San Francisco Business Times articles from March 1998

San Francisco Business Times archives from March 1998

Kaiser's HMO rates: prepare for blastoff. (rate hike of health maintenance organization, Kaiser Permanente)
March 27, 1998... Insider: 'It's a much bigger adjustment than anyone was counting on' Kaiser Permanente, stung by a huge unexpected loss last year, is seeking double-digit price increases from the California Public Employees' Retirement System and other...

Executive exodus: SBC puts a new face on Pacific Telesis. (executive changes at Pacific Telesis Group after its acquisition by SBC Communications Inc.)(part 2)
March 27, 1998... The photo on Phil Quigley's conference-room wall shows the former Pacific Telesis CEO's six top lieutenants last spring wearing Dr. Seuss party hats and even sillier bow ties. Despite the wacky attire and festive occasion - marking 38 years...

Office powers vie for prize: winners to manage $540M real estate portfolio. (competition between Shorenstein Co. and William Wilson and Associates for California's pension fund investment)
March 27, 1998... The Shorenstein Co. and William Wilson & Associates are jockeying to manage a half-billion-dollar real estate portfolio for CalPERS, the nation's largest public pension fund. The prize to the winning bidder: millions of dollars in annual...

Battle of blues: insurers clash over big account. (competition between Blue Shield of California and Blue Cross of California for preferred provider contracts)
March 27, 1998... Bitter rivals Blue Shield of California and Blue Cross of California have emerged as finalists for a huge contract to administer preferred-provider coverage for the California Public Employees' Retirement System. Officials there are expected...

Executive profile: Laurence Baer. (executive vice president of the San Francisco Giants football team in California)
March 27, 1998... Name: Laurence Baer. Title: Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer. Company: San Francisco Giants, the Major League Baseball team. Also, President, China Basin Ballpark Co. Education: A.B. degree in political science from the...

Cable guy: Jermoluk driven to make
March 27, 1998... Tom Jermoluk is the type of guy who can work three years straight without a day off - not even Christmas - when the task demands it. Silicon Graphics Inc. was such a task, and even though his 'type A' behavior cost him his marriage, he...

Glynn whipping behemoth PG&E into fighting shape. (Robert Glynn Jr., CEO of PG and E Corp.)
March 27, 1998... At 10 a.m. on the first day in his new office, Robert Glynn Jr. is not concerned with the mess. There is none: no boxes of files, no paintings leaning against the wall, no stacks of random pens waiting to find a drawer. Even the globe is in...

Gas prices fuel revolt in Bay Area. (gasoline prices)
March 20, 1998... A political rebellion against the high cost of gasoline threatens to spread through the Bay Area despite recent drops in pump prices. Following a movement to legislate gas prices in San Francisco, Sen. Barbara Boxer, Alameda County Supervisor...

Texas takeover: merger rang hollow for many at Pacific Telesis. (acquired by SBC Communications)
March 20, 1998... 'PacTel was like the Titanic. It hit an iceberg and went down in an hour' On the 37th floor of Pacific Telesis Center, the glass doors leading to the executive suite are locked, the wood-paneled reception desk is unattended, a bouquet of...

Electronic Arts selling part of HQ site for record price. (14 acre site costs $47 million)
March 20, 1998... A choice piece of Redwood Shores dirt has been lassoed by prominent New York developer Tishman Speyer Properties for a Peninsula record $80 per square foot, sources familiar with the deal said. Total cost of the 14-acre site: a hair-raising...

Beating the clock. (increase of wages of computer programmers who deal with year 2000 transition)
March 20, 1998... Bigger paychecks go to almost anyone who helps usher in 'Y2K' The stakes are high for companies racing to solve their so-called Year 2000 computer problem. So are the paychecks. With talent short and the deadline looming, Bay Area...

Insurers have Y2K glitches covered. (year 2000 transition)
March 20, 1998... Insurance companies are stepping up to the plate to help companies cope with computer problems stemming from the end of the millennium. Major Bay Area insurance brokers are touting on their web sites various services and insurance coverage...

East Bay insurers making tremors in quake market. (insurance industry)
March 20, 1998... A public-sector success story is paying off for two private insurers specializing in the once-shaky earthquake insurance market. Both companies - Walnut Creek's newly launched Pacific Select Insurance Co. and Concord's GeoVera Insurance Co. -...

Lawsuit-wary companies head for coverage. (insurance industry)
March 20, 1998... With sexual harassment, wrongful termination and other employment practices lawsuits on the rise, Bay Area firms are increasingly relying on insurance companies and attorneys for guidance. "Because we are growing so rapidly, EPL (employment...

Broadcaster says 'hola, sports fans.' (Spanish-language radio station Radio Unica KIQI 1010)
March 13, 1998... Two-month-old Radio Unica is making a play for the Bay Area's Hispanic sports fans with the acquisition of KIQI 1010, the Spanish-language home of the San Francisco Giants, Golden State Warriors and, now, 1998 World Cup Soccer. Miami-based...

