San Francisco Business Times articles from May 2000

San Francisco Business Times archives from May 2000

Real estate tycoon regain his company.
May 5, 2000... William Wilson dons his hard hat anew as private developer William Wilson has his company back. Two years and two mergers since the Bay Area real estate tycoon succumbed to the siren song of the public markets, Wilson is going back to...

BankServ chases fast money.
May 5, 2000... Race is on to control movement of cash, checks over the Net BankServ is charging into the swift Internet payments and money movement business, corralling a set of top executives and prepping its own bank to speed its online cash-management...

Celeb licenser boosts star power.
May 5, 2000... Sony spinoff expands its act with sponsorships, endorsements Signatures Network of San Francisco is taking bold steps online and launching a celebrity representation unit to muscle its $85 million licensing business into the forefront of...

Developers flex muscle in Hercules.
May 5, 2000... Once known best for a smelly oil refinery spewing out billows of smoke, Hercules' shoreline will soon boast a $50 million, 200-acre community of homes, parks, a neighborhood retail center and a school. Catellus Residential Group plans to...

Hungry Schwab swallows up another building.
May 5, 2000... Charles Schwab Corp. is paying one of the highest per-square-foot prices ever for a downtown San Francisco office building as the voracious discount broker continues to grow. Sources say San Francisco-based Schwab is close to wrapping up a...

Firms put pedal to the medal.
May 5, 2000... Companies offer jobs, money, time off to aid aspiring Olympians Track star Jeff Laynes is chasing his Olympic dream -- with a big leg up from his employer. A top-ranked 100-meter sprinter who works for UPS in Oakland, Laynes hopes to...

Design firm puts its brand on S.F. office.
May 5, 2000... Online, offline growth leads Berkeley's Addis Group across the bay Berkeley-based brand identity firm Addis Group is altering its own identity, opening a San Francisco office as it prepares to boost its staff by nearly 50 percent. The...

Wireless war over patent heads to court.
May 5, 2000... Redwood City-based Phone.com has filed suit over a patent that wireless industry rival Geoworks is using to collect licensing fees from virtually every other firm in the burgeoning industry. At issue is a technology patent Geoworks obtained...

Petstore.com seeking to fetch a new leash on life.
May 5, 2000... Rumors are flying that petstore.com, one of the vast brood of online pet-centric retail sites, is on its last legs. Sources say all marketing spending by the Emeryville-based e-tailer has been scrapped, staff members have cut back on their work...

Rise & Fall.
May 5, 2000... A barometer of the region's movers, shakers and fakers Mickey Drexler Industries rise and fall, companies wax and wane, a new economy rises to challenge the old [ldots] in such turbulent times, it's good to know that some things don't...

Business Times nabs four Press Club honors.
May 5, 2000... Business Times editors and writers have been honored with four awards for 1999 in the Bay Area's largest annual media competition. Managing editor Jim Gardner received two awards from the Peninsula Press Club for editorials: A first place...

Net magazine expands offline in S.F.
May 5, 2000... The Industry Standard's notorious Friday night party could be going south -- by a few blocks. In one of the largest space grabs this year, the Internet magazine has signed a letter of intent to take 180,000 square feet at One Front St. in...

InsWeb slashes ad spending after loss of client State Farm.
May 5, 2000... InsWeb Corp. will scale back television ad spending on top of cutting its work force by 10 percent as its largest customer flees the online insurance marketplace. The Redwood City-based company, which lets, consumers and small businesses...

Inside & Traders.
May 5, 2000... Inside & Traders A look at buying and selling of shares by Bay Area executives Mahir Parikh Shares sold: 104,000...

CORRECTIONS.
May 5, 2000... Webby Awards founder Tiffany Shlain's name was misspelled in the "Women in Business" special publication included in the April 28-May 4 edition.

Low-pay jobs may wither in fertile Bay Area climate.
May 5, 2000... The East Bay's robust economy has emerged as a center of job growth within the thriving Bay Area, but two new reports are raising questions about whether those jobs will be filled by people who can afford to live here. The East Bay added...

New guide through online auction jungle.
May 5, 2000... Online bargain hunters struck with sudden buyer's remorse over what they paid for a Pokemon card, antique Rolex or Spanish doubloon may have a friend in San Francisco-based Worthguide Corp. Cashing in on the growth of online auctions, the...

