Denver Business Journal articles from February 1999

Denver Business Journal archives from February 1999

'Flu' bug takes toll on Denver biz.(Denver, Colorado businesses suffer from the effects of the flu virus that has invaded office cubicles)
February 26, 1999... Businesses across metro Denver are finding their employee ranks dwindling thanks to a nasty bug that has wormed its way into metro area cubicles. While its not clear whether the virus technically meets the definition of influenza or the...

Dialing phone's future.(Colorado's communications services)
February 26, 1999... CHANDLER, Ariz. - When Darren Prine needed to hook up his phone after moving to a new home in this Phoenix suburb, he called the cable company. "I wasn't that thrilled with U S West anyway so I decided to give it a try," said Prine, a...

Colorado IPOs lost steam in '98.(initial public offerings)
February 26, 1999... Last year newcomers lacked 'buzz' of '97 Colorado continues to lose long-established corporations to mergers and their loss begs the question - who will replace them? Is there another Tele-Communications Inc. or KN Energy buried in...

Sharper images: software detects hidden deposits.(Stratimagic gets more detailed aerial snapshot of what lies underground)(Product Announcement)
February 26, 1999... A relatively new technology being marketed to Denver's oil and gas industry could revolutionize the way companies explore for new prospects. Called Stratimagic, the software uses a high-speed neural network to sort through...

Bill gives customers gas choice; measure would spark energy competition.(Senate Bill 99-153 to provide consumers with the ability to choose their natural gas provider)
February 26, 1999... A mega-merger in the natural gas business may speed the day when Colorado consumers are able to pick and choose among providers. KN Energy's announcement on Feb. 22 that it would merge with San Diego-based Sempra Energy Inc. gives the...

Venture capital funds spend $126M in Colo.(Colorado)
February 26, 1999... The fourth quarter brought record levels of venture capital investment to Colorado with the technology and communications sectors once again pulling in the lion's share of venture dollars. Colorado startups received $126.8 million in...

1998: the year of the mega-deal: deal values totaled about $1.2 trillion.(Dealmakers '99)(merger deals in Colorado)
February 26, 1999... The Titans merged, the corporate world shook and Colorado shook with it in 1998. Dealmaking last year turned monstrously huge, crushing the record-breaking years before it. Nine out of the 10 largest deals in all of U.S. history were...

Commercial Federal banks on Colorado; Omaha thrift buys First Colorado Bancorp.(Dealmakers '99)(Commercial Federal Bank's acquisition of First Colorado Bancorp Inc.)
February 26, 1999... Born two years apart in the 1880s, Commercial Federal and First Federal Savings Bank survived everything the economy could throw at them. Last year, the two thrifts decided to enter the next century together. Commercial Federal Corp....

New horizon for dairy: IPO creates first public organic food company.(Dealmakers '99)(initial public offering of Horizon Dairy)
February 26, 1999... Horizon Dairy shipped its first case of organic yogurt in 1992. At the time, the relatively untested market for organic dairy products was served by a few small local organic dairies. Horizon's only product in 1992 was organic yogurt and...

Mail-Well seals acquisitions; envelope manufacturer bought nearly 30 companies in 1998.(Dealmakers '99)
February 26, 1999... Mail-Well Inc. took the term "dealmaker" to heart in 1998. The Englewood-based company acquired 28 companies last year, adding more than $700 million in sales to its bottom line. And although the company's management team plans to slow...

Katy Industries buys five supply companies; Englewood manufacturer 'cleans up.'.(Dealmakers '99)
February 26, 1999... Englewood-based Katy Industries Inc. cleaned house in 1998. The company acquired five companies and unloaded six companies to focus more of its attention on its two key manufacturing divisions: maintenance supplies and electrical and...

American conquers competitor; purchase of Rhodes stores solidifies Jabs' Denver dominance.(Dealmakers '99)(American Furniture Warehouse; Rhodes Furniture)
February 26, 1999... When Jake dabs opened his first American Furniture Warehouse in Denver, Weberg Furniture was the top furniture chain in Denver. In 1998, American Furniture bought out the former competitor when he paid $11 million for seven Rhodes stores....

