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Show The Salt LakeTribune BUSINESS 1 CONSUMER CORNER. B-6 Indicators | UTAH BRIEFS, BE M BUSINESS GLANCE, B-8 Page B-5 FEBRUARY10, 2000 MIDILBERT. B-9 Utah Power Surges Behind Olympics In turnaround from past stand on support, company agreesto provideelectricity to Games TH Topham, PacifiCorp’s former senior vice president and general counsel, was one of three executive-board members during iE the bid and a SLOC executive-committee It is hard to assess which aspect of Utah Power’s Olympic sponsorship means the most to the Salt Lake Orga- member until he resigned a year ago today from the scandal-shaken board. But SLOC executive-committee meet nizing Committee (SLOC). ing minutes reveal that in voting for a $1.45 billion SLOC budget in October 1998, Topham “noted thathis vote for the budget does notconstitute a commitment byPacifiCorp to buy a sponsorship.” Wednesday's announcement that the utility will provide free electricity to power-consuming venues such as the Utah’s Top Performers ~~} The Bloomberg | Utah Index measures the stock performance of thestate's majorpublicly held companies. KSLPresident Leaves Tc cpnematbe aberdeen: For Net TV Company refrigerated bobsled/luge track and the Kearns speed-skating oval represents significant cost savings for an organization pinching penniestrying to balance a $1.3 billion budget. But it is perhaps more momentous monthearlier from the SLOC board “had nothing to do with this company’s ability or appetite to be a sponsor.” Instead, it had everything to do with the muchlarger merger negotiations that resulted in PacifiCorp’s acquisition in November byScottishPower, said Bill Landels, who becamePacifiCorp’s exec- pany was not interested in donating the table,” Landels said Wednesday,addingthatit wasoneof the first issues dealt with after the merger was done. And called it. Garff said he met four times with Landels, twice accompanied by Romney, expertise. state’s long-term economicinterests by ments showthatit received $613,000 from Utah Power’s former parent company, PacifiCorp, between 1991 andthe city's Olympic selection in 1995. And Verl [SLOC] about what your needsare, butit is our corporate position that the Olym- “a clean, fresh exciting place to be. . .I pics should be charged forelectricity at the tariff [regular consumer]rate,” he showing outside businesses that Utah is can’t think of a bigger symbolic effort than to get behind the Games and make them a success.” SOEING up companyintendsto deliver “broadband”services overthe Inter- netto television stations, contentproviders, retailers anddirect-selling organizations. Al Henderson,a former general interim president until Bonneville — hires a permanentreplacement. Lindsley joined KSL as an account ‘THE ASSOCIATED PRESS day amid worries aboutrising interest rates, while a rash of attacks on leading Websites deflated the TV in Cedar City/St. George. high-flying technology sector. UnderLindsley, KSL the station becamethe No.1 newsstation in the The Dow Jones industrial averagefell 258.44 to close at 10,699.16. Broader stock indicators also were lower. The country in terms of market domi- nance.It also set records for station Standard & Poor’s 500 fell 30.01 to 1,411.71, and the Nasdaq composite indexfell 64.26 to 4,363.24. The Dow's losses were broad-based, with Ameri- revenue. can Express, Citigroup and HomeDepotall dropping on concerns that the Federal Reserve will continue ‘Justin Best/The Associated Press finals. Healso battled with NBC,the network with which KSLis affiliated, Members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employeesin Aerospace picket outside the Boeing Co. over program content. KSL edited the language andcontent of programs Boeing Engineers Strike; Pickets Hit Layton “Tt was a challenge havinga relationship with NBC asan affiliate and at the same time represent the community and KSLin termsof content expectation,” he said. A Bad Year for Nu Skin NuSkin EnterprisesInc.in 1999 postedits second year of lowersales andprofits as it continuesto struggle in Japan andother Asian markets. The company, based in Provo, reported net incomeof$86.7 million, or 99 cents a share, compared with netiricomeof $103.9 million,or$1.19 ashare,in 1998. Revenuefell to $894.2 million in 1999 compared with $913.5 million the previous year. NuSkin'sprofits are off nearly 27 percentfrom their peak of $118.5 million andits sales are down 6 percent from their peak of $953.4 million in 1997. The company’s stock, which plantin Everett, Wash., on Wednesday. The union wentonstrikeafter contract talks fell apart Tuesday. ‘TRIBUNE STAFFand WIRE SERVICES More than 10,000 engineers and technical workers at Boeing