Non-PC hits computer market.
May 5, 2000... A brave Alameda firm is testing the chilly waters of the non-PC personal computing market with its new GlobalPC. MyTurn.com launches its new product in five U.S. cities this summer. Combining a low price -- machines will go for $299 apiece...

PC manufacturers make B2B pact.
May 5, 2000... Several of the world's largest PC manufacturers and suppliers, including Hewlett-Packard Co. in Palo Alto and Advanced Micro Devices in Sunnyvale, have agreed to form what some analysts believe will be the largest online B2B PC marketplace....

Antitrust trial leads to ouster.
May 5, 2000... San Francisco Examiner publisher Timothy White was placed on indefinite leave following his court testimony that he offered San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown favorable editorial coverage in exchange for Brown's support of Hearst Corp.'s purchase...

Former East Palo Alto mayor indicted.
May 5, 2000... R.B. Jones, former East Palo Alto mayor and current city council member, was indicted on federal charges of bribery and extortion for soliciting money from potential city contractors. Jones pled innocent to charges that he accepted $5,000 from...

Metallica turns up volume on Napster.
May 5, 2000... San Mateo-based Napster's legal battle with Metallica is getting heavier. The hardrock band delivered a list of 335,000 alleged bootleggers it wants banned from using Napster's software. The band -- along with the Recording Industry Association...

Chevron profits shatter record.
May 5, 2000... San Francisco's Chevron Corp. broke its record with the company's net income increasing to $1 billion for the first quarter of 2000. First-quarter 1999 net income was only $329 million. Most of the company's earnings resulted from sales of oil...

ExciteAtHome miffed over PacBell ads.
May 5, 2000... Redwood City cable modem provider ExciteAtHome threatened to sue Pacific Bell over an advertising campaign that claims shared cable TV lines slow Internet service, and promotes Pac Bell's DSL as the better alternative. Excite says cable lines...

Cirrus Logic leaves Fremont for Austin.
May 5, 2000... Fremont-based Cirrus Logic is moving its headquarters to Austin, Texas. The computer chip-maker was founded in Fremont in 1984, and acquired Austin's Crystal Semiconductor in 1991. Cirrus' magnetic and optical storage divisions will remain in...

S.F.-N.Y. ad house scores Compaq.
May 5, 2000... Compaq Computer Corp. handed over its $350 million global advertising account to FCB Worldwide, New York and San Francisco. The account, which was transferred from incumbent ad shop DDB Worldwide, New York, was given to FCB after the computer...

Telseon cinches $80M funding round.
May 5, 2000... Telseon Inc., a Palo Alto broadband Internet service provider, has secured $80 million in second-round financing led by Pivotal Asset Management. The money will be used to expand services in 20 cities.

OmniSky lands $75M investment.
May 5, 2000... Palo Alto-based OmniSky Corp., provider of wireless Internet services for handheld devices, secured $75 million in financing -- $60 million from News Corp. and $15 million from PSINet Inc. The deal gives News Corp. a 10 percent stake in...

S.F. ad shops land big accounts.
May 5, 2000... Achieva.com, a newly launched college-preparation web site for both students and parents, named DDB Worldwide, San Francisco, as first agency in a $20 million account. In the same vein, Homestead.com, a site that offers individuals the...

IP firm gets hefty financial boost.
May 5, 2000... Redwood City-based CoSine Communications Inc., a company that provides services to Internet firms, secured $70 million in a fifth round of funding led by Network Associates and Octane Capital.

Wells Fargo ATMs to entertain.
May 5, 2000... San Francisco-based Wells Fargo Bank began showing movie previews, advertising and news on its ATM screens while patrons wait for their transactions. By 2001, about 800 ATMs in California and Arizona are expected to have the new feature.

Spinway gets $32M.
May 5, 2000... Spinway Inc. secured $32 million in funding from Softbank Venture Capital, Al Shugart International, Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown and Spectrum Equity Investors. Palo Alto-based Spinway is an Internet service provider.

EXECUTIVE PROFILE.
May 5, 2000... Ed Krafchow Name: Ed Krafchow. Title: President. Company: Prudential California Realty, the Walnut Creek-based residential real estate company. Education: "I like to say I was only at UCLA for two terms -- Nixon's and...

Stalled Century project is living up to its name.
May 5, 2000... Will the Century be built this century? After initial site work last fall, the $163 million luxury residential project at Second and Natoma streets in San Francisco has been stalled for months. Early this year, developer Kent Swig said...

