Puget Sound Business Journal articles from October 1995

Puget Sound Business Journal archives from October 1995

U S West plan for Net sparks worry, bravado. (U S WEST Communications Inc.'s plan to offer Internet services)
October 27, 1995... U S West Communications' plan to offer Internet services in Seattle, Portland and three other cities by year-end is drawing mixed reactions from the small companies that now provide Internet hook-ups. Some of the entrepreneurs doubt the big...

Allen hopes to score in NBA with special-effects software. (Portland Trail Blazers owner Paul Allen; National Basketball Association)
October 27, 1995... Paul Allen wants his Portland Trail Blazers to lead the NBA in software development. Allen intends to capitalize on the dazzling electronic systems developed for his new Rose Garden arena, which opened two weeks ago. He will soon offer the...

Puget-Wash. Energy merger aims for one-stop shopping. (proposed merger between Puget Sound Power and Light Co. and Washington Energy Co.)
October 27, 1995... The proposed merger between Puget Sound Power & Light Co. and Washington Energy Co. comes at a time when electric companies nationally are seeking the right strategy to survive in an industry that's moving from monopoly to competition. One...

AT&T Wireless buys into small technology firms. (AT and T Wireless Services)
October 27, 1995... AT&T Wireless Services Inc. this week made two small investments expected to boost the wireless cellular company's future product offerings. The Kirkland-based company took undisclosed equity positions in two young companies: Wildfire...

In Wichita, Boeing suppliers work and wonder. (Boeing Co.)
October 27, 1995... WICHITA - With the Boeing machinists' strike apparently headed into its fourth week, workers and management are not the only ones bracing for a prolonged strike. So are dozens of subcontractors who depend on work from the aircraft giant's...

Univar Corp. (Proxy Report Excerpts)(Company Profile)
October 27, 1995... 6100 Carillon Point, Kirkland, WA 98033, (206) 889-3400 Univar and its three operating subsidiaries, Van Waters & Rogers Inc. in the United States, Van Waters & Rogers Ltd. in Canada and Univar Europe N.V. in Europe, is involved in the...

Cable & Howse to launch new fund for NW ventures.
October 13, 1995... The region's oldest venture capital firm, Cable & Howse Ventures, has begun drumming up a new $75 million fund to put it back in the game of active investing. With prior investments such as Ostex International Corp. and NeoPath Inc. riding...

WRQ expands on Lake Union. (Walker Richer and Quinn Inc.)
October 13, 1995... Growing software firm will fill new building next to HQ Booming software firm, WRQ has outgrown its Lake Union headquarters and will commission an additional building next door, triggering Seattle's first new office project since 1994. A...

Boeing suppliers keep lines running despite strike.
October 13, 1995... But long strike could put their workers on streets Production lines continue running at Boeing suppliers around the region, as executives nervously watch the Boeing strike and wonder how long it will last. While most expect to keep...

Pietro's, sliced up in pizza wars, files for Chap. 11. (Pietro's Corp.)
October 13, 1995... The national pizza wars have pushed Bothell-based Pietro's Corp. into Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Bob Adamowski, chief executive and co-owner of the 40-store pizza parlor chain, said the company has already closed four under-performing stores and...

Hart taps the IPO market. (Hart Brewing Inc.)
October 13, 1995... Hart Brewing Inc. plans to raise $32 million in an initial public offering and will use the money to build its fourth brewery, in Northern California. As expected, the Seattle-based microbrewery filed its intentions with the Securities and...

Bellevue travel-package firm sells majority stake. (Alaska Highway Cruises)
October 13, 1995... Alaska Highway Cruises, which offers Alaska cruises and rented RVs, has sold a majority stake to Alaska Travel Adventures for an undisclosed amount. Bellevue-based Alaska Highway Cruises was started two years ago by two former executives of...

U.S. Bancorp papers downplay merger's impact.
October 13, 1995... In describing the pending $1.6 billion merger with West One Bancorp to his shareholders, U.S. Bancorp chairman and CEO Gerry Cameron spoke of the combination's power: $21 billion in total deposits and a pre-eminence as a commercial and...

Heartland Group surrenders Carolina tract. (Heartland Group Inc.)
October 13, 1995... The Heartland Group Inc., a Seattle-based land syndicator, has turned a big chunk of land in Apex, N.C., back over to lenders, ending a six-year, $6 million investment in a tract that never realized its potential as an industrial site....

Active Voice Corp. (proxy report excerpts)(Company Profile)
October 13, 1995... 2901 Third Ave., Suite 500, Seattle, WA 98121, (206) 441-4700 Active Voice is a manufacturer of PC-based voice processing systems. Its software products enable small- to medium-sized businesses and offices to integrate their traditional...

NBBJ muscles into sports biz; architecture firm signs top designers. (Ron Turner, Dan Meis and Mike Hallmark)
October 6, 1995... Architecture firm signs top designers Already the nation's second-largest architectural firm, Seattle's NBBJ hopes to become a major player in a hot design specialty: sports arenas and stadiums. NBBJ has signed three internationally known...

Japanese giants back big venture fund here. (Trans Cosmos Inc.; Nikko Securities Company Ltd.; EnCompass Group Inc.)
October 6, 1995... Two leading Japanese companies are bankrolling a projected $90 million venture capital fund for high technology that will be run from Kirkland. Trans Cosmos Inc., Japan's leading supplier of computer services, and Nikko Securities Co., its...

