Ebay opens support center in Draper for customers
Online auction site eBay celebrates the grand opening of its customer support center at 173 W. Election Road in Draper today. And the plans are to keep on growing, according to Matt Bannick, vice president of product and community at eBay.The company first visited Utah in April and it didn't take long to decide "this was the place for us to go," Bannick said.
They sifted through more than 4,000 resumes to hire their first trainees, who started in June. Since then, they've hired more than 200 people and will hire more as demand increases.
"We're delighted with the calibre of folks we've found in the Salt Lake area," Bannick said. "We thought we would find a well-educated, tech savvy and loyal work force. They have exceeded our expectations."
The Draper eBay operation handles direct customer support, most of it e-mail queries. In fact, 70 percent of customer support will come out of Draper. And one of the Utah men who was hired in the first wave, Scott Newman, has since been promoted to run all customer support for the operation.
Bannick said the company is a sought-after employer because popularity of the Web site continues to grow -- less than two years ago there were about 300,000 users, compared to today's 10 million -- they pay above market wages, they promote from within and employees have stock options.
"It provides a lot of opportunity."
Vodafone acquisition of Mannesmann approved
DUSSELDORF (New York Times) -- Two of the world's leading companies in wireless communications agreed today to combine in a $183 billion takeover deal, the largest ever.
In a stunning end to the kind of hostile takeover attempt once considered unthinkable in Europe, Vodafone AirTouch of Britain negotiated the acquisition of Mannesmann of Germany. The all-stock transaction shattered the previous record for a takeover deal, America Online's $165 billion purchase of Time Warner announced less than three weeks ago.
If consummated, the takeover will vastly expand the reach of Vodafone, which already is the world's biggest wireless telephone company, giving it dominance in the European market. Vodafone already has a major presence in the United States, Asia and Africa.
Never before has a European company carried off a hostile takeover on such a scale: cross-border, cross-cultural and paid for with shares in a company that was almost unknown outside of Britain 10 years ago.
Mattel CEO resigns amid falling sales and profits
NEW YORK (AP) -- Jill Barad, who made Barbie into a selling sensation and helped build Mattel into corporate powerhouse, has stepped down from the helm of the world's biggest toymaker after failing to revive falling sales and profits. Barad resigned Thursday as the company, based in El Segundo, Calif., reported a steep loss for the fourth quarter, disappointing Wall Street analysts for the third time in the past four quarters.
Barad, 48, one of the highest ranking women in business, was under intense pressure from investors and Mattel's board of directors to explain big losses at the company's newly acquired Learning Company software division and other troubles at Mattel.
The Daily Herald in Provo announces new editors
PROVO (AP) -- Mike Fitzgerald has been appointed managing editor of The Daily Herald.
Fitzgerald, 45, replaces Mike Patrick, 44, who will develop The Herald's Internet product, heraldextra.com.
Fitzgerald joined The Daily Herald in September as news editor. He formerly worked at the Albuquerque Journal, Las Vegas Sun, Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Los Angeles Times and Columbia Daily Tribune in Missouri. He is a native of Chicago and graduate of Southern Illinois University.
Patrick had been managing editor of The Herald since 1996. A graduate of the University of Arizona, Patrick was managing editor for seven years at the Arizona Daily Sun.
The appointments were announced Thursday by Kirk Parkinson, The Herald's president and publisher.
Questar production jumps 17% to an all-time high
Questar Corp. announced non-utility oil and gas production increased 17 percent to an all-time-high
76.6 billion cubic feet of gas equivalent in 1999. This represents the fourth consecutive year of record production and the ninth increase in the last 10 years.
A subsidiary, Questar Exploration and Production Co., replaced 131% of production in 1999 through reserve additions, revisions and acquisitions amounting to 134.1 billion cubic feet of gas equivalent.
MyComputer.com adds Trellis Corp. as new partner
OREM -- MyComputer.com, the Web's largest provider of site management and analysis tools, has announced a partnership with Trellix Corp., a software and services provider of easy-to-create Web sites based in Waltham, Mass. Under the agreement, three MyComputer.com tools will be offered as Trellix Web Gems.
Trellix Web Gems enable users to add valuable features such as maps, search capabilities and affiliate links with little effort. Now specially created Trellix Web Gems from MyComputer.com will be offered as a key component in helping users more effectively collect information on the people visiting their Web pages.