Co. — including 56 in Utah — walked off the job Wednesdayin oneofthe big- gest white-collar strikes in U.S. history. Production at the world’s largest airplane maker continued without interruption because assembly employees belong to a separate union and have a clause in their contract requiring them to work regardless of what other Boeing employees do. The Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace, which represents about10 percent of was reduced by costs from its distributor convention in October and an increase in incentives for distributors. Tax Help Available Federal andstate income-tax representatives will offer Utahns help on three Saturdays leading up to the April 17 income-tax filing deadline. Representatives will be available 8:30 a.m.to 12:30 p.m. Feb.12, April 8 and April 15 at the Internal Revenue ae 50 S, 200 East, in Salt Lake ity. In addition,the IRS said taxpayers filing simple returns can receive assistance from the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program 9 a.m, {63 p.m, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdaysleading up to April 17. Aa et missile contract associated with Hill. “Boeing is a great company to workfor. We just need them to lis- schedul Members of the union — whoare involved in such fields as research and development, designing of planes and overseeing production work — left their jobs at 9. a.m. Mostofthe striking Utah employees are engineers working on mili- tary contracts, union spokesman tringham said. They picketed Wednesday in front of a Boeing facility in Layton and a TRW Inc. facility in Clearfield, and planned more pickets today at Hill Air Force Base. Boeing is a TRW subcontrac- tor on an intercontinental ballistic Sues Debt Companies For Not PayingBills The state Consumer Protection Division has sued four companiesthatallegedly mismanaged more than $200,000 set aside to help pay the debts of about 350 people. Equity ist Financial Group, Equity First Financial Corp., Equity First Marketing and Equity First Credit Founda- tion were involved in administering a program to help people pare down what they owecreditors,the state claims, Clients paid a monthly sum that was distributed to pay the obligations on their ten,” Stringham said. ‘The union has sought more guaranteed payraises and bonuses simi- lar to those received by the 46,000member Machinists union. Boeing hasinsisted on mostly selective pay increases, reductions in lifeinsurance benefits and some changesin health insurance. Boeing’s most recent offer was defeated by members of the whitecollar union, 51 percent to 49 per- cent. White-collar employees at Boeing worldwide average about $50,000 ayear. Convergys Has Trouble Finding Workers in Tight Labor Market THESs BY LESLEY MITCHELL ‘THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE of $30.63 a share three years ago. The company said income in 1999 Boeing’s workforce, wenton strike Tuesdaynight. No furthertalks were after contract talks broke down ConsumerDivision closed at $8.69 a share Wednesday, trades for less than one-third its high ‘Nu Skinsells health and beauty products, nutritional supplements and now Internetandothertelecommunicationsservices. The products are sold through so-called multilevel distributors. Web Hackers Scare Market NEW YORK — Blue-chip stocks tumbled Wednes- Video West Productions and KCSG- those programs moved toa later time significant companiesdidn’t support us.” BY EILEEN GLANTON executive. He becamegeneralsales manager and eventually general manager. He was namedpresident of KSLTelevision Groupin 1998. In the position, he was responsible for slot. pating it would havecast a negative veil over the Games as to why oneof the most Investors cashing out in fear of further Fed Reserve action managerof KSL-TV,will return as International Corp. — KSL’s owner such as “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit” and “Third Watch”until and wasecstatic aboutthe result. “Utah Powerhas sucha highprofile in our community,”said Garff, chai of SLOC’s board. “Without them partici- Interest Rates, LABOR UNREST an Internettelevision business he Lindsleyled the station through coverageof the announcementthat Salt Lake City would host the 2002 Winter Olympics and of the Utah Jazz's participation in the NBA heavily to bring PacifiCorp into the Olympicfold. An “ear bashing,” Landels the company to give to the community institutional and financial clout. True, Salt Lake Bid Committee docu- “Wesaid we would be happytotalk to estate developer Kem Gardner, auto dealer Bob Garff — lobbied Landels now,Landels said, Utah Poweris fully committed to the Gamesas a chance for and, in doing so, to contribute to the will becomechief executiveofficer