Puget Sound Business Journal articles from May 1995

Puget Sound Business Journal archives from May 1995

IPO on restaurant group's menu. (Restaurants Unlimited Inc.; initial public offering)
May 26, 1995... Funds would fuel RUI's expansion Restaurants Unlimited Inc. is setting the table for a public offering, as it aims for faster growth following last year's $85 million management buyout. A year ago, the Seattle-based company indicated that...

Farm's embryonic business makes it a new-cow dealer. (Wilcox Farms Inc.)
May 26, 1995... Like ladies at a beauty show, they parade outside, stopping as a camera whirls. Heads up, backs straight, they pose and then they move on. You obviously won't find these girls donning swimsuits, though. These girls are part of an elite group...

Retail registers ringing less often in sluggish first quarter.
May 26, 1995... Beset by a litany of troubles, Northwest retailers across the board are posting disappointing sales figures for the first few months of the year. Tough competition, foul weather and wary consumers are the most common theories mentioned by...

Machinists chief vows tough stand on jobs in Boeing talks. (International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local 751 president Bill Johnson; Boeing Co.)
May 26, 1995... To Bill Johnson, head of The Boeing Co.'s largest union, the company seems in danger of vanishing out from under his membership. Boeing's overall employment has dropped by more than 50,000 in five years, and with this week's announcement of...

Locals upset that Alaskan crude may flow abroad. (Washington)
May 26, 1995... A bill to overturn the long-standing ban on exports of Alaskan crude is moving through the congressional pipeline, worrying small local refineries and refinery workers as well as Washington's largest shipyard. The U.S. Senate recently passed...

Visio's graphics software is the very picture of growth. (Visio Corp.)
May 26, 1995... Visio Corp. is on a streak: revenues from its business-graphics software package nearly tripled last year to $20 million. And sales are up another 60 percent this year for the Seattle company, whose software provides easy-to-use tools for...

Looming luxury-car tariff doesn't worry ports. (Ports of Tacoma and Seattle)
May 26, 1995... Thank goodness it wasn't car parts. That's the reaction from officials at the ports of Seattle and Tacoma as they weigh the possible repercussions of the proposed 100 percent tariff on imported Japanese luxury cars. The tariff is a...

Despite gains, business will revisit reg reform. (regulatory reform)
May 26, 1995... Gov. Mike Lowry last week signed off on regulatory reform, but business groups remain unsatisfied and vow to press for more. "There's a whole lot of work left to be done," said Earl Tower, governmental affairs vice president with the...

Diamar Interactive is funded by Oki and others. (Diamar Interactive Corp.; former Microsoft executive Scott Oki)
May 26, 1995... Although multimedia investments seem to be falling out of favor, fledgling Diamar Interactive Corp. has landed an undisclosed amount from some well-known players. Former Microsoft Corp. executive Scott Oki and nationally known technology...

SBC expansion takes on Starbucks in major markets. (Seattle's Best Coffee; Starbucks Corp.)
May 26, 1995... Seattle's Best Coffee took a significant step toward fulfilling its ambitious expansion goals this week when it announced that a California-based investment company bought the right to franchise 15 stores in Los Angeles County. But some...

Plum Creek Timber Co. L.P. (proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
May 26, 1995... 999 Third Ave., Suite 2300, Seattle, WA 98104, (206) 467-3600 Plum Creek is a forest products company engaged in the harvest and sale of logs in both the export and domestic markets, and the manufacturing and marketing of lumber, plywood and...

Redhook eyes an IPO to tap frothy stock market. (Redhook Ale Brewery Inc.)
May 19, 1995... Redhook Ale Brewery Inc., the old man of the Pacific Northwest's bustling young microbrewery business, plans to go public this fall as part of its national expansion plan, sources say. The Fremont-area microbrewery could raise more than $25...

ERA Care builds human element into retirement.
May 19, 1995... Eli and Rebecca Almo have it sooo easy. All the 40ish Seattle couple has to understand is real estate, and finance, and construction, and architecture, and maid service, and gerontological care, and food service, and state health regulations....

Peanuts passe as Alaska Air shells out for new ad effort. (Alaska Airlines Inc.)
May 19, 1995... Alaska Airlines is back to selling service, comfort and quality - but forget the peanuts. Touting itself as the "last great airline," Alaska is cranking up a major new marketing campaign to position itself as the highest-quality West Coast...

Fitness club to buff up Seattle Trust's elegant, vacant HQ. (The Firm leases former headquarters of Seattle Trust and Savings Bank)
May 19, 1995... A major new health club is set to open in downtown Seattle next year, reviving an ornately decorated bank building that has sat vacant for most of the past decade. The club - complete with a whirlpool inside the massive steel vault - will be...