Digital sleuth delivers Electronic Evidence. (Electronic Evidence Discovery Inc. founder John Jessen)
October 6, 1995... With business increasingly reliant on computers, almost every workplace offense - from industrial spying to sexual harassment - can leave a trail of bits and bytes that lead back to the perpetrator. John Jessen is a cyber-sleuth in this...

Earning their keep: three repeat as most cost-effective CEOs. (includes related article)
October 6, 1995... Three repeat as most cost-effective CEOs When you're looking to deliver the most bang for the buck, it helps to be frugal. Just ask Microsoft Corp.'s Bill Gates, Longview Fibre Co.'s Richard Wollenberg or Horizon Bank's Lawrence Evans....

Primus, formerly Symbologic, lands more money. (Primus Communications Corp.; Symbologic Corp.)
October 6, 1995... Symbologic Corp. has landed another $2 million from existing investors, a wad of money needed as it launches its product, moves into new digs and welcomes the software industry's heavyweight into its fold. The small software company, which...

Is your firm in need of an environmental makeover?
October 6, 1995... When a business considers the rising costs of raw materials, disposal and utilities - not to mention the complexities of compliance with environmental regulations and possible liability for environmental damage - reducing the amount of waste...

Selig offers plan to take Met Park out of Chapter 11. (real estate developer Martin Selig; Metropolitan Park office complex in Seattle, Washington)
October 6, 1995... Wasting no time, developer Martin Selig has quickly proposed a reorganization plan for his Metropolitan Park office complex in downtown Seattle. Just seven weeks after placing the silver-hued twin towers under the protection of U.S....

Nevada firm's invention would extend life of 727s. (Aeroworks L.P.'s DuoDeck; Boeing aircrafts)
October 6, 1995... While Boeing tries to talk union workers into reducing the costs of new planes to attract buyers, a small Nevada company has developed a competing way to keep old Boeing planes flying longer. Aeroworks L.P.'s invention, which it calls the...

Cabinetmaker is sold to Japanese manufacturer. (Cascade Cabinet Co.; Beltecno Co.)
October 6, 1995... A Japanese company's purchase of a major Woodinville cabinetmaker could bring some welcome stability to a troubled local industry, observers say. Beltecno Co. of Osaka, a $250 million Japanese manufacturer of kitchens and industrial...

It's full speed ahead for the Royal Victorian ferry service.
October 6, 1995... After two years of service, it looks like the Royal Victorian car ferry is here to stay. The 427-foot vessel, which started carrying passengers and vehicles between Seattle and Victoria, B.C., in 1993, is on target to stop losing money, said...

Critics blast BPA's rate breaks for biggest users. (Bonneville Power Administration)
October 6, 1995... The Bonneville Power Administration has taken another big step to shore up its financial stability, but critics contend it's in the wrong direction. The critics argue that the strategy adopted by the Portland-based federal agency, which...

Seattle's Market Place Tower sold for $24 million.
October 6, 1995... Another downtown Seattle office building has sold. An arm of Cigna Corp., one of the nation's largest insurance groups, paid $24.5 million for the office and retail components of Market Place Tower, King County property records show. The...

Arctic Alaska's Miller bets his chip will come in. (Arctic Alaska Fisheries Corp. founder Francis Miller)
October 6, 1995... Francis Miller founded Seattle's Arctic Alaska Fisheries Corp., built it into a public company with the nation's largest fishing fleet, and sold it to Tyson Foods in 1992 for $212 million. Now he's back at the helm of a new venture - a...

Bogle girds for Exxon's challenge of Valdez case. (Bogle and Gates; Exxon Corp.; Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Disaster, 1989)
October 6, 1995... In a move that bodes well for the lawyers at Bogle & Gates, the Exxon Corp. is challenging the 1989 Valdez oil spill case. The company is seeking to undo a $5.28 billion jury verdict against it last year. Exxon was one of Bogle's largest...

Senn, insurer fire rate-hike volleys in court. (Washington State Insurance Commissioner Deborah Senn; Pierce County Medical Bureau Inc.)
October 6, 1995... Pierce County Medical Bureau and state Insurance Commissioner Deborah Senn continue to slug it out over the insurer's move to hike individual policy rates by 34 percent. Last week they ended up in court. And Pierce County won. But Senn, who...

Two trust companies bring in new money managers. (Northwestern Trust, Laird Norton Trust Co.; David Williams, Tim Allen)
October 6, 1995... Two Seattle trust companies, one old and the other new, recently have hired hotshots who reflect their different approaches to managing client investments. Northwestern Trust, in business for only 22 months, has signed veteran personal trust...

Growth pick of the future? That's entertainment. (entertainment industry)
October 6, 1995... Computer hardware is the nuts and bolts of the information revolution. It's the infrastructure along which the content flows. But hardware, however sophisticated, eventually becomes a commodity, whereas content is never the same thing twice....

Whistling past the competition. (Whistler Resort of Vancouver, British Columbia)(Executive Getaways: A Special Report)
October 6, 1995... Other ski areas may be slumping, but not Whistler; last year it passed Vail for most visits Anyone who hasn't been to Whistler Resort north of Vancouver, B.C., lately is in for a shock. The rest of North America's ski industry may be in a...