March 29, 2002
Tim Hudson's slider mows down opposing hitters, but the Oakland A's pitcher and his young, hunky teammates are behind in the count for product endorsements.
Hudson and pitchers Barry Zito and Mark Mulder endorse Pepsi products in the Bay Area, and Hudson cut a deal with AT&T Wireless. But the trio, third baseman Eric Chavez, shortstop Miguel Tejada and centerfielder Terrence Long -- the heart of a solid, young team -- are falling short on corporate pitches.
And they don't care.
Showing posts with label 2002. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2002. Show all posts
Friday, October 09, 2009
Giants add power to ownership lineup
March 22, 2002
Three new members of the San Francisco Giants ownership group are pumping new money into the franchise.
Outgoing Yahoo Inc. President Jeff Mallett bought into San Francisco Baseball Associates L.P. earlier this month, Giants officials said. He follows former Charles Schwab Corp. Vice Chairman Lawrence Stupski and Cisco Systems Senior Vice President Dan Scheinman, who joined last season.
Mallett, Stupski and Scheinman collectively own less than 10 percent of the Giants, but as new investors, represent an increase in capital available to the team. That could prove valuable to a franchise that this year expects to post a loss as player payroll and other expenses escalate, but Chief Operating Officer Larry Baer said the Giants don't plan to use the new money for immediate operating expenses.
Three new members of the San Francisco Giants ownership group are pumping new money into the franchise.
Outgoing Yahoo Inc. President Jeff Mallett bought into San Francisco Baseball Associates L.P. earlier this month, Giants officials said. He follows former Charles Schwab Corp. Vice Chairman Lawrence Stupski and Cisco Systems Senior Vice President Dan Scheinman, who joined last season.
Mallett, Stupski and Scheinman collectively own less than 10 percent of the Giants, but as new investors, represent an increase in capital available to the team. That could prove valuable to a franchise that this year expects to post a loss as player payroll and other expenses escalate, but Chief Operating Officer Larry Baer said the Giants don't plan to use the new money for immediate operating expenses.
Internet rewrites history for collectors of rare and antique books
Jan. 18, 2002
Fear not if your copy of Petrus' commentary on the Psalms seems a little tattered. If you've got the $8,500 to plunk down, Tavistock Books in Alameda can sell you the edition published in 1480.
Internet searches are making hard-to-find books easier to locate, and the recession is forcing rare book prices to plateau after swelling with the economic boom. But the core of rare book lovers remain, say dealers like Tavistock owner Vic Zoschak Jr., and they're finding a shelf full of potential deals.
But Zoschak says price appreciation should be the last reason to buy. "You should buy a book because you love it," he says.
Truly rare books -- like incunabula, or "inky," from the 15th-century cradle of printing -- remain expensive, but the rate of appreciation has slowed from about 20 percent a year to 5 to 10 percent, Zoschak says.
Prices for popular 20th-century American literature -- well-known books snatched up quickly in recent years -- also have leveled out after a 10- to 15-year climb, says Tom Goldwasser, owner of 12-year-old Thomas A. Goldwasser Rare Books in San Francisco. That's mainly due to the departure of many unsophisticated buyers who had entered the market.
Fear not if your copy of Petrus' commentary on the Psalms seems a little tattered. If you've got the $8,500 to plunk down, Tavistock Books in Alameda can sell you the edition published in 1480.
Internet searches are making hard-to-find books easier to locate, and the recession is forcing rare book prices to plateau after swelling with the economic boom. But the core of rare book lovers remain, say dealers like Tavistock owner Vic Zoschak Jr., and they're finding a shelf full of potential deals.
But Zoschak says price appreciation should be the last reason to buy. "You should buy a book because you love it," he says.
Truly rare books -- like incunabula, or "inky," from the 15th-century cradle of printing -- remain expensive, but the rate of appreciation has slowed from about 20 percent a year to 5 to 10 percent, Zoschak says.
