magazines and PCs talk to one another this month. The goal: To steer humans from the print advertisements they hold in their hands to the company web sites that offer more product information and...

Oakland picks publisher for visitors' guide.
June 2, 2000... The Oakland Convention & Visitors Bureau will partner with Diablo Publishing of Walnut Creek to produce a visitors'-guide, the first of which will be released Aug. 1. Diablo publishes lifestyle magazines San Francisco and Diablo, and also...

TicketPlanet gains speed.
June 2, 2000... San Francisco's TiketPlanet.com has introduced a new high-speed search engine to its discount airline ticket web site. The engine allows TicketPlanet.com to find and consummate deals on the three major airline industry ticketing systems, as...

Kimpton tries East Coast.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... The Kimpton Hotel & Restaurant Group is doing its first East Coast hotel, renovating an old office building into a 172-room property that will join its Monaco boutique brand. Kimpton bought the 1839 Tariff Building in Washington, D.C.'s...

House strips budget for OSHA's ergonomics plan.
June 2, 2000... The House Appropriations Committee struck a blow against OSHA's proposed ergonomics standard by eliminating funding for enforcing the regulations from the agency's budget. Ergonomics opponent Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., calls the move a...

Doctors thwarted in push for collective bargaining.
June 2, 2000... Legislation to give doctors collective bargaining rights was pulled from the House floor on the eve of Congress' week-long Memorial Day recess. The American Medical Association calls the delay "an outrageous subversion of the American...

Code of ethics adopted for Internet health sites.
June 2, 2000... The Internet Healthcare Coalition unveiled a code of ethics for the web's 15,000-plus health care sites. The code calls for sites to provide accurate, up-to-date information and disclose any sponsorship relationships. It also requires...

Agencies ordered to meet contract goal for women.
June 2, 2000... President Clinton ordered government agencies to designate a senior acquisition official to promote contracting opportunities for women-owned small businesses. Last year female entrepreneurs won only 2.5 percent of all federal contracts --...

Tax code still problem for small businesses.
June 2, 2000... Small businesses spend an average 01 $7 in compliance costs for every $1 in federal income tax they owe, according to the National Federation of Independent Business. This ratio may fall slightly after the Internal Revenue Service ramps up...

Charting the course.
June 2, 2000... Bay Area fund managers pontificate on strategies for weathering market stress When the Nasdaq began its downward slide in March, fund and money managers with technology-heavy stocks were among the biggest losers. While many of these...

High-stakes players flock to commodities markets.
June 2, 2000... Tales of instant riches have shrouded commodity investing annals almost from its inception From Hillary Clinton raking in a six figure return on a measly grand, to the dozens of Internet sites touting proven systems commodity futures and...

Private equity investors adjust to volatile markets.
June 2, 2000... As the turn of the millennium stock market soared to higher levels, a number of investors sought even greater returns in private equity markets. Although the recent downturn has left some chastened, a survey of companies serving the equity...

Moody market spurs leap in margin trading activity.
June 2, 2000... The recent market downturn may have brought a semblance of welcome sobriety to many investors, but some are suffering margin-call hangovers. In the five-week period following the March 10 high, the Nasdaq has sunk 34 percent, technically...

100 Highest Paid Executives of Bay Area Public Companies.
June 2, 2000... 100 Highest Paid Executives of Bay Area Public Companies Previous year ...

Highest Paid Professional Athletes in the Bay Area.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 2, 2000... Highest Paid Professional Athletes in the Bay Area Average Contract Rank Athlete salary value last Team Total pay for Length of Rank year Position...

Local small biz center wakes up from hibernation.
June 2, 2000... After a one-year hiatus, San Francisco's newly refurbished Small Business Development Center reopened May 24 to offer training and free consulting. New director Romanus Wolter is running a one-man operation for now at the center's new digs...

Goad help hard to find.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
June 2, 2000... The job market may be particularly hysterical here in the Bay Area, but at least we're not alone. New legislation easing Social Security earning limits and the annual flood of teachers into the summer work force isn't enough to offset...

Single-minded.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... VideoSoft dodges golden VC lasso to beat its own revenue path It was a high-tech startup's dream: Venture capitalists lined up nine years ago to invest in Gustavo Eydelsteyn's software component company, waving wads of cash. Eydelsteyn...

William Park.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Title: Chairman and CEO. Company: Online marketing company Digital Impact in San Mateo. The company provides personalized promotions delivered directly to "opt-in" customers via email and other forms of digital media. 1999 revenue: $13...

Inspect your data lifeboat before disaster hits computer system BRAD PATTEN.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Warning: I'm about to serve the Brussels sprouts of computing. Yes, it's time for my periodic lecture about backing up your computer data. Let me put it in simple terms: Lose data, lose money. There's a pretty good chance you'll lose...