Rural phone providers take charge; major players can't afford small towns.
February 19, 1999... BYERS, Colo. - Bill Buchanan provides a lifeline for 1,300 rural Colorado residents as the general manager of the Bijou Telephone Co-op. But on a recent unseasonably warm winter afternoon, he's making house calls to set up customers' new...

UA tries new approach.(United Artists Theatre Circuit Inc.)
February 19, 1999... CEOs typically tend to think big. Not Kurt Hall. The head of United Artists Theatre Circuit Inc., once the largest exhibitor of movies in the world, Hall thinks small. While competitors erect massive theaters with as many as 30...

Owens creates agency: Office of Innovation looks to private sector.(Governor Bill Owens)
February 19, 1999... Gov. Bill Owens has created a new office with the vision to "modernize" state government, a plan that hinges on a state audit lifted straight from the pages of the private-sector playbook. The Office of Innovation and Technology was...

Rural Colo. gets eco-devo boost.(Office of Economic Development director David Solin)
February 19, 1999... David Solin has grandiose economic development plans for small and large communities throughout the state. The newly appointed director of the state Office of Economic Development, Solin plans to survey the entire state to create a...

Leader of the packs: 105 Meridien's outdoor gear gains foothold.
February 19, 1999... ESTES PARK - You can't trek through Rocky Mountain National Park without seeing a Mountainsmith backpack or lumbar pack on hikers, cross-country skiers and snowshoers. The Golden-based company has built a reputation for its packs that is...

Mountain agents may leave Moore.(some Coldwell Banker Moore and Co offices' plans to break away from new owner NRT Inc)
February 19, 1999... Mountain dwellers have a history of going their own way, and some of Denver-based Coldwell Banker Moore and Co.'s offices at higher altitudes may do just that. In the wake of the residential real estate brokerage's purchase last year by...

Vegas hotels gamble on reservation system.(Sceptre Hospitality Resources' electronic reservation system)
February 19, 1999... For Sceptre Hospitality Resources, Las Vegas looks like a sure bet. Several independent Las Vegas hotels have signed on to an electronic reservation system run by Denver-based Sceptre Hospitality Resources that could shake up the odds...

FRx develops software to wow accountants.(FRx Software Corp.)
February 19, 1999... FRx Software Corp. doesn't want to impress the information technology department with its programming. Instead, the Englewood-based FRx designed its Visual Financial Reporting software to wow the accountants and has developed a way to...

Tava extends Y2K reach into California.(Tava Technologies Inc)
February 19, 1999... Forget paranoia about millennium-induced industrial disasters. Y2K sleuth Quentin Grady is making sure the valves at Chevron USA's Richmond, Calif., refinery and a multitude of other overlooked but critical machinery don't go haywire when the...

Erie welcoming business growth; new houses soon to be joined by retail, commercial development.(Colorado)
February 19, 1999... Erie doesn't have a town doctor and will be getting its first grocery store this year, but the small town has big dreams for the future. The sleepy town of about 5,000 residents, which spreads west from Interstate 25 north of the metro...

Lumber yard owner is ready for action.(Jeff Booms of County Line Lumber in Erie, CO)
February 19, 1999... Looking out his office window, Jeff Booms, owner of County Line Lumber in Erie, sees flat land stretching in every direction - and a big promise for the town's future. One of the largest businesses in this small community north of...

PacifiCare closing in on Antero.(PacifiCare of Colorado to buy health maintenance organization)
February 12, 1999... Sources say a deal could be signed soon PacifiCare of Colorado may be close to closing a deal with Exempla Healthcare to buy the hospital system's Antero health plan. PacifiCare, one of the state's largest managed-care organizations...

Boomers fight infertility.(Boomer Health Issues)(fertility clinics in Colorado)
February 12, 1999... Once-taboo medical specialty gains increased acceptance No medical condition is more emblematic of the baby-boom generation than infertility. Theirs is the first generation that deliberately postponed having children. They married...

American Century plans expansion in Englewood.(stock brokerage firm to open office in Colorado)
February 12, 1999... American Century Investments plans to open a stock brokerage office within its new mutual fund investor center in Englewood. The new center is one of four brokerages the Kansas City mutual fund family is setting up across the country to...

