San Francisco Business Times articles from May 2000

San Francisco Business Times archives from May 2000

San Francisco slams into building limit.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Prop. M cap puts new development approvals on ice until October San Francisco's development window has officially shut, with the city Planning Commission last week handing out the final office project approvals it can legally issue until...

E-Trade Bank gets physical.(introduces ATMs)(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Online bank takes on its competitors with thousands of ATMs E-Trade Bank is rolling out a 23 national network of 8,800 ATMs, seeking a physical presence that will help it stand out from the crowded online financial services market. ...

Hines snaps up highrise for $260M.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Houston-based Hines, in what could presage a wave of downtown building sales, has emerged as the winning bidder for San Francisco's 50 Fremont St., one of the city's larger office properties. Hines, which is backed by the giant...

Silicon Valley legal eagle flies coop.(Latham and Watkins)(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Global law firm swoops in to land Cooley Godward's high-tech star One of Silicon Valley's most visible and respected attorneys has split with the firm -- whose technology practice he played a central role in creating -- to join an...

Bay Area firms tough on Texan's tender offers.(Growth Capital Corp.)(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Alameda-based Geoworks is the latest of several Bay Area companies, and nearly a dozen nationwide, to rebuff attempts from a Dallas stock trader to acquire stakes in the firm. Officers of Growth Capital Corp. declined comment on at least...

Towering over Yerba Buena.(planned San Francisco hotel)(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Boston-based Carpenter nails a 40-story finale to S.F. regeneration project Starwood Hotels & Resorts World-wide and Boston-based developer Carpenter & Co. are on a fast track to begin constructionon a $200 million, 40-story luxury hotel...

Stock Answers.(low interest in bank stocks)(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Banks still showing insufficient interest for stock investors I can't say I'm a big fan of Alan Greenspan these days. When he wanted to stimulate the economy, I stepped up to the plate and did my part, even if I couldn't afford to do it....

Developers put East Bay transit village on track.(Contra Costa County, California)(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Developers are pulling into the Pleasant Hill BART station with a trainload of projects. Five developments valued at $175 million are planned for 14 acres near the Pleasant Hill BART station. Collectively, the office, housing, hotel...

Developer is drawing up an eviction notice -- for himself.(Shorenstein Co.)(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... How hot is the San Francisco office market getting? So hot that it's pushing legendary developer Walter Shorenstein out of his office. According to real estate insiders, space is so tight and expensive in the city that the Shorenstein...

Rise & Fall.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... A barometer of the region's movers, shakers and fakers Ann Winblad S.F. venture capitalist is not one to shy away from a fight. San Mateo based Napster may be under heavy fire from musicians and the record industry for its...

CalPERS builds $500m real estate, high-tech fund.(California Public Employees' Retirement System)(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... The California Public Employees' Retirement System will invest $500 million in real estate-related technology companies and incubators that cater to high-tech firms. The giant pension fund, which has already made selective investments in...

Real estate ace joins AMB.(Guy Jaquier)(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... San Francisco's AMB Property Corp. has deepened its senior management team by snagging Guy Jaquier, CalPERS' top real-estate honcho. Starting June 20, Jaquier will, become the $1.8 billion real estate investment trust's new executive...

Standard scraps plans to lease Front Street facility.(Industry Standard magazine)(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Industry Standard magazine has canceled plans to lease 180,000 square feet of space at One Front Street. Meade Boutwell, the broker leasing the building, confirmed that the tech publication will not move to the building. Brent La Blanc,...

Inside Traders.(executive stock activity)(Brief Article)(Illustration)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... Inside Traders A look at buying and selling of shares by Bay Area executives Murray Dashe CEO Cost Plus Inc. Shares...

CORRECTIONS.(Brief Article)(Correction Notice)
May 26, 2000... A photo that appeared in the May 19-25 article "Marketing site lets companies wave their banner ads for free" incorrectly identified Bruce Carlson as Bruce Carlisle of SF Interactive. A May 5-11 article "Brokerage triumphs from team...

ePIT vision of online commodity exchange gets $10M.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... San Francisco-based startup ePIT a firm providing online trading technology, has locked up a $10.6 million second-round investment in its quest to bring commodity exchanges online. Unlike the stock market, which adopted web-based trading...

