Mormon Businessman Started Adult Scooter Craze

It started on January 27, 1999 when Mormon business and engineering professor Karl Ulrich sent an email to his brother, Nathan, describing what he wanted to buy -- a human-powered scooter for adults. In just six paragraphs Ulrich described what the scooter should be like -- easy to carry, faster than walking and very cool looking. Those simple paragraphs has led to a craze for scooters for adults and a change of career, at least temporarily, for Ulrich.

Mesa's Missionary Outfitter Celebrates 50 Years in Business

Wayne Pomeroy celebrated his 78th birthday yesterday, and is celebrating the 50th anniversary of his downtown Mesa clothing store this week. Pomeroy's Mens Store has been at the same location, the historic Pomeroy building, named for his grandfather and great uncles who built it, for all of those 50 years, outfitting hundreds, if not thousands, of LDS missionaries during those years. And Pomeroy has been an active part of the city and Mormon culture in Mesa during that time.

Mormon Stock Index Up as New Companies Identified

The Mormon Stock Index rose just over 1% last week, mainly due to a rise in Dell Computer Co. The index' increase, coming after five down weeks in a row, comes as subscribers identified two new companies, Bay View Capital Corp., and Hillenbrand Industries, run by Mormon executives.

Other Business News

Marriott Expected to Win Bidding for Le Meridien Hotels

LONDON, ENGLAND -- Britain's Compass Group Plc plucked the first fruits of its five-month long hotels auction on Wednesday by selling its London Cumberland Hotel to Japan's Nomura for 150 million pounds ($217.3 million). Currently, U.S. Marriott is the favourite to buy the 146-strong 4/5-star Meridien chain which includes London's Grosvenor House at a price of around two billion pounds.

Compass sells UK Cumberland Hotel to Nomura Reuters 14Mar01 B4

AES Buys First Italian Power Plant

ARLINGTON, VIRGINIA -- AES Corp. said Wednesday it has purchased its first Italian power plant, an oil-fired cogeneration facility serving Sardinian chemical plants, as part of its plan to enter the country's newly deregulating markets. The 140 megawatt power plant, located in the town of Ottana, which is in the province of Nuoro, Sardinia, was purchased for undisclosed terms from EniChem SpA, a unit of Italian energy group Eni , AES said in a statement. AES is one of the stocks in the Mormon Stock Index and is run by lapsed Mormon Roger Sant.

AES enters Italy power market with Sardinian purchase Reuters 14Mar01 B4

Bonneville International 11th in Webcasts in December

NEW YORK, NEW YORK -- Arbitron's December Webcast Network Ratings placed LDS Church-owned Bonneville International 11th among Internet broadcasters, with 337,500 hours of Aggregate Tuning Hours. However, Bonneville is way behind the leading broadcaster, Netradio, which logged nearly 2.2 million Aggregate Tuning Hours during December. Aggregate Tuning Hours is a measure of the total number of hours that listeners spent tuned in to a service.

Five New Networks Move Into Top 25 Arbitron December Webcast Network Ratings Business Wire 14Mar01 B3

BYUTV Earns Spot on Cable Systems

MESA, ARIZONA -- Church members in historically-Mormon Mesa, Arizona and its nearby Queen Creek neighborhood asked and now they will have access to Brigham Young University's mix of religious and educational programming found on BYUTV, the university's network.CableAmerica added the new network to its lineup as Channel 97. "We've gotten a lot of demand, and we think it's a natural fit," said Chris Dyrek, vice president of CableAmerica, which has 25,000 customers in Mesa and Queen Creek. Another area cable system, Cox Communications, will also add BYUTV to its lineup on digital cable starting April 8.

CableAmerica airing BYUTV on Channel 97 (Phoenix) AZ Republic 13Mar01 B3 By Kelly Ettenborough: The Arizona Republic

WNIB renamed WDRV by Bonneville International

CHICAGO, ILLINOIS -- The LDS Church's Bonneville International Corp. has new call letters for its newly-acquired WNIB, and launched Thursday the station's new format, which it calls "timeless rock." The station, formerly a highly-regarded classical music station, will be known as WDRV-FM. But Chicago Tribune columnist Jim Kirk isn't impressed by the new format, and claimed that the new format "underwhelmed many and worried few station executives." He says that the format seems to be the same as one run on WXCD-FM and abandoned a few months ago. The new WDRV will target 25-54 year olds, with a "hyper" target of men 39-50 years old, ad sources say. Jerry Schnacke was named general manager and Ian Banks general sales manager. The station will begin accepting advertising on April 2.

Ad, PR Workers awash in wave of recent firings Chicago Tribune 16Mar01 B3 By Jim Kirk

Knight Transportation 1st Quarter Earnings will be low, company says

PHOENIX, ARIZONA -- Knight Transportation, the trucking firm run by the Mormon Knight brothers, warned analysts and investors on Thursday that it expected 1st quarter earnings to be at the low end of analysts' estimates. "Due to current economic conditions, we are experiencing softer freight demand from our customers. At this time, the economic conditions are challenging. We anticipate slower growth through the second quarter of this year," said CEO Kevin Knight in a statement.

Knight Transportation sees Q1 EPS at low end of estimates Reuters 15Mar01 B4

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