Ballard creditors get little, buyer gets a challenge. (Ballard Computer Inc.; Doppler Computer Centre)
May 19, 1995... Ballard Computer Inc. will leave hefty debts unpaid if its sale to a Canadian computer retailer is approved next month by a bankruptcy court judge. With liabilities of $26.7 million and assets of only $7.6 million, according to a recent...

Inside story: how U.S. Bank, West One did the deal.
May 19, 1995... CEOs forged bank alliance over an airport lunch In early February, in the sterile anonymity of the San Francisco International Airport, U.S. Bancorp CEO Gerry Cameron and West One Bancorp CEO Daniel Nelson sat down to lunch - and a $1.6...

Exporters oppose cuts in Ex-Im Bank, other aid. (Export-Import Bank of the United States)
May 19, 1995... Washington state exporters are worried that budget-cutting fever in the other Washington could stifle this state's trade growth. At issue are House and Senate proposals to kill or restructure the International Trade Administration and the...

Paulsell, Exvere alums form investment firm. (venture capitalist Fred Paulsell; Exvere Inc.; Olympic Capital Partners)
May 19, 1995... Seattle venture capitalist Fred Paulsell has teamed up with five alumni of the Exvere Inc. financial firm, plus three other corporate executives, to form a new investment banking company. Olympic Capital Partners opened its doors in Seattle...

Troubles may cause a carve-up of Carver Corp.
May 19, 1995... After years of nothing but bad news and large losses, Carver Corp. announced last week that it has retained an investment banking firm to sound out opportunities to sell part or all of the company. This latest action comes on the heels of...

Medio Multimedia realigns, shifts focus from CD-ROM.
May 19, 1995... Medio Multimedia has drastically scaled back its plans to make multimedia CD-ROM titles this year, cutting its production schedule from 15 titles to four, a company official says. But the almost-2-year-old Redmond software maker isn't...

Rate ruling portends greater profit for Washington Energy.
May 19, 1995... Washington Energy Co. expects its profits to rise now that regulators have given it the go ahead to change its natural-gas rate structure and to increase both its revenue and rate of return. State regulators last week said Washington Natural...

Real estate classifieds hit the Net as marketing tool. (National InterAd)
May 19, 1995... Using Seattle as a springboard to a national service, a local company will launch a classified advertising site on the Internet next month. Unlike other Internet efforts that cater to a specific industry, such as real estate, the Cobalt Group...

Fox takes over as head of Ernst & Young office. (Richard Fox, managing partner at Seattle office)
May 19, 1995... Richard Fox will take over as managing partner of Ernst & Young's Seattle office and Northwest practice on June 1, when James Freer, currently in charge, heads for Los Angeles. Freer has been promoted to managing partner of Ernst & Young's...

Rebuilding of Kobe has sparked little trade so far.
May 19, 1995... While residents of Kobe, Japan, continue to clear out the rubble of the devastating January earthquake, trade delegates from Washington state are shuttling back and forth to provide aid and assistance to the rebuilding effort. But despite...

Craig McCaw's new number. (one billion dollar investment in Nextel Communications)(The Office Quarterly: A Special Report)
May 19, 1995... Eastside billionaire invests in technology uniting cellular, two-way radio and paging Craig McCaw not only wants the world to communicate at any time and from anywhere, but he's joined the race to cure the "saggy belt syndrome" as well....

Have we got an accountant for you. (temporary employment agencies)(The Office Quarterly: A Special Report)
May 19, 1995... Temp agencies proliferating; it's a way number crunchers can get feet wet, check out employers A software manufacturer whose division controller is on maternity leave. An electronics firm that wants an accounting manager but is wary of...

On defensive, Nintendo plans costly ad blitz. (Nintendo of America Inc.)
May 12, 1995... Nintendo of America is praying that an $85 million advertising blitz and a slew of new games will keep kids glued to their Super Nintendo machines this fall and Christmas. With the debut of its next-generation game system postponed until...

U.S.-West One pact raises issues. (U.S. Bancorp-West One Bancorp. merger)
May 12, 1995... Strategy praised, but questions loom about cost of merger, effect on market U.S. Bancorp's blockbuster merger deal with West One Bancorp may be a brilliant strategic move, but it cost U.S. Bank a pretty penny. The merger also clouds the...

Biz confidence dips, but still hopeful. (Puget Sound)
May 12, 1995... Puget Sound's economy is showing signs of improvement, but the sluggish pace of its recovery is testing the patience of local business leaders. That's the prevailing sentiment conveyed in the latest Business Journal/Hebert Research Business...