Francisco Partners buy stake in AMD.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... Advanced Micro Devices Inc. in Santa Clara agreed to sell 90 percent of its communications products division to San Francisco's Francisco Partners LP. The private equity firm is buying its stake in the company for $375 million in cash.

PUC narrows bidders to three.(Public Utilities Commission)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... It's down to three bidders in the 500-acre Pleasanton land deal. The finalists to develop the property, owned by San-Francisco's Public Utilities Commission; are PleasantonPark Partners, GHC Bernal Investors and Lake Herman Investors. All...

Just Desserts deserts S.F.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... The bakery that called San Francisco home for the past 26 years is moving across the Bay to Oakland, where it plans to double the size of its bakery and expand its wholesale business. Just Desserts officials say they could not find the space...

Workplace ban on racial slurs upheld.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... By its refusal to hear an appeal, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a California ruling that bans the use of racial epithets from the workplace. The case was originally brought against an Avis Rent-a-Car employee at the San Francisco...

Bay Area air quality in question.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... Four Bay Area counties flunked a smog test, receiving an F for the poorest air quality. They are: Alameda, Contra Costa, Solano and Santa Clara counties. By contrast, the counties just across the Bay from them -- San Mateo, Marin and San...

Tech firm relocates to Livermore.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... San Jose's KLA-Tencor is moving to Livermore. The supplier of semiconductor-inspection tools is moving out of Silicon Valley to escape escalating housing prices and to ease the commutes of many of its 2,400 employees who live in more...

Visa has 1 billion cards.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... Foster City-based Visa International has reached a milestone with one billion credit cards worldwide, setting a record in the industry. The company also reported that its payment volume in 1999 reached $1.6 trillion, representing a 19 percent...

Siebel's OpenSite acquisition closed.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... Siebel Systems has closed its acquisition of OpenSite Technologies for stock worth $542 million. OpenSite's Internet-based pricing systems will become Siebel Dynamic Commerce products and will be deployed as a part of Siebel Systems'...

United Airlines to buy US Air.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... The biggest airline at SFO just got bigger. United Airlines announced it plans to buy US Airways for $4.3 billion in cash, or $60 per share. The sale price is more than twice the company's stock price at the time of the deal: $25.94 per share.

BART can't take new money.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Bay Area Rapid Transit authorities said their ticket machines could not accept the new $5 and $10 bills released into circulation by the federal government this month. BART says it was led to believe the new bills would not be in use until...

BroadVision, BofA join forces.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Internet software maker BroadVision Inc. teamed up with Bank of America to start a company that will build intranets for businesses. According to James D. Dixon, a Bankofamerica.com executive, Bank of America plans to be the first subscriber...

Noosh withdraws IPO.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Business-to-business print services company Noosh Inc. withdrew plans for an initial public offering. The Palo Alto-based company cited poor market conditions for their change in plans.

Publicis & Hal Riney lands Iomega.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Zip-drive manufacturer Iomega Corp. tapped Publicis & Hal Riney, San Francisco, for its $35 million advertising account. Company officials lauded the decision to go with the ad shop to build "a new Iomega." Publicis & Hal Riney was chosen...

SpectraSwitch raises $18.1M.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Santa Rosa-based SpectraSwitch, a privately held manufacturer of optical components, today announced completion of $18.1 million in second-round funding from an investor group led by Advanced Technology Ventures. Other second-round investors...

EBenefits benefits from SBA deal.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... EBenefits, the San Francisco-based online human resources company, has agreed to provide its Internet services to the Small Business Association's 800,000 members. EBenefits offers the VirtualHR and Quote Wizard programs for online members...

Napster Inc. closes $15M round.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Hummer Winblad Venture Partners today announced it closed a $15 million round of investment in controversial online music purveyor Napster Inc. Napster has been at the center of a copyright controversy regarding its distribution of...

James Molinelli.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Name: James Molinelli. Title: President and CEO. Company: California State Automobile Association. The San Francisco-based auto club has 6,000 employees and 4 million members. Education: Bachelor of science-degree in business...