Colorado centers researching infertility.(Boomer Health Issues)(medical centers)
February 12, 1999... Colorado is home of some significant infertility research. Scientists at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center are addressing infertility from a variety of angles. The center isn't shy about bragging about the bench strength...

Defections plague old Moore and Co.(former employees form Prestige Real Estate Group LLC)
February 12, 1999... 32 real estate agents leave, form new firm The company Bill Moore built into the Denver area's largest seller of houses, and then cashed out of last fall, continues to unravel under new ownership. When Moore sold his residential real...

CD-ROM helps Coors' employees tap fitness.(Boomer Health Issues)(equipment at Coors Brewing Co.'s Wellness Center)
February 12, 1999... Computer-aided test measures physiological age Coors beer may not be a product synonymous with health clubs and physical fitness, but if a program launched this month at Coors Brewing Co.'s Wellness Center lives up to the hype, employees...

Startup mines gold of personal information.(InterOmni Service Inc. developing software for controlling release of personal information to advertisers)
February 12, 1999... Electronic 'wallet' opened to advertisers One Denver startup plans to help Internet users realize exactly how much they're worth to advertisers. InterOmni Service Inc. is developing software that would allow online consumers to...

DNA kit: an exercise in self preservation.(YouthCell Technologies Inc.'s do-it-yourself kit for collecting DNA)
February 12, 1999... Product allows users to 'save themselves' GREENSBORO, N.C. - If predictions by a Greensboro company come true, you'll be able to grow yourself a new liver, heart or perhaps a bone or two from your own genetic material saved and frozen...

Nantucket Nectars tries marketing push in Denver.(juice company introduces radio ads)
February 12, 1999... Denver is the target of an aggressive marketing and advertising campaign by Boston-based Nantucket Nectars. The juice company has been selling its product in Denver for about two years but has never advertised here. In spite of that,...

Boulder insurance firm reaches out over the Internet.(Taggart and Associates Inc. launches Web site to sell insurance)
February 12, 1999... While consumers have been shopping for auto insurance rates online for years, Colorado businesses now have the option to purchase coverage over the Internet. Boulder-based insurance brokerage Taggart & Associates Inc. partnered with...

Jabs moves to top of furniture biz.(Jake Jabs, owner of American Furniture Warehouse Co.)
February 5, 1999... With names like Weberg and Levitz vanished from the scene and with a final Rhodes store in liquidation, the moderate-priced furniture business has made way for a new leader, Jake Jabs. The owner of Thornton-based American Furniture...

Arena faces stiff deadline.(Pepsi Center sports arena, Denver, CO)
February 5, 1999... Celine Dion concert erases wiggle room Builders of the $165 million Pepsi Center sports arena in downtown Denver always aimed to be finished by Oct. 1, 1999, but now they really have to. Venue owner Ascent Entertainment Group Inc....

HealthOne cuts clinics for seniors.
February 5, 1999... GeriMed benefits from streamlining Hospital system HealthOne will cut in half its senior health clinics in an attempt to streamline what has been a costly business for the Columbia/HCA Healthcare Corp. subsidiary. HealthOne will no...

Brazil's currency woes help startup.(WLL International Inc. lands contract for fixed wireless telephone service in northeastern Brazil)
February 5, 1999... WLL group saves $20M in phone deal Brazil's currency problem may have given Wall Street the jitters and taken its toll on the region's ethos, but it provided a heck of a bargain for one area startup. A consortium led by...

Money manager will close shop.(Corinthian Capital Co.)
February 5, 1999... John Keller shutting Corinthian Capital Bruised by a stock market that no longer makes sense to him, John Keller has decided to hang up his hat after more than 25 years of managing money. "I want to close this shop up in an orderly...

FirstWorld focuses its sights on Internet.(FirstWorld Communications Inc.)
February 5, 1999... New Englewood-based executive team to revamp phone company The view from Sheldon Ohringer's seat at the head of FirstWorld Communications Inc. may appear blurry to some, but it's clear to the new president and CEO. The recently...

Shift in focus helps Ultimate Electronics.
February 5, 1999... Retailer sales, stock price on the rise The comeback of Thornton-based Ultimate Electronics can't be credited totally to the Broncos winning the Super Bowl, but it sure helped business at the company's area SoundTrack stores. But the...