San Francisco Business Times articles from May 1996

San Francisco Business Times archives from May 1996

Financial spark putting life in Tribune Tower. (Alameda County Board of Supervisors grants $600,000 to renovate building)
May 3, 1996... The Alameda County Board of Supervisors has agreed to provide $600,000 to renovate the Tribune Tower, clearing a financial hurdle that killed previous efforts to bring new life to Oakland's vacant downtown landmark. The $600,000, which will be...

Montgomery could fall into Gap headquarters. (Montgomery Securities)
May 3, 1996... The San Francisco Redevelopment Agency has completed its purchase of a large parcel of land near the Bay Bridge that will allow The Gap to build its long-planned world headquarters tower. On April 30, city redevelopment officials paid...

The techno Brits are coming: software maker decides S.F. is its cup of tea. (Micromuse moves to San Francisco, California)
May 3, 1996... Micromuse is trading in its British roots for a new San Francisco identity, moving its headquarters here and luring a new president from Sybase. President Dominic Gattuso said the network management software company plans to hire 30 people...

S.F. legal eagles decide they can get by in smaller nest. (Pillsbury, Madison and Sutro reduces office space)
May 3, 1996... Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro, one of San Francisco's largest "white-shoe" law firms, has decided it can fit inside a smaller shoe box. The prestigious law firm will reduce the amount of office space it leases in the financial district by about...

Bank deal turns Chinese firm into paper tiger. (BankAmerica lends $50 million to China International Marine Containers Co.)
May 3, 1996... BankAmerica is lending a $50 million hand across the Pacific to one of the world's largest marine container manufacturers, China International Marine Containers Co. Starting with a $30 million segment that closed April 29, the San...

CEO revives tech company after British mogul's death. (Steve Goldby assumes leadership of MDL Information Systems after Robert Maxwell's death)
May 3, 1996... When British media baron Robert Maxwell died mysteriously at sea in 1991, it looked like MDL Information Systems might be washed up. But after weathering several jolts, the rebounding San Leandro-based software company is poised to make a...

Good Sam cuts losses, unloads occupational clinics. (Good Samaritan Health System)
May 3, 1996... Good Samaritan Health System has dumped its occupational medicine program barely a year after setting it up. The San Jose-based hospital group earlier this month transferred all four of its occupational clinics to Meridian Occupation Healthcare...

DHL gets its wings: plan to buy its own jets in Asia marks change of strategy. (DHL Airways Inc.)
May 10, 1996... Despite huge success in Asia, DHL Worldwide Express is planning to change its game plan in the Far East in hopes of ensuring its long-term prosperity. Patrick Foley, chairman and CEO of Redwood City-based DHL, said the world's largest...

Re/Max franchisees defecting.
May 10, 1996... Realty firm accused of breaching contract The EastBay Group, a residential real estate brokerage company with five offices and 75 agents in Contra Costa County, has left the Re/Max network and joined forces with a competitor in a fight over...

Bechtel, PG&E given OK to build power plant. (Bechtel Group Inc.; Pacific Gas and Electric Co.)
May 10, 1996... Bay Area infrastructure giants Bechtel Group Inc. and Pacific Gas & Electric Co. have gotten the go-ahead to build Mexico's first privatized electric power plant. As part of a four-member consortium, the year-old joint venture between Bechtel...

North Face tackles the great indoors. (North Face Inc.)
May 10, 1996... Just three years out of a contentious bankruptcy sale, outdoor equipment maker The North Face Inc. is again prospering and preparing to launch a major merchandising push in department and outdoor stores across the country. San Leandro-based...

Biotechs put FDA under microscope.(Industry Overview)
May 10, 1996... Citing lost jobs, revenue, industry pushes to quicken approvals The Bay Area biotech industry wants to bring its offspring home, but needs the U.S. Food & Drug Administration to put out the welcome mat. Legislation to reform the FDA is...