One Second St. already packed to the qills.
May 5, 2000... An official groundbreaking has yet to occur, and One Second St. in downtown San Francisco is already chock full. Sources say the 25-story, 375,000-squarefoot office development at Second and Stevenson streets is now basically off the...

BOMA tackles parking [again].
May 5, 2000... The Building Owners and Managers Association of San Francisco last week convened a high-powered group of corporate and city officials to discuss the parking crisis in the city -- similar to a panel they hosted a year ago. Panelists...

Spieker's Towers OK'd.
May 5, 2000... Spieker Properties Inc. is charging ahead with its new Towers at Shores Center in Redwood Shores, which was approved April 4. The two-building office complex totals just under 300,000 square feet and is slated to kick off in July. The Menlo...

SoMa cafe finds flower power in New Economy.
May 5, 2000... The new economy may be driving much of the growth South of Market, but plenty of older neighborhood institutions are investing heavily to reap the benefits of the area's resurgence. That includes Mark Bechelli's Flower Market Cafe, which...

February tourism gets boost.
May 5, 2000... Efforts by Bay Area hotel sales departments and visitors bureaus to boost off-season bookings paid off in spades during February, as overall occupancy for all Northern California regions jumped from 71 percent to 75 percent -- a phenomenal...

Digital signatures turn doctors' scribbles into security measure.
May 5, 2000... The California Medical Association, the San Francisco-based group representing about 34,000 doctors statewide, is marketing a system that lets doctors prove they are who they say they are. Proof of identity will be necessary once federal...

Former Wells, BofA execs seek to tally Capitol gains.
May 5, 2000... Someone besides the usual suspects soon may be rapping at the door of Bay Area community banks. Capitol Bancorp Ltd., a Michigan-based holding company that's started 19 small banks in Michigan, Indiana, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico over...

Schwab, U.S. Trust pact: Deal that (almost) wasn't.
May 5, 2000... Charles Schwab Corp.'s long trip toward morphing into a wider financial services company nearly got detoured last year, according to recently filed U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission documents. Schwab -- which in January unveiled its...

BofA, CheckFree deal parts clouds on Internet scheme.
May 5, 2000... Thanks to its new deal with CheckFree Holdings Corp., Bank of America is poised to jump to the front of the electronic bill presentment and payment class. More specifically, analysts say, BofA stands to leap ahead of others in the...

Email marketer helps small biz fish with Net.
May 5, 2000... Email marketing is about to become big business, with Jupiter Communications estimating that spending on it will explode from $164 million last year to $7.3 billion in 2005. But a lot of small and medium-sized companies fear that's exactly...

Room for another one?
May 5, 2000... The backers behind FreeSamples.com think there's space to squeeze in another e-marketing startup. During a recent round of funding, companies. like CondeNet, a wholly-owned, subsidiary of Advance Publications (the ultimate parent company of the...

Ask Jeeves serves up Elvis in battle of dot-com bashes.
May 5, 2000... Players in San Francisco's rarefied dot-com world have something in common with the city's illustrious line of society mavens hailing from the last gold rush: They all know that you're only as good as your last party. In the high-flying...

Ad agency's dot-com thorns grow into roses.
May 5, 2000... Advertising executives at Citron, Haligman & Bedecarre knew they were taking a big risk when they dropped their traditional boutique portfolio in January for an exclusive push into the dot-com realm. Less than five months later, Matt...

Making his mark.
May 5, 2000... After leaving Hawaii's embattled real estate market, Jack Myers settles into San Francisco In late afternoon light last January, Jack Myers stood in a circle, the sound of a cascading waterfall behind him, surrounded by the dark, weathered...

New York developers find S.F. the apple of their eye.
May 5, 2000... In a New York minute, San Francisco has become the darling of Big Apple residential developers. Drawn by skyrocketing housing prices, scarce land and a new acceptance of urban, high-rise living, a slew of Gotham-based builders are stamping...

Pricey Peninsula crowned 'most expensive in nation'.
May 5, 2000... Rampaging dot-com demand has given the Peninsula a dubious distinction: "The most expensive office market in the country," according to CB Richard Ellis. Rents went up 42 percent in the fourth quarter of last year and another 33 percent...

Dot-com charm doesn't translate well in Europe.
May 5, 2000... When ExciteAtHome outgrew its 3,300-square-foot London office last year, Raymond Moulton went on a quest for larger space. In the process of leasing 12,000 square feet in the city's West End, Moulton ran the gauntlet of 15-to 20-year lease...