Battle of the blueprints to begin at Harvey Milk Plaza.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... The San Francisco Prize has selected the subject of this year's design competition: Sprucing up Harvey Milk Plaza. The plaza commemorates gay rights activist and supervisor Milk, who was assassinated in 1978. The plaza, which sits at a...

New office building planned for Emeryville.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... KMD Architects will design a new office building in Emeryville. The 95,000-square-foot building at 5885 Hollis St., near the intersection of Hollis and Powell, will be two stories tall and have a "high-tech design," according to KMD...

$99,000 rock almost done.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Work will soon be complete on a $99,000 rock sculpture in Oakland's Jack London Square. Work on the sculpture, designed to create the effect of water flowing off a staircase of canyon rocks, began in November and is scheduled for...

County building on way up.(Alameda Social Services)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... KMD won a competitive bid to design the Alameda Social Services building, a $25 million, 200,000-square-foot building in Hayward that will house the social and mental services of the county. Nashville, Tenn.-based Alex Palmer is the...

Moy tapped for state post.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Stan Y. Moy, who has been an architect at San Francisco-based Finger & Moy Architects for 19 years, was appointed by Gov. Gray Davis to the Seismic Safety Commission. Moy, who also serves on the State Building Authority for San...

Fee Munson to design store.(Wilkes Bashford at Stanford Shopping Center)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... San Francisco-based Fee Munson Ebert has been selected to design Wilkes Bashford's 10,000-square-foot store at Stanford Shopping Center. Fee Munson also designs Sephora perfume and cosmetics stores.

Agile workers dodge Union Bank's swinging ax.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... Union Bank of California will lay off 340 fewer people than first expected as part of its Mission Excel cost-cutting program. Lest you think the heart of the San Francisco-based bank has softened, however, know that this is all about...

Weiss, Peck looks to take VC relationships private.(venture capital)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... Spotting how investment bankers move in on young companies as their IPOs near, New York-based asset manager and venture capitalist Weiss, Peck & Greer is expanding its private client services unit to the Bay Area. The new West Coast...

1View has a vision: Acquisition in early June.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... Young 1View Network Corp., which sells electronic bill presentment and payment software to financial institutions and web portals, will land as a division of Calabasas-based Digital Insight Corp. after Digital's buyout closes early next...

A wild and woolly first quarter for venture capital.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... Those times are already gone, but a recent report provides a snapshot of the most active quarter in venture capital history, the first quarter of 2000. Results released recently by the National Venture Capital Association show that a...

Startups walk VC runway.
May 26, 2000... In a bit of a throwback to that more competitive time earlier this year, some local venture capitalists are hosting a national contest used to generate potential startup funding opportunities. VentureCompetition.com takes place June 14-15...

Gabriel heads east.(Gabriel Venture Partners opens office in Tyson's Corner, Virginia)(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... Gabriel Venture Partners of Redwood City has expanded operations to the East Coast to move in on the expanding high-tech community centered around the U.S. capital and home base of America Online. Gabriel opened an office in Tyson's...

Former Kaiser 'Turnaround Officer' turns to the Internet.(Helen Wilmot)(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Former Kaiser Permanente "Chief Turnaround Officer" Helen Wilmot is spearheading a new online health venture that seeks to match payers and providers over the Internet. The venture, which will become operational in the fall, launched its...

Fixing the bugs in HMOs.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... This summer, oversight of the HMOs will shift to the newly created Department of Managed Care, devoted solely to health plan oversight. Daniel Zingale, the state Department of Managed Care's first director, made his second public address...

Digidesign flees high rents, no space, heads north to Daly City.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... Squeezed by high rents and virtually nonexistent space, Digidesign is relocating from Palo Alto to a new mixed-use project near the Daly City BART station. The digital-audio production company, which makes the hardware and software...

Substance triumphs over style for Sharper Image.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... Is gadget pioneer Sharper Image now a purveyor of practical products? Company founder and CEO Richard Thalheimer says so. Sure, the company still offers extravagant gizmos and toys like moving butterfly sculptures, inflatable kayaks,...