Goose's gander leads to buy: Oakland company bags Eagle Snacks unit in Southland. (Granny Goose Foods Inc.)
May 10, 1996... Granny Goose Foods is flying south this summer with a bold reentry into the Southern California snack-food market. The revived Oakland-based snack-food maker has snatched a major Southern California distribution operation from the talons of the...

Explosion of new business fuels Oracle's hiring plans: software maker gains on rival.
May 10, 1996... A slew of new clients is boosting the fortunes of Oracle Corp. in one of the software industry's most hotly contested frontiers: applications software programs for big corporations. Redwood Shores-based Oracle, which now counts applications...

Help wanted: 3,000 positions. (Oracle Corp.)(Explosion of New Business Fuels Oracle's Hiring Plans)
May 10, 1996... Oracle Services is planning to add another 3,000 employees in fiscal 1997 and over the next two years is on track to eclipse $1 billion in revenues. The client services division of $3 billion Oracle Corp. has long been overshadowed by the...

Software makers seek to crack code for tax break.(Industry Overview)
May 10, 1996... Bay Area software makers are hoping Sacramento will approve a quick fix for some bad code that they say is costing them millions of dollars each year. The code in question is the Standard Industrial Code, which is used to classify...

Chevron's pedal to metal in China. (Chevron Corp.)
May 10, 1996... Chevron Corp.'s partner in Chinese offshore oil is predicting a 55 percent increase in crude oil production in the South China Sea this year, alongside a giant leap by its fledgling natural gas operations. China National Offshore Oil Co....

Securities exec hops stagecoach to banking industry. (Dennis Mooradian joins Wells Fargo Securities Inc.)
May 10, 1996... Seeking to beef up its securities and private banking operations, Wells Fargo Bank has hired a key executive from Lehman Bros., despite his being the subject of an ongoing wrongful termination suit. Dennis Mooradian joined the bank May 6 as...

Search for new grounds takes Peet's to Emeryville. (Peet's Coffee and Tea; Emeryville, California)
May 10, 1996... Peet's Coffee & Tea, following a four-year search, is moving to a new headquarters blocks from its current Emeryville home. The move will allow the coffee roaster and retailer to consolidate its warehouse, mail order, roasting and headquarters...

Region's titans take giant steps in international markets. (San Francisco Bay Area companies with largest international sales)
May 10, 1996... The region's industrial strongholds took bold steps in international trade last year, with the top three companies seeing 25 percent growth in overseas sales - nearly double their rise in annual revenues. This year's roster of the 25 companies...

Wells mulls which parts of First Interstate to put on block. (Wells Fargo Bank)
May 10, 1996... Banking analysts are predicting that Wells Fargo Bank will sell assets and businesses it picked up with the acquisition of First Interstate if the units do not meet profit objectives. "Anything that's not going to make their internal...

Japan foreign food yen adds fizz to cola firm. (B.M. Lawrence and Co.)
May 10, 1996... A local soft drink company is advancing in Japan's cola wars with an item it says PepsiCo and Coca-Cola Co. cannot match: American-made drinks. B.M. Lawrence & Co., which has a $25 million trading business in specialty foods, is racking up...

Safeway initiates food exports to Japan. (Safeway Inc.)
May 17, 1996... Supermarket chain wholesaling its own brands and irking competition Safeway Inc., aiming to cash in on Japanese consumers' appetite for American food, has entered the wholesale food business in Japan. The Oakland-based, $16.4 billion...

Luxury homes on tap for Menlo Park.
May 17, 1996... In the largest sale of mid-Peninsula residential property in 10 years, Oak Leaf Associates of San Mateo has purchased 46 acres of undeveloped land from St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park. The buyer's plan: develop a new luxury residential...

Opportunity escapes Mindscape: CD-ROM maker is trying to regroup.
May 17, 1996... After two years of botched opportunities, former multimedia industry leader Mindscape is changing its corporate landscape. President Robert Goldberg was axed May 8. CEO John Moore, on the job less than six months, added Goldberg's duties to his...

