Dallas Business Journal articles from August 1996

Dallas Business Journal archives from August 1996

Steelmaker pulls $10.8M for new plant. (Stelax Industries Ltd.'s stock offering on the French stock market to revive a defunct steel plant)
August 2, 1996... NORTH DALLAS - Steelmaker Stelax Industries Ltd. raised $10.8 million in a stock offering on the French stock exchange to revive a defunct steel plant and begin production of its new corrosion-resistant bars. Stelax, based in Dallas, has...

Poor record-keeping alleged in CellStar stockholder suits. (CellStar Corp.)
August 2, 1996... Four cases filed against cellular-phone distributor; Wis. board takes the lead CARROLLTON - CellStar Corp. stockholders have taken their concerns about the company's record-keeping practices to court. Four stockholder suits have been filed...

Showroom will give Star Florist more room to blossom business. (Star Wholesale Flower Inc.)
August 2, 1996... SOUTH STEMMONS - Star Wholesale Florist Inc., a purveyor of silk and dried flower arrangements and related sundries, is looking to double its showroom capacity. Star has agreed to a 14.5-year lease on a 70,000-square-foot, build-to-suit...

ProNet backs off Teletouch acquisition plan. (paging company ProNet Inc.'s scrapping of merger agreement with Teletouch Communications Inc.)
August 2, 1996... NORTH DALLAS - Paging company ProNet Inc. scrapped its $181 million merger agreement with Teletouch Communications Inc. and a related purchase as the stock market continued to hammer technology prices last week. Industry analysts had predicted...

A sales ploy with passion: students are paving the way for Pathway. (Pathway Press)(Growth Strategies.)
August 2, 1996... GARLAND - What began as a passion for teaching children to better prepare for skills testing has grown into a book publishing business that has found a life of its own. Kathleen Harden and her husband, Harrell, started Pathway Press five years...

BloodCare aims to be central source.(Health Care Quarterly.)
August 2, 1996... WEST DALLAS - Reorganization has put life back into Dallas' blood-banking business, and new chief executive Merlyn Sayers is poised to lead not-for-profit BloodCare through a centralization process aimed at cutting hospitals' costs and providing...

Intel again looking at plant. (Intel Corp.)
August 9, 1996... Chip giant surveys local contractors for partners in building anticipated factory Intel Corp. is taking an inventory of construction and design firms throughout Texas for the possible construction of at least one new computer-chip plant. A...

New loans, new hope? (South Dallas, Texas)
August 9, 1996... SOUTH DALLAS - Investment in business, albeit piecemeal and glacial in pace, is trickling south of the Trinity River. Historically an economic black eye for Dallas, the region is receiving some much-needed, job-creating support. Take for...

Pearson pitching phone-message ads. (Drew Pearson)
August 9, 1996... ADDISON - The office that houses Drew Pearson's latest business venture is modest, but his goals are bold. The former Dallas Cowboys wide receiver and partner Tama Adair teamed up to buy a franchise from Impressions on Hold of Tulsa, Okla. The...

Tech companies rev up with 'hypermarketing strategies.'
August 9, 1996... In the fast paced world of high technology, companies don't have time for long, involved marketing campaigns. By the time such campaigns develop, the technologies they're designed to sell often have been replaced three times over. Enter...

PractiSource doesn't dominate doctors. (physician management firm)
August 9, 1996... NORTH DALLAS - As the managed care revolution has helped bring down the nation's skyrocketing health care costs, it has in some instances put an unfortunate squeeze on physicians. Managed care is cutting costs by replacing the traditional U.S....

Pinpoint ordered closed; judge's decision cuts 18 employees, ends bid for high-tech network. (Pinpoint Communications)
August 16, 1996... NORTH DALLAS - A federal bankruptcy judge Aug. 13 ordered the closing of Pinpoint Communications Inc. after a major investor decided to stop funding the company's reorganization effort. Judge Harold Abramson ordered the Dallas company's Chapter...

Rooftop antennas spawn new leasing firm.
August 16, 1996... PLANO - Gas-station rooftops never looked so good. Escalating demand for real estate for wireless antennas especially those for the blossoming personal communication services (PCS) industry - is fueling a new type of leasing company....

Improved claims-data analysis in Harris Methodist forecast.
August 16, 1996... FORT WORTH - Harris Methodist Health System has acquired an Information Harvesting software system designed to give providers a competitive edge in contract negotiations by analyzing claims data and forecasting the cost of care. IH-MED, a...

Pegasus tramples trend away from Internet venture funding. (Pegasus Systems Inc.)
August 16, 1996... UPTOWN - Even as Internet-related investments are beginning to fade, Pegasus Systems Inc. has managed to get venture capital to expand its online travel-reservation service. Pegasus, based here, received $7.5 million in venture capital from...

