Bi-Coastal Tributes Mark Business Wire's 40th Anniversary Celebration
Asset Caption: The milestone event was commemorated in San Francisco, where Business Wire is headquartered, as Mayor Willie Brown Jr. declared October 2 "Business Wire Day." The honor recognizes Business Wire's leadership as a corporate citizen, and the civic contributions of Lorry Lokey, Business Wire's founder, president, and chief executive officer, who has donated $90 million to Bay Area academic institutions and charitable organizations worldwide.
Asset Caption: Business Wire COO Cathy Baron Tamraz opens trading on the NASDAQ, October 2, 2001. Left To Right: Deborah Pickering, Vice President/Licensing; Michael Becker, Global Financial & Business Development Specialist; Phyllis Dantuono, Senior Vice President/National Bureaus; Michael Lissauer, Senior Vice President/Strategic Planning; Cathy Baron Tamraz, Chief Operating Officer; Hillary Gaizler, Vice President/New York Sales Manager; Neil Hershberg, Vice President/Global Media; Gregg Castano, Senior Vice President/Global Sales and David Weild, EVP, Office of the CEO, Nasdaq
Asset Caption: The Business Wire team visits NASDAQ's MarketSite location in New York's Times Square.
Left To Right, front row: Deborah Pickering, Vice President/Licensing; Phyllis Dantuono, Senior Vice President/National Bureaus; Cathy Baron Tamraz, Chief Operating Officer and Hillary Gaizler, Vice President/New York Sales.
Left to right, back row: Gregg Castano, Senior Vice President/Global Sales; Michael Lissauer, Senior Vice President/Strategic Planning, Neil Hershberg, Vice President/Global Media Manager and Michael Becker, Global Financial & Business Development Specialist.
Asset Caption: Mayor Willie Brown Jr. declared October 2 "Business Wire Day." The honor recognizes Business Wire's leadership as a corporate citizen, and the civic contributions of Lorry Lokey, pictured, Business Wire's founder, president, and chief executive officer, who has donated $90 million to Bay Area academic institutions and charitable organizations worldwide.
Asset Caption: View an interactive (Shockwave Flash) Timeline from Business Wire showing highlights of its 40-year history.
If you have trouble viewing this presentation on your computer, try clicking here, then click the "Business Wire Timeline" link on that page.
Asset Caption: Business Wire 40th Anniversary Seal
Asset Caption: Business Wire animated logo - 26-frame animated GIF
Asset Caption: The NASDAQ logo
Business Editors
NOTE TO MEDIA: Photos are available in a Smart News Release(TM) on Business Wire's Home Page at www.businesswire.com and at www.newstream.com
Video of NASDAQ market opening and comments by COO Cathy Baron Tamraz will be available later today.
SAN FRANCISCO & NEW YORK--Oct. 2, 2001--
San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown Proclaims Oct. 2 'Business Wire Day'
COO Cathy Baron Tamraz Opens NASDAQ Trading Session in New York
Financial and political leaders nationwide paid tribute to Business Wire's 40th anniversary today with a series of ceremonial events honoring the commercial news service, which delivers corporate news electronically to institutional and individual investors, and traditional and online news media.
Chief Operating Officer Cathy Baron Tamraz officially opened NASDAQ's trading session at its MarketSite location in New York's Times Square.
The milestone event was commemorated in San Francisco, where Business Wire is headquartered, as Mayor Willie Brown Jr. declared October 2 "Business Wire Day." The honor recognizes Business Wire's leadership as a corporate citizen, and the civic contributions of Lorry Lokey, Business Wire's founder, president, and chief executive officer, who has donated $90 million to Bay Area academic institutions and charitable organizations worldwide.
An anniversary party that had been scheduled for this evening at New York's "Tavern On The Green" has been postponed until the Spring out of respect to the victims of the recent terrorist attacks.
"We're extremely honored to open NASDAQ trading today," said Tamraz. "A majority of the NASDAQ Top 100 companies are Business Wire clients, and many are our neighbors in Silicon Valley.
"But of even greater importance, many of NASDAQ's most successful companies share the same humble origins as Business Wire," Tamraz continued. "The common denominator is that we all had a sense of vision, entrepreneurship, and initiative that enabled us to become leaders in our respective industries."
Business Wire was started by Lokey in 1961 as a Bay Area wire service reaching 16 media outlets. Today, Business Wire has access to some 60 international and national news agencies, financial information providers and web-based news services, and serves some 34,000 clients worldwide. Business Wire has evolved into a multimedia global news service with offices in Brussels, London and Frankfurt in addition to its 26 U.S. offices.
The theme of Business Wire's anniversary celebration is "40 years of innovation." The company has pioneered numerous services over the years, including the first use of the AP PhotoExpress service for commercial photo satellite delivery (1993), the first commercial newswire to launch a website (1995), the launch of Newstream, the first multimedia service catering to online newsrooms (2000) and the introduction of the fastest media communications network in the industry (2000).
For a complete Business Wire Timeline, go to http://businesswire.com/ci/ci-timeline.html
One of Business Wire's most significant accomplishments came one year ago when it radically transformed the landscape for all investors by eliminating the traditional 15-minute delay that favored certain sectors of the investment community.
"I'm most proud of the fact that Business Wire has been instrumental in creating a level playing field for all investors," noted Lokey. "Our unilateral decision last October to deliver disclosure news real-time across all media platforms, prompted by the SEC's passage of Regulation FD, has meant that institutional and individual investors now have equal access to material news developments.
"Today, all potential investors have simultaneous access to market-moving information," Lokey added. "Business Wire is proud to have been a catalyst in balancing the scales so that all market participants have the same investment opportunities."
The festivities will continue on Wednesday, October 10, when Business Wire hosts a seminar, "Media & PR, Then and Now" in San Francisco that reflects on how these industries have changed over the past four decades. Lokey will moderate a distinguished panel of current and former journalists and public relations professionals.
Recently, Business Wire awarded 10 $1,000 scholarships to public relations students across the country in a competition that was administered in cooperation with the PRSA and PRSSA.
Looking ahead, Business Wire is poised for future growth by preparing for additional international expansion.
"Financial markets worldwide are rethinking the rules regarding regulatory news announcements," Tamraz noted. "We've earned an excellent reputation as a corporate news service handling price-sensitive information; we look forward to leveraging new opportunities in Europe and elsewhere."
About Business Wire:
Business Wire is the fastest-growing and largest independent commercial newswire in the world. The privately held company earned in excess of $150 million in revenues last year, and transmitted more than a quarter-million news releases.
Business Wire is the industry marketshare leader, based on the relative percentage of releases transmitted by the major commercial newswires.
Note: Photos are available at URLs:
Lorry Lokey, Business Wire's founder, president, and chief executive officer: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/photo.cgi?pw.100201/bb3
NASDAQ, Times Square, New York City: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/photo.cgi?pw.100201/bb3a
Chief Operating Officer Cathy Baron Tamraz officially opened NASDAQ's trading session: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/photo.cgi?pw.100201/bb3b
"40 years of innovation." http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/photo.cgi?pw.100201/bb3c
NASDAQ Logo: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/photo.cgi?pw.100201/bb3d
Official Proclamation: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/photo.cgi?pw.100201/bb3e