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The Collectors: Lane Powell's Ken Roberts loves cars and neon

Cathy Cheney — Wed, 22 May 2013 21:48:45 +0000

In a refurbished barn outside the Clackamas County home of Lane Powell Senior Counsel Ken Roberts is a vast collection of cars, neon signs and memorabilia from the 40s, 50s and 60s. For a photographer, it is simply Nirvana. The Collectors: The classic cars of Ken Roberts Roberts jokes that his most expensive item is a vintage pinball machine purchased for $2 in 1977 because it literally got the ball rolling on his passion for collecting. Click the image to the right to view a gallery of Roberts'…

Five key elements for a successful IPO

Robert Goldfield — Wed, 22 May 2013 21:05:23 +0000

With old-line manufacturer ESCO Corp. pulling the plug on its IPO plans, it may fall to the high-tech sector to produce Oregon’s next publicly held company. Portland-based ESCO said Tuesday it’s now making plenty of cash from its existing operations. That, plus a handy $1 billion credit facility in place since last year, will supply the capital it needs in the foreseeable future. A number of Portland-area high-tech companies, however — some of them not all that far removed from startup status…

College ROI: Which Oregon universities deliver the best payback?

Suzanne Stevens — Wed, 22 May 2013 00:23:34 +0000

The cost of a college education continues to increase, as does the burden on graduates in terms of debt. The average university graduate is expected to leave college with $25,000 in debt, which makes finding the best value a priority for many students and their families. College ROI: Which Oregon universities deliver the best payback? The folks at PayScale.com aim to help with their 2013 ROI Rankings, which ranks more than 850 U.S. colleges based on the total cost of earning a bachelor's degree…

Xbox marks the spot for gamers, other couch potatoes

Andy Giegerich — Tue, 21 May 2013 21:50:48 +0000

In her analysis of the new Xbox system that ran this afternoon, my esteemed Seattle colleague Emily Parkhurst may have put it best. “Video-game console?” Parkhurst wrote. “What video-game console?” Very true, Microsoft Corp.’s newest version of what was once a video-game console is, and I’m borrowing from Parkhurst here, a full-on entertainment system that deals in television, movies, games, video chats and online content. It is, truly, the Xbox One. It has the motion-sensing camera…

Why Dr. Dre and Eminem have a beef with W+K

Erik Siemers — Tue, 21 May 2013 21:50:14 +0000

Wieden + Kennedy is being accused by the song publisher for Eminem of misappropriating one of the rapper's songs, and in its defense may have inadvertently maligned another giant of the genre. Eight Mile Style LLC and Martin Affiliated LLC, the Michigan entities that own the copyrights for the work of Marshall B. Mathers III — Eminem to most of us —claims an ad produced by Portland-based W+K for Facebook's new Facebook Home app last month copied music from the rapper's 2000 song "Under the Influence." In…

Listmakers: Thoughts from Portland’s top commercial contractors

Tam Jenkins — Tue, 21 May 2013 21:42:36 +0000

The lists the Portland Business Journal publishes ranking Portland-area businesses in specific industries and sectors have always been popular with our readers. In fact, our annual Book of Lists, which compiles all the lists from a given year, is a big seller. Listmakers: Colorful insights from 11 commercial contract execs With that in mind, we've decided to expand upon our list coverage by gathering thoughts from the business leaders at those top-performing companies. I've enjoyed learning…

ESCO scraps its IPO plans

Robert Goldfield — Tue, 21 May 2013 18:13:26 +0000

More than satisfied now with its access to capital, long-time Portland manufacturer ESCO Corp. said Tuesday that it is dropping its plans for an initial public offering. The 100-year-old maker of parts for heavy equipment used by the mining and construction industries filed documents in 2011 to conduct an IPO but never moved the process along. “Quite simply, a lot has changed since then,” CEO Cal Collins said. The company has enjoyed “tremendous growth" in sales and profits, with profit…

Who wants Monaco Coach now?

Robert Goldfield — Tue, 21 May 2013 17:07:21 +0000

Monaco Coach, once a dominant name in Oregon manufacturing, continues to get tossed around. Truck maker Navistar International Corp. of Lisle, Ill., which bought the bankrupt Monaco Coach in 2009 for $47 million and eventually stopped producing the motorized coaches in Coburg, Ore., has sold the brand and the rest of its recreational vehicles business to Allied Specialty Vehicles — part of Navistar’s own turnaround plan to focus on its core business. The sale includes the manufacturing operations…

Gallery: Which private college presidents are the highest paid?

Suzanne Stevens — Mon, 20 May 2013 21:56:19 +0000

Education isn't known as a particularly high-paying field. But as with any industry, those that rise to the top typically take home impressive paychecks. That's the case with Oregon's private college presidents. Payday: Take a peek at the paychecks of 14 Oregon college presidents Using Guidestar, we looked at the IRS 990 forms filed by the state's private nonprofit universities for a look at the salaries of college presidents. The data used reflects salaries for the 2010 and 2011 academic…

Portland's fluoride debate sparks national media frenzy

Suzanne Stevens — Mon, 20 May 2013 21:54:03 +0000

The national media loves Portland. It loves to tout our craft beers and sizzling food scene, our sustainability and quirky personalities (thank you "Portlandia"), and now our fluoride — or lack thereof. Over the past week, everyone from the Wall Street Journal to Gawker has weighed in on Portland's resistance to fluoride. That resistance has certainly cemented Portland's penchant for differentness. Among the 30 largest metropolitan areas, Portland is the only city that does not fluoridate its…