Coach gets less cramped.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... The Coach flagship showroom off Union Square is back and bigger than ever. Twice as big, to be more precise. The high-end leather goods, accessories and furniture merchant refurbished its Post Street digs from January to May, and...

House ponders repealing stand-alone estate tax.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... The House is expected to vote on legislation to phase out the federal estate tax the week of June 5. Congress passed similar legislation last year as part of a $792 billion tax cut, but that package was vetoed by President Clinton. A...

OSHA tightens procedures on interpretation letters.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... In the wake of its about-face on home workplaces, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is changing its procedures to make sure agency officials do not assert new policies when they respond to employers' questions. A Nov. 15,...

California, Texas lead in high-tech job growth.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... America's high-tech work force grew by 1.2 million workers from 1993 to 1999, with California, Texas, Virginia, Colorado and Georgia leading the way in job creation. This explosion in high-tech employment, documented in a new report by...

New SBA partnership targets Asian Americans.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... The Small Business Administration agreed to work with the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development to increase business opportunities for Asian Americans. The outreach effort is part of SBA's program to help...

Business relationships sought in Egypt, Thailand.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... While China gets all the headlines, the United States is quietly working to increase trade with other countries. SBA Administrator Aida Alvarez traveled to Egypt this month to launch a partnership to jump-start the growth of small...

Swimming with sharks.(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... After NASDAQ's bull run, small brokerages find themselves in rough waters The bull market that raged for most of the past decade has brought an unparalleled period of boom times for Wall Street, but for small broker-dealers the historic...

Freed from shackles of core services, banks branch out.(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... Big banks offer more products that bring in more revenue, and that's Steve Andrews' problem. Small ($83 million in assets), 2-year-old Bank of Alameda, which Andrews heads as president and CEO, depends on old, trusted, conservative...

VC cash flow still gushes despite market violence.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Six weeks after the NASDAQ blood-bath sent IPO doors slamming shut, venture capitalists and entrepreneurs are just beginning to peek their heads out to survey the carnage. Now that it is clear the April turbulence is not an anomaly, and...

Old-line Wells Fargo sets lofty online finance goals.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... If the online world is meant for the young, hip and now crowd, just what the heck is old-line Wells Fargo & Co. doing as one of the nation's premier Internet banks? A lot. With 1.8 million online customers, San Francisco-based Wells...

Personal finance data at stake in privacy debate.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Opposing sides of the hotly debated financial privacy issue are preparing for what looks like contentious debate for the next 12 months. At issue is a bevy of proposed state and federal bills aimed at ensuring consumer information is not...

TOP 150: Fastest Growing Public Companies in the Bay Area.
May 26, 2000... INTRODUCTION As this year's list of the Top 150 Fastest Growing Public Companies vividly demonstrates, the New Economy is now the fuel powering the Bay Area's economic engine. Internet-related companies dominate the upper echelon of...

Keynote finds perfect pitch in e-commerce chaos.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Keynote Systems drew the media spotlight during this winter's Internet hacker attacks, but this web site monitoring service is also the fastest growing publicly held company based in the Bay Area. As measured by the change in gross...

LookSmart eyes profits as earnings spike higher.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... The first thing to know about LookSmart Ltd., says Chief Financial Officer Ned Brody, is that both the majority of its revenue and the dramatic growth in its revenue has been organic. "We didn't buy a lot of companies," Brody says. ...

Phone.com aims to set the standard in wireless apps.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Founded in 1994 on the idea of extending the Internet to the wireless world, Phone.com is coming into its own now precisely because wireless is coming into its own, says Chief Financial Officer Alan Black. Company executives spent the...

For ExciteAtHome, 1999 was a fast-growth thrill ride.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... It's been an exciting ride for ExciteAtHome, the product of last year's $6.7 billion merger of web portal Excite and high-speed Internet connection service AtHome Corp. The marriage has certainly turbocharged the combined companies'...

Digital Island books trip to private Internet paradise.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Billing itself as a faster, more secure and smarter alternative to the "public Internet," Digital Island has charged well ahead of its few competitors. And it plans to hold that pattern. Digital Island's main selling point is that its...