Mogul Sam Zell strikes again: $92M buy to boost San Francisco office portfolio.
March 13, 1998... $92M buy to boost San Francisco office portfolio Real estate mogul Sam Zell is near to picking off another half-million square feet of downtown space to bolster his already burgeoning San Francisco office portfolio. Real estate sources...

Goodbye, Columbia: Columbia/HCA's Bay hospitals tend to their own health.
March 13, 1998... Columbia/HCA's Bay hospitals tend to their own health With Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. spouting red ink and battling federal fraud investigators, the companys six Bay Area hospitals are scrambling to chart an independent course....

REIT makes big strike at Chevron building. (real estate investment trust Ocwen Asset Investment Corp.)
March 13, 1998... Chevron Corp.'s former headquarters has found a new owner. The price: $102 million. Ocwen Asset. Investment Corp., a Florida-based REIT with a hearty appetite for San Francisco real estate, is taking its biggest bite yet out of the Bay Area...

Fun and gains: companies learn to take a joke.
March 13, 1998... Companies learn to take a joke If you think work is no laughing matter, chances are you wouldn't find a propeller hat a very useful business tool. Too bad. A big belly laugh can go a long way toward lightening the psychic load of job...

Ken Berry. (Pillar Point Capital Mgmt Inc Chairman and CEO)
March 13, 1998... Name: Ken Berry. Title: Chairman and CEO. Company: Pillar Point Capital Management Inc., the San Mateo-based registered investment advisory firm, with $1 billion in assets under management. Education: A.B. degree in history from...

Levi Strauss inks $300M headquarters deal. (Levi Strauss and Co. to renew lease at Levi Plaza)
March 6, 1998... San Francisco jeans maker signs lease of the decade Levi Strauss & Co. has signed a letter of intent to renew its lease for 620,000 square feet at Levi Plaza. based on square footage, it is San Francisco's largest lease deal of the decade....

Meet the force: ex-cop takes his security firm into public housing, with impressive results. (Personal Protective Services Inc.)(Company Profile)
March 6, 1998... A San Mateo private security firm has doubled its revenues by moving into the region's worst neighborhoods. In the past year, the 2-year-old Personal Protective Services Inc. has grown into a $5 million operation and quadrupled its staff to...

BofA's customers: assets and liabilities. (Bank of America to impose higher fees for checking accounts of unprofitable customers)
March 6, 1998... Bank may boost checking fees; bankers' pop-up screens tell all BankAmerica is stepping up efforts to target unprofitable customers, testing higher fees for checking accounts and rolling out new technology that lets front-line employees...

Masters of the game: tight space, rising rents add up to hot deals.
March 6, 1998... Rapidly expanding tenants, landlords pushing rents as high as $60 per square foot, real estate investment trusts buying everything in sight and brokers figuring vacancy rates on one hand - that was the Bay Area real estate market in 1997....

PacTel parent pulls plug on company's ritzy downtown digs. (SBC Communications Inc abandons Pacific Telesis building)
March 6, 1998... SBC Communications is abandoning the San Francisco headquarters building of Pacific Telesis, the telecommunications company it acquired in 1997. Employees based at Pacific Talesis Center are being consolidated at 140 New Montgomery St. in...

Sweet dreams: Spunkmeyer hopes new products and plans can help its cookie dough rise. (Otis Spunkmeyer Inc.)(Company Profile)
March 6, 1998... After two years of assembling ingredients and baking up a new business plan, Otis Spunkmeyer Inc. is ready to take a big bite out of the growing snack-food business. The 21-year-old San Leandro baked goods company generated $186 million last...

Gap tells the kids its time to come inside. (San Francisco's Gap Inc. to merge operations with GapKids)
March 6, 1998... San Francisco's Gap Inc. has pared back its management structure to reunite its Gap anti GapKids divisions. After 12 years of operating as an independent division, the company's GapKids chain - which now numbers 572 stores - will join the...

Asian crisis opens door to new customers for Wells. (Wells Fargo HSBC Trade Bank)(Company Profile)
March 6, 1998... Wells Fargo's trade bank is doing a bang-up business on the back of Asian fears. The Wells Fargo HSBC Trade Bank, which is a joint venture with the London-based HSBC Holdings plc, has seen a roughly 20 percent rise in trade-finance loans...

Kaiser patient transfers run into more roadblocks. (transfer of patients from Kaiser Permanente Oakland to Summit Medical Center and Children's Hospital Oakland delayed)
March 6, 1998... The agreements that would transfer patients from Kaiser Permanente's Oakland hospital to Summit Medical Center and Children's Hospital Oakland have been delayed - again. The latest timetable calls for Kaiser Oakland to start sending...

Playing in the same arena as the big boys. (Metropolitan Contract Group Inc diversifies into furnishings for sports arenas)(Company Profile)
March 6, 1998... Metropolitan Contract Group Inc., a fast growing Oakland supplier of office furniture and design, recently upped its growth potential with a new speciality in furnishings for sports arenas. "There's more business out there than we can...