Modelwerks raced to help design Stars and Stripes. (Modelwerks Inc.; boat for America's Cup)
May 12, 1995... If skipper Dennis Conner has lost the America's Cup by the time you read this, don't blame Jay Paterson and Jon Stamm. The two own Modelwerks Inc., a Seattle firm that sprinted for 18 months building testing models for the Stars and Stripes,...

State's trade office in Europe is under budget ax. (Washington)
May 12, 1995... Europe looks like the next frontier to Kurt Schlee, manager of sales channels for Redmond-based Apex PC Solutions Inc. That's why Schlee is upset the state Legislature seems ready to close the state's Paris trade office, its only mechanism...

Wright stuff pays off with $100 million purchase. (Wright Group)
May 12, 1995... Twelve years ago, Thomas Wright was a struggling small-time book publisher who couldn't get a bank loan to save his life. A former traveling textbook salesman and teacher, Wright was at one time as desperate as the Willy Loman character he...

Threats to Hanford cleanup worry many in Northwest. (Hanford Nuclear Reservation)
May 12, 1995... Mounting threats to the federal budget for cleaning up the Hanford Nuclear Reservation have left watchdog groups wondering how much the Hanford orange can be squeezed before there's no juice left. The budget for the country's largest toxic...

Investors bet nearly $3 million on Interactive Catalog. (Interactive Catalogue Corp.)
May 12, 1995... Interactive Catalog Corp. has landed $2.85 million from private investors and a Silicon Valley venture capital fund. The 2-year-old Seattle software firm began by distributing catalogs on CD-ROM to consumers, but is now focusing on licensing...

Progressive Networks plugs sound software into Internet.
May 12, 1995... In the last month, more than 25,000 people have downloaded Progressive Networks' software, which brings instant sound to the Internet. At $100 a pop, the company would have reaped $2.5 million - for its first month of sales, had the company...

Trillium takes quantum leap to South America. (Trillium Corp.)
May 12, 1995... It's a surprising triangle: a little-known company in Bellingham, a prominent private investment fund on Wall Street, and a massive forest at the southern tip of South America. The three are linked by businessman David Syre's intriguing...

Lenders seek a forced sale of Bank of Cal Building. (Bank of California Building)
May 12, 1995... The financially troubled Bank of California Building may be thrown on the sales block in short order, if two Japanese creditors get their way. The Bank of Tokyo and Sakura Bank, the chief lenders on the downtown Seattle property, have filed a...

Caffe Acorto installs second new president in two years. (Caffe Acorto Inc.)
May 12, 1995... A fast-growing Bellevue company which has seen sales rise from $1.4 million in 1991 to nearly $8 million last year now has a new president - for the second time in two years. Caffe Acorto Inc., a manufacturer of automated espresso machines,...

Microsoft embarks on a strategic buying binge. (Microsoft Corp.)
May 12, 1995... Microsoft Corp. went on an unprecedented buying and investing spree last year, placing a number of huge bets for the future. The Redmond software giant's shopping list totaled a whopping $2.5 billion or so, with the biggest chunk going toward...

Health Purchasing Co-op popular option for small biz. (employee health insurance)
May 12, 1995... Until this month, Nancy O'Farrell was one of the many small-business owners deplored by those who maintain that unless you offer employee health insurance, you shouldn't be in business. Lawmakers targeted the Nancy O'Farrells of this state...

International ventures focus on Asia and Russia.
May 12, 1995... Large overseas ventures were varied in 1994, reflecting Washington firms' unique understandings of their products and the most promising markets for them. For The Boeing Co. the answer is China, and Boeing plans to invest $100 million in...

Former federal attorneys open a new law firm. (McKay, Chadwell and Mathews P.L.L.C.)
May 12, 1995... Two former top federal attorneys and a corporate lawyer have teamed up to form Seattle's newest law firm. McKay, Chadwell and Mathews P.L.L.C. opened its doors on the 72nd floor of the Columbia Seafirst Center last week, and the three...

REIT fever raises temperature of local market. (real estate investment trust)
May 12, 1995... To understand last year's big deals in Puget Sound real estate, simply turn your attention 3,000 miles eastward - to Wall Street. To a degree not seen before in the Northwest, the public-money markets in New York fueled our region's major...

Pegasus Gold Inc. (proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
May 12, 1995... 601 W. First Ave., Ste. 1500, Spokane, WA 99204, (509) 624-4653 Pegasus Gold's primary business is the mining and processing of gold, and the exploration for and development of gold-producing properties. It operates five mines in the western...

Coinstar sees fortune in other people's pennies. (Coinstar Inc.)(Company Profile)
May 12, 1995... A small Bellevue company which specializes in counting small change has acquired some big bucks to fuel its national expansion plans. Jens Molbak, founder and president of Coinstar Inc., said his company recently raised $9.6 million in...