Gymboree heads abroad. (Gymboree Corp.)
May 17, 1996... Target markets include Canada, UK, Japan Kid's clothier Gymboree Corp. is taking its first baby steps into foreign markets, with hopes of eventually opening a string of international stores to rival its domestic operation. The...

Midwestern marriage adds to Mother's growing brood. (Mother's Cake & Cookie Co.'s distribution agreement with O'Boisie Corp.)
May 17, 1996... In a major expansion that will carry its products into 13 states throughout the Midwest, Oakland-based Mother's Cake & Cookie Co. said it has entered into a distribution agreement with the O'Boisie Corp. of Chicago. The cookies will carry the...

Flying high at the airports. (California airports)
May 17, 1996... Boosted by growth in flights to Asia, Bay Area air traffic is reaching new heights Activity at Bay Area airports continues to gain altitude. Both San Francisco International Airport and Oakland International Airport reported substantial growth...

Brokers beef up for new rivalry over sales jobs. (real estate brokers)
May 17, 1996... Colliers Damner Pike, in its quest to mount a serious effort to win major sale assignments from institutional commercial property owners in Northern California, has created a new division and assembled an all-star lineup of real estate brokers....

Autodesk has designs on home. (acquisition of Creative Imaging Technologies)
May 17, 1996... Autodesk has acquired Creative Imaging Technologies, a small Southern California software and digital imaging maker serving the interior design industry. Terms of the transaction were not announced, but the deal is significant because it moves...

Bankers association chief focuses on small change. (Dudley Nigg, president of the California Bankers Association)
May 17, 1996... The new president of the California Bankers Association says the group needs to focus on the community bankers who make up a large portion of its membership. "I believe the CBA needs to be small-bank-oriented," said Dudley Nigg, who will be...

Poll: Alameda County companies want a break, but not on taxes.
May 17, 1996... Tax breaks and other financial incentives are less important in attracting and retaining businesses than a streamlined permitting process and responsive City Hall, according to a survey of businesses and cities in Alameda County. The study,...

Pike swims against real estate current, lands in 'Net. (Peter Pike, founder of PikeNet, a commercial real estate listing service on the World Wide Web)
May 17, 1996... Peter Pike, a founding partner of Colliers Damner Pike, has left the firm to develop the first comprehensive commercial real estate listing service on the World Wide Web. The newly launched service, dubbed PikeNet, contains detailed reviews,...

Weighing in on the tax scales, California looks portly.
May 17, 1996... California's reputation as the birthplace of the citizens' tax revolt and 12 years of Republican governors have done their part to slow the growth of the state's tax burden. But few taxpayers will be surprised to know that California still has...

PacBell prepares to play ball. (Pacific Bell)
May 24, 1996... Pacific Bell Park will be high-tech showcase Pacific Bell has begun laying plans to turn its namesake baseball park at China Basin into a showcase for the latest computer and telecommunications technology. Pacific Bell Park, which will be...

Small biz lending given big boost. (small business)
May 24, 1996... New software spurs major revival A new banking software package will help banks to mass-market pre-approved small business loans like they do credit cards, allowing large banks to muscle in one of the few lending markets currently dominated by...

Macromedia moving into macro digs. (Macromedia Inc.)
May 24, 1996... Desperate for more office space to house its growing share of cyberspace, Macromedia Inc. will break ground next month on a new 100,000-square-foot office building in Redwood Shores. The San Francisco-based designer of multimedia and World Wide...

Garden supply firm to grow by acquisition. (U.S. Home & Garden Inc.)
May 24, 1996... San Francisco-based landscape supply company U.S. Home & Garden has signed a letter of intent for a $27 million acquisition that could double its sales in the fiscal year beginning July 1. The company plans to acquire $21 million Weatherly...

Ready to roll; software exec's rise leads to S.F. (CenterView Software Inc. CEO Mark Douglas)
May 24, 1996... CenterView Software, a scrappy tech firm led by an entrepreneur who overcame formidable odds, has moved from Brisbane to San Francisco and plans to add 60 employees. CenterView has taken space near China Basin and will boost its staff to 100...