Pacifica residents debate: Progress or preservation?
May 5, 2000... On the southwestern end of the Peninsula, the sleepy town of Pacifica rests against the shoreline. A bedroom community of 40,000, residents tout the city's amazing vistas but lament its lack of infrastructure. The result: Residents who...

Brokerage triumphs from team building experience.
May 5, 2000... When Los Angeles-based CB Richard Ellis Inc. introduced in 1996 the concept of forming broker teams, not all of its Bay Area employees were thrilled. In fact, a large number of CB brokers left the company. But four years later, CB has...

Growth revives investment in East Bay development.
May 5, 2000... The story of Emeryville's redevelopment renaissance is well known. In fact, it's a common perception that businesses vying for an new Emeryville address will be hard-pressed to find it this year--not bad for a town branded the dirtiest on the...

Sacramento's hot building boom shocks long-timers.
May 5, 2000... The Sacramento real estate market, pushed by corporate and government expansion, may be in the midst of the strongest boom it has ever seen. Builders are putting up offices, warehouses, stores and homes at or near record levels. There are...

Largest Property Management Firms in the Bay Area.
May 5, 2000... Largest Property Management Firms in the Bay Area Rentable Company name space Rank Address ...

Top Commercial Real Estate Firms in San Mateo County.
May 5, 2000... Top Commercial Real Estate Firms in San Mateo County Company name Total square feet Address of space secured No. agents ...

Nothing but Net for more U.S. small businesses.
May 5, 2000... Many small businesses still prefer to be spectators rather than players in the Internet game. The percentage of companies with fewer than 100 employees accessing the Internet broke 52 percent in 1999, according to IT industry analyst...

Paint by numbers.
May 5, 2000... Poster publisher floats business on turbulent rapids of cash flow Publishing the right art is like printing money these days for Joanne Chappell Hagan, whose San Francisco gallery and poster publishing company sells artwork by the yard to...

ENTREPRENEUR PROFILE.
May 5, 2000... Patricia Nieuwenhuizen Title: CEO. Company: Oakland-based Fast Track Litigation Support LLC, which performs computer evidence services and staffing. Additional services include database creation, electronic evidence and transcript...

Not even a software giant can deliver its office mail server.
May 5, 2000... Web-based email is a popular outsourcing target at companies trying to manage computer resources strained by the boom in Internet use. The hardware and software it takes to run a good office mail server are pretty pricey, and the chronic...

PEOPLE ON THE MOVE.
May 5, 2000... New exec to focus on clinical trials at Sangstat, Medical Dr. Elliott Grossbard declined at first when the head of SangStat Medical Corp. asked him a year ago to work for the Fremont biotechnology company. Grossbard, who's worked in...

Bio-Rad expands headquarters, shifts employees to Hercules.
May 5, 2000... Medical equipment manufacturer Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc. plans to more than double its Hercules headquarters. The company will move 200 employees from Richmond and hire another 50 to 100 people, said Ed Palma, facilities director. The...

Discussions on parking woes keep circling the block.
May 5, 2000... The good news is that construction industry group BOMA recently convened a group of San Francisco business and city officials to talk about the city's parking problem, the same as they did last year. The bad news is what they found had...

Journalistic integrity buffs its nails.
May 5, 2000... "This emergency meeting of the National Broadcast Journalists Club will now come to order," Ted Koppel said, hammering his gavel loudly. The crowded room quieted down, except for the constant ringing of cellular telephones and muffled...

Brightest Net fireworks burn out quickly.
May 5, 2000... Legend has it that the late actor James Dean said he intended to live fast, die young and leave a good-looking corpse. Many Internet retailers will have the same kind of life, but the remains won't be pretty. Forrester Research Inc., a...

Social Security's real return isn't just dollars and cents.
May 5, 2000... After reading Michael Tanner's article about Social Security, one could come away with questions about the viability of the Social Security program and its true return on Social Security taxes ("Social Security system just hobbles along," April...

San Francisco to cash in East Bay chips.(Government Activity)(Brief Article)
May 12, 2000... Developers eye 500 acres in Pleasanton; minimum bid, $l00M The city of San Francisco has opened the building at $100 million for its massive property in Pleasanton, one of the East Bay's last and largest major pieces of open land available...

