Hyatt offers 98 cleaners new jobs
Hotel firm bows to outcry over firings
Hyatt Hotels Corp., responding to public outcry, political pressure, and threatened boycotts, yesterday offered the 98 housekeepers it fired last month new jobs at their old wages, a move that was met with mixed reaction by those who protested the firings.
Hyatt said it is offering the housekeepers at the three Boston-area Hyatts, who had been abruptly replaced by lower-wage workers, full-time positions with United Service Cos., a Chicago-based staffing organization that the hotel chain uses for contract labor. Hyatt said those who accept the positions will be paid at their full Hyatt wage rate through the end of next year.
Those who don’t take the jobs will be offered training and career assistance and will receive their Hyatt wages through the end of March or until they land a permanent job.
“Every housekeeping employee who wants a job will have one,’’ Phil Stamm, general manager of the Hyatt Regency Boston, said in a statement. “That’s our promise.’’
Hyatt’s decision to fire its Boston housekeepers Aug. 31, as a cost-saving move, provoked an extraordinary standoff between a group of $15-an-hour workers and their allies – among them Governor Deval Patrick – and a billion-dollar company.
The housekeepers at the three Hyatt hotels – the Hyatt Regency Boston, the Hyatt Regency Cambridge, and the Hyatt Harborside at Logan International Airport – were replaced by employees of an Atlanta outsourcing firm, Hospitality Staffing Solutions, who make $8 an hour.
The housekeepers, some of whom had worked for the chain for more than 20 years, have said they were told to train the workers as vacation fill-ins, a claim Hyatt and Hospitality Staffing Solutions deny.
In addition to yesterday’s job offer, Hyatt said it is extending health care coverage through the end of March for employees who take positions at the hotels, hospitals, and shopping centers that United Services Cos. serves. After that, the housekeepers can get health benefits through the outsourcing company itself. Housekeepers who don’t want to take one of these jobs will be offered training and career assistance through the employment services companies Manpower and Right Management.
Rick Simon, president of United Service Cos., said the housekeepers who get temporary placement with his company could end up getting hired permanently. “I’m positive by 2010 and probably long before 2010,’’ he said, “all will be placed in permanent jobs at a similar wage scale’’ to what they were earning at the Hyatt.
The reaction to Hyatt’s offer was mixed. A spokesman for Patrick, who earlier this week said that he would direct state employees on official business to boycott the Hyatt, said the governor spoke to local Hyatt management and is reviewing the proposal.
“He wants to ensure that this is a proposal the workers can depend on and feel is fair,’’ said spokesman Kyle Sullivan. “Having been treated so unfairly, they are understandably hesitant to trust any proposal short of restoring them their jobs.’’
The Boston Taxi Drivers Association, which also threatened a boycott, called off the effort yesterday.
“It is not the best of remedies, but at least these workers will have jobs at the same rate of pay with benefits through 2010 and will receive financial support and retraining opportunities to secure permanent jobs,’’ said union representative Donna Blythe-Shaw.
But housekeeper Corporina Belis was not interested in the offer. Belis, who worked at the Boston Hyatt for 24 years and has been sending $300 a month to her mother who lives in the Dominican Republic, wants her old job back. “I know my job,’’ said Belis, 62, who added that she was training a Hospitality Staffing Solutions worker the day she was fired. “That’s my life, my job.’’
Likewise, officials from Unite Here, Local 26, a union that represents hotel workers, were not happy with Hyatt’s proposal. The union organized a rally for the Hyatt workers last week, even though the housekeepers are not unionized.
“Hyatt’s latest proposal is simply a smoke screen designed to trick people in to thinking Hyatt is doing the right thing,’’ union president Janice Loux said in a statement.
“It does not provide the women with the one thing they really deserve,’’ Loux said. “These women have made it clear that they want to be returned to the jobs they have held for years, and Hyatt’s PR scheme does not diminish their determination.’’
William J. Holstein, author of the book “Manage the Media,’’ which addresses how bad publicity can affect a company, agrees that Hyatt didn’t go far enough.
“Helping people get jobs at a temporary employment agency doesn’t feel right,’’ Holstein said. “The logic of this is they have to admit they made a mistake, say they were insensitive, and do the right thing. It’s a minor league issue, they’re a global company and this has really hurt them.’’
The 25 Most Powerful Women In Banking
There’s been a lot to mull over this year about gender equality in finance and business.
One recent survey by Catalyst, a nonprofit group that promotes women in business, found that 19% of women have lost their jobs in the past two year, compared with 6% of men. Then, there was Jack Welch’s comment a few months ago that women who take time off for their family are doomed to been passed over for high power jobs.
- JP Morgan’s
- Heidi Miller, No. 1 Woman Banker
Other studies are more upbeat. The Boston Consulting Group says women will drive the post recession economy because of rising female employment and because women are narrowing the wage gap with men.
Now US Banker magazine is finding some bright spots in its annual “25 Most Powerful Women in Banking” issue. Calpers, the giant California pension fund, hired the first female CEO, Anne Stausboll, in its 77 year-history, while Bank of America is said to be grooming Sallie Krawchek, who was recently hired as head of the bank’s Global Wealth and Investment Management unit, as a possible successor to CEO Ken Lewis.