Prices for popular 20th-century American literature -- well-known books snatched up quickly in recent years -- also have leveled out after a 10- to 15-year climb, says Tom Goldwasser, owner of 12-year-old Thomas A. Goldwasser Rare Books in San Francisco. That's mainly due to the departure of many unsophisticated buyers who had entered the market.
Workers' comp rates could rise 10 percent in second half
May 14, 2002
California businesses could be hit by a 10.1 percent hike in workers' compensation insurance premiums in the second half of this year if a proposal is approved by the state Department of Insurance.
At a hearing Tuesday in San Francisco, the Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau, the statistical agent of the state agency, said workers' comp rates have not kept pace with insurers' losses.
"The losses are at unprecedented levels," said Robert Mike, the bureau's president.
California businesses could be hit by a 10.1 percent hike in workers' compensation insurance premiums in the second half of this year if a proposal is approved by the state Department of Insurance.
At a hearing Tuesday in San Francisco, the Workers' Compensation Insurance Rating Bureau, the statistical agent of the state agency, said workers' comp rates have not kept pace with insurers' losses.
"The losses are at unprecedented levels," said Robert Mike, the bureau's president.
Startup airline makes landing in bankruptcy
Jan. 11, 2002
West Coast Airlines flew high with dreams of connecting several Northern California cities with Las Vegas, Reno and San Diego. But after raising more than $1 million, the Concord-based company crashed into bankruptcy court.
While the terrorist actions of Sept. 11 played a factor in West Coast's failure to gain altitude, said President and CEO Ray Sherwood, the company never secured an airport from which to fly and it never acquired or leased a plane. In fact, it claims in a court filing that its former chairman received $125,000 in improper commissions over the past two years.
West Coast filed for bankruptcy Dec. 7 with $175 in a checking account, $80 in savings and $10 cash on hand.
West Coast Airlines flew high with dreams of connecting several Northern California cities with Las Vegas, Reno and San Diego. But after raising more than $1 million, the Concord-based company crashed into bankruptcy court.
While the terrorist actions of Sept. 11 played a factor in West Coast's failure to gain altitude, said President and CEO Ray Sherwood, the company never secured an airport from which to fly and it never acquired or leased a plane. In fact, it claims in a court filing that its former chairman received $125,000 in improper commissions over the past two years.
West Coast filed for bankruptcy Dec. 7 with $175 in a checking account, $80 in savings and $10 cash on hand.
Unfriendly skies cast shadow on SFO
Aug. 23, 2002
Airline bankruptcies and cuts in service threaten to cost San Francisco International Airport millions of dollars in landing fees and rents.
Airport officials and bond agencies — which earlier this year cut the airport's credit rating — are watching the situation closely. They say SFO's fiscal safeguards, cost-cutting and status as an international travel gateway should mitigate financial turbulence in the short term.
Yet financial documents show the airport already has creatively shuffled some funds to meet its bond repayments — using a common airport fiscal technique that costs more over the long haul.
Airline bankruptcies and cuts in service threaten to cost San Francisco International Airport millions of dollars in landing fees and rents.
Airport officials and bond agencies — which earlier this year cut the airport's credit rating — are watching the situation closely. They say SFO's fiscal safeguards, cost-cutting and status as an international travel gateway should mitigate financial turbulence in the short term.
Yet financial documents show the airport already has creatively shuffled some funds to meet its bond repayments — using a common airport fiscal technique that costs more over the long haul.
Crackerjack lawyers can fizzle as firm chairmen
March 1, 2002
When Littler Mendelson chief Wendy Tice-Wallner turns to the employment law firm's executive committee, she's not always seeking a lawyer's opinion.
To be sure, San Francisco-based Littler Mendelson is steeped in legal know-how, and its five-member executive committee includes Tice-Wallner and three partners. But one of the top decision-makers, Chief Operating Officer Hank Lewis, is not a lawyer.
It's a scenario that's evolving in many firms, and one that may deserve more exploration as some larger firms struggle in the current economic downturn. Lawyers serving three- to five-year stints as chairmen or managing partners, some say, aren't up to the challenge of overseeing larger and increasingly businesslike operations.