Bellevue hires Boeing vet to cultivate business links. (Del Rowan)
May 12, 1995... As the city of Bellevue's first-ever economic vitality specialist, Del Rowan hopes to play an instrumental role in making Bellevue a better place to do business. Rowan, a former manager of corporate government relations for The Boeing Co.,...

APEC revisits in June. (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation)
May 5, 1995... Focus: transportation issues Boeing's order book could get a welcome shot in the arm from an upcoming visit of APEC transportation ministers. The ministers, representing 15 nations around the Pacific Rim, will convene in Seattle in June....

Once-struggling Ackerley rebounds. (Ackerley Communications Inc.)
May 5, 1995... Ackerley Communications Inc. might just want to plaster the news on several of its billboards. After straggling through the recession in the 1980s and racking up at least a decade of losses, the Seattle-based company has put together three...

Dillon's art is larger than life. (Michael Dillon)
May 5, 1995... As he leads visitors on a tour of his factory on Aurora Avenue Noah, Michael Dillon takes on the air of a modern-day Willie Wonka, delighting in the oohs and ahhs that inevitably follow his explanations of his latest projects. There are...

Downtown residential project gets boost. (Seattle, Washington)
May 5, 1995... Developers have completed their purchase of an empty U S West office building in downtown Seattle, and are moving ahead with plans to double the building's height and convert it to a 129-unit residential and retail complex. The project would...

New area code puts some overseas business on hold.
May 5, 1995... Hans Hingst, vice president of marketing for Bellingham-based Ryzex Re-Marketing Inc., wanted his firm represented at a Singapore trade show. The trouble was, his faxes requesting additional information were going unanswered, and Hingst was...

Numera seeks visual results with venture capital infusion. (Numera Software Corp.)
May 5, 1995... Numera Software has landed $3 million in venture capital that will enable the tiny software company to battle its giant rival, Autodesk Corp. The 14-month-old firm has landed backing from the prestigious Mohr, Davidow Ventures, a leading...

SSA expands again, buys Alabama stevedore firm. (Stevedoring Services of America; Ryan-Walsh Inc.)
May 5, 1995... Stevedoring Services of America, already the country's largest stevedoring firm, has expanded again by buying a large stevedore firm located in Mobile, Ala. The purchase of Ryan-Walsh Inc. gives Seattle-based Stevedoring Services (commonly...

Ivar's hopes to heat up chowder competition. (Ivar's Restaurants)
May 5, 1995... Ivar's Restaurants no longer wants to keep clam about its clam chowder. The Seattle restaurant chain plans to let the world know about its soup by selling it to food service companies such as Marriott Food Services and other institutions...

Business made progress in '95 legislative session.
May 5, 1995... Business leaders didn't exactly crack open champagne bottles after the end of the regular legislative session in Olympia two weeks ago, but many felt there was ample reason to celebrate. As for organized labor, union officials say they are...

Puget Power readying for retail competition. (Puget Sound Power and Light Co.)
May 5, 1995... While competition is rampant now at the wholesale level in the electric utility industry, at the retail level it's still a somewhat futuristic idea. Even so, Puget Sound Power & Light Co. is preparing for the day it finally arrives. "It's...

Port of Seattle offers help to transport goods abroad.
May 5, 1995... Your time is worth money and your company's reputation depends, to a great extent, upon your customer service. So when you consider exporting, you need absolute assurance that your port of choice not only is experienced, fast and reliable,...

Capitol appreciation. (Seattle's Capitol Hill)(Real Estate Quarterly)
May 5, 1995... Even fixer-uppers are in high demand on Capitol Hill, where all sectors of R.E. market are thriving What a difference a few decades make! In the early '70s, when Lyle Bjork was president of the local community council, Seattle's Capitol Hill...

Kitsap cultivating its non-military R.E. image. (Kitsap County, Washington; real estate)(Real Estate Quarterly)
May 5, 1995... When Money magazine designated Bremerton the most livable area in the country a few years ago, many Puget Sound residents were left scratching their heads. After all, downtown Bremerton looks like a ghost town for the most part. But national...

Industrial buildings wake up call to sleepy Preston. (town in King County, Washington)(Real Estate Quarterly)
May 5, 1995... Only five years ago, Preston was still a sleepy, close-knit logging town, fairly satisfied with the status quo. An "unincorporated area" of King County, Preston has no mayor, police force or local government. For matters of representation and...

Paccar Inc. (proxy report excerpts) (Company Profile)
May 5, 1995... P.O. Box 1518, Bellevue, WA 98009, (206) 455-7400 Paccar designs and manufactures trucks under the Peterbilt, Kenworth and Foden nameplates that are used for heavy-duty hauling of freight and various materials. These trucks are built in five...