Mediaplex finds its mojo.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Acting as both an advertising agency and a partner to some of the nation's biggest advertising agencies, Mediaplex garnered its sixth-place spot on the list of fastest growing Bay Area public companies with 584 percent growth in revenue...

Maxygen research yields a high-growth formula.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Unlike most biotech companies, which tend to focus on developing products for a single industry, or even a small niche within an industry, Maxygen has tackled four areas from the start. And its leaders say that strategy is largely...

150 Fastest Growing Public Companies in the Bay Area.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... 150 Fastest Growing Public Companies in the Bay Area Company name Revenue: Rank Address 1999 last Phone/Fax ...

OnDisplay software is arming the Internet industry.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... For OnDisplay, 1999 was completely different from 1998 not because of what OnDisplay was doing but because of what everyone else wasn't Finally, by the middle of last year, most companies had addressed their Y2K concerns and firmly...

KeraVision sees the light of profitability, growth.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... KeraVision, which has been around longer than any other company among the San Francisco Business Times top 10, also has the most traditional business plan. After 10 years of research and development, KeraVision has refined a type of...

iManage goes from tiny profits to titanic growth.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... A company that derives much of its revenue from managing e-commerce among businesses, iManage is the quintessential new-economy player. Its revenue grew 399 percent over the last three years, making it the 10th-fastest growing public...

Largest Initial Public Offerings in the Bay Area.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)
May 26, 2000... Largest Initial Public Offerings in the Bay Area Company Amount IPO date Address raised Offering price Exchange Phone/Fax ...

High-tech sector turns classification system obsolete.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... After years of putting hotels, diet centers and sound recording studios into one unwieldy file labeled "Services," the Small Business Administration will adopt a new industrial classification system this fall. The SBA is dumping the...

Planting profits.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Landscape company blooms in Mann County's fertile soil Like any good gardener, Linda Novy was quick to spot signs of trouble with her flourishing landscape company, Gardeners' Guild. Management difficulties constricted its growth and a...

Dave Hirschkop.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... Title: President and founder. Company: Dave's Gourmet, headquartered in San Francisco with manufacturing in Costa Rica. Dave's Gourmet makes more than 70 products including hot sauces, salsas, cooking sauces, snacks and gift packs. ...

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE.
May 26, 2000... ACCOUNTING/CONSULTING Kent Noard was named partner at Sterling Wood Financial LLC. Noard is a past chairman of the Silicon Valley Society of the ICFP. Sterling Wood provides financial consulting, asset management and counseling services...

VF ascends North Face with buyout.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... After an uphill battle to turn its finances around, a San Leandro-based outdoor equipment maker announced it has accepted a $25.6 million resolution by a South Carolina apparel company. The North Face Inc., which is being bought by VF...

S.F. taps 3 to vie at Pleasanton site.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission has narrowed the field of potential buyers for its 500-acre Pleasanton property to three, bringing the city one-step closer to realizing its $100 million-plus price tag. San Francisco...

Tax break for teachers proposal earns low grade.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... The proposal by Gov. Gray Davis to stop making public school teachers pay state income tax is a nice gesture, but it's one that can't be taken very seriously. The problem with waiving state income tax for teachers is that it opens the...

Privacy regulations beckon.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... The other shoe dropped this week, with the FTC recommending that Congress draw up laws to safeguard online privacy. Congress, we expect, will be happy to do so. It's a sorry commentary that we've gotten to this state. Political intervention...

Big Oil: America's favorite villain.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... America's gas prices are still far lower than elsewhere, and getting even better. Unless I'm seeing things, the price of gas has declined by about 10 to 12 cents in the past month. But I don't hear people cheering the oil companies at...

Mattel's one-trick pony couldn't win the race.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... It was the summer of 1968 and I was nearing the completion of an MBA degree from the University of California, Berkeley. It was a very good year. All of us had multiple opportunities to consider. Interviews were plentiful, both on campus...

Learning online requires interaction, not isolation.(Brief Article)
May 26, 2000... During a late April press conference, Gov. Gray Davis and Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan gathered with community leaders to launch a campaign that would hold the government responsible for its spending on education. Accountability in...