When Littler Mendelson chief Wendy Tice-Wallner turns to the employment law firm's executive committee, she's not always seeking a lawyer's opinion.
To be sure, San Francisco-based Littler Mendelson is steeped in legal know-how, and its five-member executive committee includes Tice-Wallner and three partners. But one of the top decision-makers, Chief Operating Officer Hank Lewis, is not a lawyer.
It's a scenario that's evolving in many firms, and one that may deserve more exploration as some larger firms struggle in the current economic downturn. Lawyers serving three- to five-year stints as chairmen or managing partners, some say, aren't up to the challenge of overseeing larger and increasingly businesslike operations.
Stakes are huge for Visa in series of legal card games
June 21, 2002
It may be everywhere you want to be, but Visa is finding itself in places it would rather not: Courtrooms from New York to Oakland, where legal battles threaten to rock the secretive credit card association to its core.
At stake for San Francisco-based Visa U.S.A. is its commanding market share of 51 percent and, potentially, billions of dollars in court-ordered payments.
But what's also at risk is the bedrock on which banks have built their huge credit-card businesses around Visa: the guarantee to consumers that any Visa-branded card would be accepted by the merchant on the other side of the counter.
While Visa's market share has long had the clout to keep both retailers and its member banks in line, cracks in that foundation are now showing in court. Chafing under the costs associated with some of Visa's cards, large retailers want to pick and choose which cards they accept.
Meanwhile, some of its own member banks may win the right to offer cards from its most feared rival: American Express.
And Visa's lucrative business of converting foreign purchases into dollar payments has come under fire in suits by consumers.
It may be everywhere you want to be, but Visa is finding itself in places it would rather not: Courtrooms from New York to Oakland, where legal battles threaten to rock the secretive credit card association to its core.
At stake for San Francisco-based Visa U.S.A. is its commanding market share of 51 percent and, potentially, billions of dollars in court-ordered payments.
But what's also at risk is the bedrock on which banks have built their huge credit-card businesses around Visa: the guarantee to consumers that any Visa-branded card would be accepted by the merchant on the other side of the counter.
While Visa's market share has long had the clout to keep both retailers and its member banks in line, cracks in that foundation are now showing in court. Chafing under the costs associated with some of Visa's cards, large retailers want to pick and choose which cards they accept.
Meanwhile, some of its own member banks may win the right to offer cards from its most feared rival: American Express.
And Visa's lucrative business of converting foreign purchases into dollar payments has come under fire in suits by consumers.
Law of gravity pulls down Brobeck
May 10, 2002
As profits slip, partners bail and associates are shown the door, the new shape of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP -- the Bay Area's third-largest law firm -- is taking form with or without its former chairman.
Yet Tower Snow, who pushed the San Francisco-based firm onto the coattails of the dot-com boom and jumped off when profits tumbled last year, remains publicly coy about his future.
"If one believed all the rumors, I resigned over a month ago and I'm working at eight different firms simultaneously," said Snow, now a partner in Brobeck's securities litigation practice. "It's kind of like Mark Twain's death: The rumors have been greatly exaggerated."
Yet this much is certain: Brobeck sheared more than 200 associates and 74 staff through three rounds of layoffs in the past six months, cut as much as $50 million in annual costs and pared its once-hefty technology focus.
And Snow is ready to leave the firm.
As profits slip, partners bail and associates are shown the door, the new shape of Brobeck, Phleger & Harrison LLP -- the Bay Area's third-largest law firm -- is taking form with or without its former chairman.
Yet Tower Snow, who pushed the San Francisco-based firm onto the coattails of the dot-com boom and jumped off when profits tumbled last year, remains publicly coy about his future.
"If one believed all the rumors, I resigned over a month ago and I'm working at eight different firms simultaneously," said Snow, now a partner in Brobeck's securities litigation practice. "It's kind of like Mark Twain's death: The rumors have been greatly exaggerated."