NationsBank takes California by stealth, not storm. (includes related article on Charlotte, NC's position as the second-largest banking center in the US)(Banking and Finance Quarterly)
May 24, 1996... Even as his Charlotte, N.C.-based bank expands its branch network beyond its Southern base, autocratic NationsBank Chairman Hugh McColl Jr. has always made it clear that California sits outside the border of his ambitious for a nationwide retail...

Dial for dollars: Wells exec calls out to small business. (Wells Fargo Bank N.A. Vice Chmn. Terri Dial)(1996 Greater Bay Area Women in Business)
May 24, 1996... The glass ceiling gave way a bit in March when Terri Dial was named vice chairman of the business banking group at Wells Fargo Bank. Or in banking, perhaps the term should be glass pyramid: At the bottom, women make up 90 percent of tellers. At...

Unflappable flag maker finally flies high.
May 24, 1996... When Christophe Morin set out to launch a San Francisco-based flag and banner business for the French family firm Doublet, he decided to buy a company instead of starting from scratch. "I'm a strong believer in acquisition. It's the only way...

Bechtel bid sets sail for Panama Canal. (Bechtel Group Inc.)
May 31, 1996... Bechtel Group Inc. is closing in on a $620 million deal that would revamp Panama's ports and railroad and could dramatically alter the future of shipping. The $7.9 billion engineering company is among nine companies vying for the right to...

The Gap may salute school uniforms. (Gap Inc. to sell clothing for school uniform programs)
May 31, 1996... With the issue of mandatory school uniforms likely to grab attention in this summer's presidential campaign, San Francisco-based Gap Inc. is getting a jump on a potentially huge market by launching an initiative to design and sell clothing for...

A syrupy success story. (R. Torre and Company)
May 31, 1996... Torani syrups aims to sweeten retail shelves, recipe books R Torre & Co., The San Francisco-based maker of Torani Italian syrups for more than 70 years, has embaked on an ambitious expansion drive to reach beyond the coffeehouse to your house....

Online classified ad company meets its match. (Electric Classifieds Inc.)
May 31, 1996... Armed with $7.5 million in new venture capital and a reputation as the most successful matchmaker on the Internet, Electric Classifieds Inc. is about to expand its repertoire beyond lonely hearts to more prosaic business services. The San...

Supermarket promotions help BofA stock up on customers. (Bank of America)
May 31, 1996... In another sign of the sales-oriented culture sweeping the banking industry, Bank of America is successfully using special events at its Lucky supermarket branches to significantly bolster its retail business. A two-day child safety promotion...

Hung up on fraudsters (cellular fraud)
May 31, 1996... Cellular fraud-fighter Corsair to get boost from 2 new deals Corsair Communications has landed a contract to supply telecommunications fraud control equipment to Comcast Cellular, the nation's fourth-largest cellular carrier, and industry...

First Interstate's loss is thrift's gain as they snap up fired execs. (First Interstate Bancorp)
May 31, 1996... Wells Fargo & Co.'s acquisition of First Interstate Bancorp. is providing a windfall of seasoned executives for large thrifts that want to become more like banks. H.F. Ahmanson & Co. and Great Western Financial Corp. are picking up First...

Chiron helps bankroll biotech vteran's 'phoenix rising.' (Chiron Corp. finances Kosan Biosciences)
May 31, 1996... Though he disappeared from the biotech scene when Parnassus Pharmaceuticals was engulfed in the financial flames of venture capitalist David Blech, Daniel Santi has reemerged with a new company: Kosan Biosciences. Helping give birth to the new...

Dreyer's execs' sweet success follows meltdown. (Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream Inc.)
May 31, 1996... Since purchasing Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream in 1977, Chairman and CEO T. Gary Rogers and President W.F. (Rick) Cronk have led the growth of the Oakland-based ice-cream maker from a $6 million private firm to a $679 million public company. Before...