of Utah County-based NXTV.Thestart- byratepayers. He and SLOC President Mitt Romney figures — banker Spence Eccles, real- sen told The Salt Lake Tribune the com- helped found. Lindsley, whojoined KSLin 1988, rate contribution and will not be funded acknowledged that Utah establishment electrical service but would lend its Steve Lindsleysaidhewill leave his position as presidentof KSL Television Group effective Feb. 18 to join lier by The Tribune suggested electrical needs could be far higher) was 4 corpo- “This was a multibillion-dollar merger. Somewhere, the Olympics wasjust off Six monthslater, with the bribery recent years, finally weighed in with its unspecified financial contribution (supplierships usually are worth $5 million to $10 million, but documents obtained ear- utive vice president. scandalboiling and Johnson & Johnson backing out of a $30 million sponsorship deal, PacifiCorp spokesman DaveEskel- that Utah Power, whose support for the Olympiceffort has been wishy-washy in Landels also said Utah Power's said, adding that Topham's departure a MITCHELL IBUNE, A fifth of Convergys Corp.’s 41,000 employees are in Utah, where the telemarketing giant handles mil- lionsofinquiries a week fromsix cities. Butthestate’s low ynemployment rate and large numberofcall center's have slowed the Cincinnatibased company’s expansion in Utah, where it is among the state's largest private employers. The company, which operates call centers around the world, has to work harder than everto attract and retain workers in the state. Fed will eventually be successful in forcing a slowdown in the economy,” said Ned Riley, chief investmentstrategist at State Street Global Advisors in Boston. ‘The Fed has raised short-term interest rates four timessince June1999 in an effort to slow the economy enough to keep inflation under control. Since the latest increase, announced a week ago, investors have been shying away from blue-chip companies, fearful that their profits will be the first to suffer if interestrates continueto rise. “They're waiting to find out just how far the Fed will go,” said Eugene Mintz,financial markets analyst at Brown Brothers Harriman in New York. “They've already committed a lot of money to this market and they’rea little nervous.” Riley said technology shares held upa bit better because investors believe they are growing quickly enoughto withstandthe crunchof higherrates. “The economyis dictating thatinterest rates will go up,” Riley said. “That’s limiting the leadership of See MARKET,Page B-9 One of Utah’s Largest Private Employers Convergys Corp. of Cincinnati, Ohio, employs more than 8,000 peoplein six Utah cities. @ LOGAN: Customerservice for Sprint PCS. Employs 700. @ OGDEN:Inbound and outbound calls for multiple clients, including The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Employs 2,000. @ MURRAY: Inbound calls for multiple clients such as Microsoft and Aetna Health Care. Employs 2,400. @ SOUTH JORDAN:Customerservice for DirecTV. Employs 1,200. @ OREM:inbound and outbound customer-service and technical calls for multiple clients. Employs 1,500. © CEDAR CITY:inbound and outbound customer service calls for i “Weare constantly evaluating our compensation and benefits to stay competitive,” said Garth Howard, president of Convergys’ custom solutions group, which is based in Utah. “It’s a challenge.” Convergys took root in Utah in the late 1980s as Matrixx Marketing,a unit of CincinnatiBell. It is a loans. In December and January, clients began receiving late-payment notices from their creditors and discovered their bills were not being paid. spinoff of Cincinnati Bell subsidiaries Cincinnati Bell Information Systems and Matrixx Marketing. State investigators subsequently met the missing money. An unemployment rate of about 3.3 percent continues to boostthe starting pay at call centers,often well above minimum wage. Nearly all of the dozens of call centers operatingin the Salt Lake County area “We believe all parties are responsible,” said Francine Giani, directorof the ConsumerProtection Division. “Whodid must offer benefits such as health-care andretire- ment plans to compete. Workers with call-center experience can afford to See STATE, Page B-6 h oe Page B-9 with representatives of the four companies, each of whom blames the others for raising interest rates this year, potentially threatening corporate profits. American Expressfell 6.44 to 156.56, Citigroupfell 1.81 to 54.19, and Home Depotfell 1.94 to 59.06. “Tnvestors in these stocks are anticipating that the Utah initially attracted the company with its young, well-educated, cheapandplentiful labor pool, But laboris neither as cheap norplentifulas it once was, q SRS Pie, Gee |