Yet this much is certain: Brobeck sheared more than 200 associates and 74 staff through three rounds of layoffs in the past six months, cut as much as $50 million in annual costs and pared its once-hefty technology focus.
And Snow is ready to leave the firm.
Last call for 'Ladies Night'
July 19, 2002
"Ladies Night" never felt so wrong for a growing list of Bay Area bars and nightclubs.
At least eight establishments in San Francisco and Oakland are fending off lawsuits, filed over the past four months, that claim that "Ladies Night" discounts constitute an unlawful business practice under California law. Men are denied equal privileges, claims Los Angeles attorney Morse Mehrban, under the banner of an organization called Consumer Cause.
"Ladies Night" never felt so wrong for a growing list of Bay Area bars and nightclubs.
At least eight establishments in San Francisco and Oakland are fending off lawsuits, filed over the past four months, that claim that "Ladies Night" discounts constitute an unlawful business practice under California law. Men are denied equal privileges, claims Los Angeles attorney Morse Mehrban, under the banner of an organization called Consumer Cause.
S.F. firms face tax-credit crackdown
Aug. 2, 2002
San Francisco is auditing more than 100 companies that took new-jobs tax credits, hoping to recapture millions of dollars from those who have since cut their payrolls.
The audits include a potential $9 million bonanza from one unnamed company. They come as the city wrestles with a budget ravaged by the weak economy, and as supervisors scour for new income to make up for tax shortfalls.
The audits, going back to 1998, could recover more than $10 million in payroll taxes for each of the past two years alone, said city Treasurer Susan Leal. The city hopes to send out bills soon.
"We're looking at some of the (companies) that owe some of the largest amounts of credit," Leal said.
San Francisco is auditing more than 100 companies that took new-jobs tax credits, hoping to recapture millions of dollars from those who have since cut their payrolls.
The audits include a potential $9 million bonanza from one unnamed company. They come as the city wrestles with a budget ravaged by the weak economy, and as supervisors scour for new income to make up for tax shortfalls.
The audits, going back to 1998, could recover more than $10 million in payroll taxes for each of the past two years alone, said city Treasurer Susan Leal. The city hopes to send out bills soon.
"We're looking at some of the (companies) that owe some of the largest amounts of credit," Leal said.
Franklin unit rebuilds after 9/11 tragedy
Feb. 1, 2002
In a few seconds, Anne Tatlock's job turned from the daily grind of wealth management to a fight for the survival of Fiduciary Trust Co. International.
But five months after terrorists turned a jetliner into a fireball that swept through Fiduciary's World Trade Center headquarters -- leaving 87 employees among the nearly 2,900 dead -- the subsidiary of San Mateo-based Franklin Resources Inc. has quietly taken care of its own while rebuilding its business.
For Tatlock, Fiduciary's chairman and CEO, that's meant finding a new home for the firm, overseeing the recovery of computer files from a backup system, and keeping its ultra-rich clients on board while it navigates them through uncertain market conditions. It's also meant filling 87 key jobs -- among them a director of human resources, the chief corporate lawyer, a senior vice president and other vice presidents -- and providing assistance for those victims' families.
"Our goal was not to hire 87 exact people," Tatlock said, "because those people do not exist."
In a few seconds, Anne Tatlock's job turned from the daily grind of wealth management to a fight for the survival of Fiduciary Trust Co. International.
But five months after terrorists turned a jetliner into a fireball that swept through Fiduciary's World Trade Center headquarters -- leaving 87 employees among the nearly 2,900 dead -- the subsidiary of San Mateo-based Franklin Resources Inc. has quietly taken care of its own while rebuilding its business.
For Tatlock, Fiduciary's chairman and CEO, that's meant finding a new home for the firm, overseeing the recovery of computer files from a backup system, and keeping its ultra-rich clients on board while it navigates them through uncertain market conditions. It's also meant filling 87 key jobs -- among them a director of human resources, the chief corporate lawyer, a senior vice president and other vice presidents -- and providing assistance for those victims' families.
"Our goal was not to hire 87 exact people," Tatlock said, "because those people do not exist."
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