Leading the way: innovation key to Lane partner's promotion. (accounting firm Lane Gorman Trubitt; partner Valorie Burton)(Growth Strategies)
August 16, 1996... DOWNTOWN - When Valorie Burton reached her one-year anniversary at Lane Gorman Trubitt L.L.P., the 24-year-old marketing director received a handwritten card of congratulations from her boss, managing partner Wanda Lorenz. But Lorenz didn't...

More MFS jobs for Dallas area. (MFS Communications Co.)
August 23, 1996... Telecom firm combines network staff at Infomart STEMMONS SOUTH - MFS Communications Co. is consolidating the network management operations of its global network at the Infomart. The Omaha-based voice- and data-communications service provider...

Offering delivers $19 million for Dynamex's expansion plan. (Dynamex Inc.)
August 23, 1996... NORTH DALLAS - Flush with cash from its recent initial public offering, same-day courier Dynamex Inc. is scoping out Dallas with designs on snatching up an established delivery service and staking claim to market share. "We're looking to...

Consumer bankruptcies booming in North Texas.
August 23, 1996... Consumer bankruptcy filings are on the rise everywhere in the United States, and North Texas is no exception. According to data from Dallas-based Creditors Bankruptcy Service, Texas saw a 27.4% increase in consumer filings in the first quarter...

Stemmons-LBJ site's sale could be $13 million deal.
August 23, 1996... FARMERS BRANCH - A large tract of land at the intersection of Stemmons Freeway and LBJ Freeway is due to change hands this week. Basic Capital Management, a Dallas-based company that oversees operations of five real estate investment trusts, is...

The best spot for Best Buy: Minn. electronics giant will employ 100 at new distribution center here. (Best Buy Company Inc.; Minnesota; North Dallas, Texas)
August 30, 1996... NORTHWEST DALLAS - Consumer electronics retailer Best Buy Co. plans to lease 154,000 square feet in a North Dallas distribution and service center, leasing agents said this week. Sources said the new center, in the Dallas Corporate Center Three...

Houston's Bee-Line buzzes into Big D; company enters crowded Metroplex courier market. (Bee-Line Delivery Service Inc.)
August 30, 1996... WEST DALLAS - The Metroplex's crowded courier industry got even tighter Aug. 26 when Bee-Line Delivery Service Inc. started operations here. The Houston-based delivery service handles same-day and next-day deliveries, air freight, warehousing...

Upstart GetCentric aiming for the right connections.
August 30, 1996... BEDFORD - Dan Woodward put in his time starting up a new company for IBM, and it nearly cost him his life. Now he's doing something that could be just as stressful: starting his own company. Woodward and cohorts Randy Cramp and Glen Ford...

Tortilla-maker's funding search was tough. (Rudy's Tortillas)(Growth Strategies)
August 30, 1996... SOUTH DALLAS - Around 4 a.m., Louis Guerra got a telephone call from his father. "Don't hurry getting here," his father, Rudolph Guerra, said. "It's all gone." Rudolph Guerra was talking about the family's tortilla business. An electrical...

Deregulation opens new competitive front. (telecommunications industry)(Industry Overview)
August 30, 1996... NORTH DALLAS - New competition in local phone service - brought on by legislative reform of the telecommunications industry - is expected to benefit business customers first. But it will be several months before that competition materializes...

Telecom reform opens doors for local-service competitors.(Industry Overview)
August 30, 1996... NORTH DALLAS - The Metroplex is becoming a hot market for a new type of telecommunications company that has achieved acronym status. Competitive local exchange carriers, CLECs for short, are anxious to do business in Texas as a monopoly-free...

PCS firms prepare to enter Metroplex wireless fray. (personal communications services)(Industry Overview)
August 30, 1996... WESTLAKE - The battle to win wireless telephone customers in North Texas is set to escalate sharply by year end as new carriers enter the market armed with the latest wireless technology. Promising improved and enhanced service at prices...

Telecom explosion creates niche market for brokers.(Industry Overview)
August 30, 1996... BALTIMORE - Business managers hear it over and over again. "We can save you 20% off your phone bill," an anonymous telemarketer from XYZ Long Distance Corp. says. "If you'll just give me the authorization to switch you over..." Some call it...

Equipment makers set to reap rewards of reform. (telecom reform)(Industry Overview)
August 30, 1996... RICHARDSON - When President Clinton signed the Telecommunications Competition and Deregulation Act of 1995 into law in February, the move was hailed as one that would provide opportunity for telecommunications operators as well as lower prices...

S.A. calls on unique strategy for success.
August 30, 1996... RICHARDSON - In the telecommunications industry, where bigger seems to be the better way to make headlines and do business, S.A. Telecommunications emerges as somewhat of an anomaly. Instead of issuing IPOs and secondary offerings to raise...