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE.
June 2, 2000... ADVERTISING/PR The consumer and technology PR agency Landis Communications Inc. announced the promotion of Kate Berenson to director of its consumer division. The San Francisco firm also named Debbie Capuano vice president of its...

Fair, Isaac drops the ball in credit info game.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... The score is no longer tied in the credit information game -- and that's, likely to make Fair, Isaac & Co. the loser. Seemingly oblivious that the times and the tide are both turning against it, the Marin County financial software company...

Opening free trade's fortune cookie.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Minutes after winning the vote to grant permanent normal trading relations with China, House Speaker Dennis Hastert cracked open a giant fortune cookie. "New prosperity awaits you," the fortune read. An hour later, opponents of the...

Microsoft case shows curious double standard.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... The lawyers at the United States Department of Justice are giving each other high fives because they convinced a judge, if not many observers, that the Microsoft company is a monopoly that quashes competition. The case reveals a curious double...

LETTERS.
June 2, 2000... A more powerful China won't be gentle Over a year of American politics have combined with hundreds of inches of valuable editorial space and big-business dollars in an effort to create a trade deal with the government of China. This...

John Cumbelich.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... John Cumbelich, a 12-year veteran and top retail broker at CB Richard Ellis Inc., has announced the formation of John Cumbelich & Associates, a commercial real estate brokerage firm. Cumbelich has opened a new Walnut Creek office where he plans...

Brightware.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Novato-based Brightware has expanded in San Francisco and Marin. The supplier of customer-service software for the Internet recently inked a 16,000-square-foot sublease at 645 Howard St. in San Francisco, space previously occupied by Spaccio...

Ann Blackburn.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Ann Blackburn has joined the Presidio Trust as deputy director of real estate. Blackburn, most recently a senior manager with the E&Y Kenneth Leventhal Real Estate Group, will oversee management and leasing of commercial and residential...

Preston, Gates & Ellis LLP.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Preston, Gates & Ellis LLP, a Seattle-based national law firm, will take 43,000 square feet to relocate its San Francisco office at One Second St, a new office project being developed by Myers Development Co. and Cousins Properties Inc. That...

Oppenheimer, Wolfe & Donnelly LLP.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Oppenheimer, Wolfe & Donnelly LLP, a Minneapolis-based law firm, has subleased 53,000 square feet in Stanford Research Park from Eagle Ridge Partners -- room for 100 attorneys. Oppenheimer agreed to an 11.5-year term for two buildings at 1400...

Indus International.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... Indus International has inked an eight-year, 108,000-square-foot lease for its headquarters at 60 Spear St. in San Francisco. Indus, which has been at 60 Spear St. since 1990, is expanding by 30 percent in the building. John Walsh of Cushman &...

SSR Realty Advisors Inc.(Brief Article)
June 2, 2000... SSR Realty Advisors Inc. has acquired 7901 Stoneridge Drive in Pleasanton for $28 million. The five-story, 171,000-square-foot office building is 99-percent leased and was acquired from I&G Stoneridge Inc. on behalf of Tower Fund, a commingled...

Power brokers take aim at building cap.(Brief Article)
June 9, 2000... Chamber exec leads effort to revise Prop. M at ballot box A coalition of 40 San Francisco business, real estate and neighborhood leaders is quietly meeting in hopes of drafting legislation to lift the city's 14-year-old development...

Dot-coms invade lofts.(Brief Article)
June 9, 2000... Squeezed companies happy to call live/work units 'headquarters' Companies that can't find or afford space in San Francisco are leasing blocks of live/work apartments to use as offices, a trend that illustrates how dire the city's office...

Bank of America rival First Union pushes into S.F.(Brief Article)
June 9, 2000... Bank of America Corp. archrival First Union Corp. is charging into San Francisco, planning to move major investment banking operation into four floors of the Embarcadero Four tower next year. But the Charlotte-based financial services giant...

Landels, Ripley puts attorneys on notice.(Brief Article)
June 9, 2000... San Francisco law firm Landels, Ripley & Diamond has announced plans to restructure amid growing concerns in the San Francisco legal community over the firm's future. Managing Partner Theodore Griffinger, who said the 70-year-old firm has...

Toys 'R' Us will play online in S.F.(Brief Article)
June 9, 2000... Toysrus.com will move part of its operations to San Francisco in a bid to boost the disappointing performance of the toy retailer's online division. The company wilt split its Internet arm's headquarters between its New Jersey base and San...

Picking up on DSL.(Brief Article)
June 9, 2000... NightFire launches site that lets firms offer a 'branded' DSL service NightFire Software Inc., which has concentrated on the behind-the-scenes, nitty-gritty of order processing for broadband Internet access lines known as DSL. is launching...