Builders in power struggle.(Brief Article)
May 12, 2000... Shock effect: Projects languish waiting for PG&E to turn on juice Developers and construction companies say PG&E delays of up to seven months in hooking up power are dragging out project schedules and keeping tenants from moving in. ...

Union Square set to change shape.(Government Activity)(Brief Article)
May 12, 2000... Long-delayed redesign promises a more fashionable appearance The shining star of San Francisco's shopping district has lately resembled a tarnished curio: ill-preserved, impractical and largely looked over in favor of the brighter, shinier...

Franklin to lighten load by 300 jobs.(Brief Article)
May 12, 2000... Franklin Resources Inc. will shift 300 local jobs elsewhere, a move it says is driven more by space than the Bay Area's hefty cost of living. Investment adviser services -- the section of the company that works with independent brokers who...

Massive Mission Bay lands its first big tenant.(Brief Article)
May 12, 2000... Eighteen months after gaining city approval, Mission Bay is about to land it first new commercial office tenant. Genesys Telecommunications Laboratories Inc., a provider of software for call centers, has signed a letter, of intent to occupy...

Hitting the streets.(Brief Article)
May 12, 2000... Oakland's boom pushes homeless shelters and other nonprofits out Nonprofit organizations say they are being pushed out of downtown Oakland by that city's economic boom. Jim Branch, executive director of the Henry Robinson Multi-Service...

Peninsula deal drives prices to record levels.(Brief Article)
May 12, 2000... A San Mateo-based Internet company is under contract to buy Franklin Resources Inc.'s headquarters in San Mateo for about $80 million -- a record per-square-foot price for a mid-Peninsula building. Keynote Systems' deal for the Class A...

Stock Answers.(Brief Article)
May 12, 2000... Investor driven to exceed speed limits on info-highway Last week while interviewing Jerry Apodaca, I was having a DSL line installed for my Internet connection. I joked at the time that as fast as the connection might seem to me at first, I...

Spaghetti joint has fellow restaurateurs in a twirl.(Government Activity)(Brief Article)
May 12, 2000... There's a food fight down on Belden Lane. Restaurants in the narrow alley, which provides a bit of European outdoor cafe flavor to the Financial District, are in an uproar over an Italian eatery's application to put 10 tables in the lane....

Law firm busts clients for poaching.(Brief Article)
May 12, 2000... Tired of losing its attorneys to its high-tech clients, blue-chip law firm Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison has hit on a novel retention strategy: It is charging poachers a penalty. Realizing it can't stop its 3,000 technology clients from...

Rise & Fall.(Brief Article)
May 12, 2000... A barometer of the region movers, shakers and fakers Bill Lansing GE-vet turned NBCi CEO snares an Old Economy pay package (lots of cash up front). plus a New Economy one (lots of stock down the road). Oh, plus a $4 million home...

BLUM plans summer encore to last year's $640M fund.(Brief Article)
May 12, 2000... San Francisco's BLUM Capital Partners is aiming to raise a record-sized, second public equities fund this summer, after having invested about 80 percent of a groundbreaking $640 million effort that closed last year. The San Francisco...

Epicentric raises hot $35M despite cooling industry.(Brief Article)
May 12, 2000... San Francisco-based software company Epicentric has secured a $35 million third round of financing from Bowman Capital as it eyes opportunities in Europe for its web portal development business. The investment is the largest yet for the...

Telseon gets $80M boost in the 'race to wire the country'.(Brief Article)
May 12, 2000... Palo Alto-based. Telseon has a simple recipe for success in the business of delivering high-speed Internet access: twice the bandwidth, half the price. That value-oriented recipe has attracted a bevy of hungry investors and led to the...

CLARIFICATION.(Brief Article)(Correction Notice)
May 12, 2000... David Kvederis remains CEO of BankServ. The article "BankServ chases fast money" in the May 5-11 issue said BankServ is seeking a CEO.

Market makes strategic investors dangerous allies.(Brief Article)
May 12, 2000... The chilly wind blowing through the market for public stock offerings has been a breath of fresh air for private placement specialists, who report a huge upsurge in activity. But cash-strapped companies are finding that support from...

Proposed medical privacy regulations please nobody.(Government Activity)(Brief Article)
May 12, 2000... Proposed medical records privacy regulations will be tough to administer and raise health care costs, say hospitals, insurers and employers. Biotechnology companies fear the confidentiality requirements will make health care providers less...