At the top of the US Banker list, for the third straight year, is Heidi Miller, J.P. Morgan’s CEO of Treasury and Securities Services. One notable newcomer to the list is BBVA Compass retail chief Shelaghmichael Brown, who helped with that bank’s recent acquisitions in the US.
The magazine editors rank the women based criteria such as one-year performance, the results of business initiatives, management style and overall influence.
Here’s the full list, and for more rankings click here.
The 25 Most Powerful Women in Banking 2009
1) Heidi Miller, JPMorgan Chase & Co.
2) Karen Peetz, BNY Mellon
3) Pamela Joseph, U.S. Bancorp
4) Barbara Desoer, Bank of America
5) Carrie Tolstedt, Wells Fargo
6) Peyton Patterson, NewAlliance Bancshares
7) Deanna Oppenheimer, Barclays PLC
Mary Callahan Erdoes, JPMorgan Chase
9) Diane Thormodsgard, U.S. Bancorp
10) Julie Monaco, Citigroup
11) Lynn Pike, Capital One Bank
12) Cara Heiden, Wells Fargo
13) Avid Modjtabai, Wells Fargo
14) Donna Demaio, MetLife Bank
15) Mollie Hale Carter, Sunflower Bank
16) Diane D’Erasmo, HSBC USA
17) Ellen Alemany, Citizens Financial Group and RBS Americas
18) Anne Arvia, Nationwide Bank
19) Anne Finucane, Bank of America
20) Ellen Costello, Harris Bankcorp
21) Colleen Johnston, TD Bank Financial Group
22) Shelaghmichael Brown, BBVA Compass
23) Diane Reyes, Citigroup
24) Kay Hoveland, K-Fed Bancorp & Kaiser Federal Bank
25) Leeanne Linderman, Zions First National Bank
Google Unveils Fast Flip and Startups Take a Gamble
By Jennifer Martinez | Monday, September 14, 2009
Google today launched a new feature that organizes articles on the web in a way that resembles print magazines, called Google Fast Flip. Marissa Mayer, the search engine giant’s VP of search products and user experience, who unveiled the feature at TechCrunch 50 this afternoon, explained that Google founder Larry Page had questioned why the web wasn’t similar to a print magazine, where the content is already available for you to read as soon as you turn the page. Using the Google Fast Flip page, people can click on a topic — say, entertainment — and scroll through small screenshots of articles on that topic from various sites, such as (in the case of entertainment) Us Weekly, People and Seventeen. Click on an article to view a larger image of it and a second time to read it on its original site. Or you can simply scroll through a string of articles from 30 well-known news brands, including the Washington Post, Slate and BBC News, publishers with which Google will share advertising revenue.
Prior to the Fast Flip unveiling, however, startups focused on advertising and monetization took the stage to show off their wares to a panel of judges, which included Mayer and Zappos’ CEO Tony Hsieh. Two of the startups that presented, SeatGeek and Rackup, have a gambling-like feel. For sports fans and concert goers, SeatGeek forecasts for users the prices of event tickets on secondary markets, such as StubHub and eBay — and takes a 7-10 percent cut of each sale. Rackup, meanwhile, holds online auctions that take place over very short time periods (e.g. 60 seconds) during which people can bid for gift cards to their favorite stores. And it adds a sweetener: It will increase the money value of the gift card a person is bidding on based on how early they placed their bid and the size of it relative to other competitors in the auction.
Walmart’s Project Impact: A Move to Crush Competition
Walmart loves to shock and awe. City-size stores, absurdly low prices ($8 jeans!) and everything from milk to Matchbox toys on its shelves. And with the recession forcing legions of stores into bankruptcy, the world’s largest retailer now apparently wants to take out the remaining survivors.
Thus, the company is in the beginning stages of a massive store and strategy remodeling effort, which it has dubbed Project Impact. One goal of Project Impact is cleaner, less cluttered stores that will improve the shopping experience. Another is friendlier customer service. A third: home in on categories where the competition can be killed. “They’ve got Kmart ready to take a standing eight-count next year,” says retail consultant Burt Flickinger III, managing director for Strategic Resources Group and a veteran Walmart watcher. “Same with Rite Aid. They’ve knocked out four of the top five toy retailers, and are now going after the last one standing, Toys “R” Us. Project Impact will be the catalyst to wipe out a second round of national and regional retailers.” (See 10 things to buy during the recession.)
Though that’s bad news for many smaller businesses that can’t compete, Walmart investors have clamored for this push. Despite the company’s consistently strong financial performance, Wall Street hasn’t cheered Walmart’s growth rates. During the 1990s, the company’s stock price jumped 1,173%. In this decade, it’s down around 24% (Walmart’s stock closed at $51.74 per share on Sept. 3). “Walmart is under excruciating pressure from employees and frustrated institutional investors to get the stock up,” says Flickinger. (Read “Can Toys “R” Us Sell Toilet Paper?”)
Many analysts believe that the store-operations background of new CEO Mike Duke will keep investors quite happy. Though the recession finally caught up to Walmart last quarter, when the company reported a 1.2% drop in U.S. same-store sales, Walmart was a consistent winner during the worst days of the financial crisis, as frugal consumers traded down. While most retailers are shutting down stores, Walmart has opened 52 Supercenters since Feb. 1. Joseph Feldman, retail analyst at Telsey Advisory Group, estimates that each store costs Walmart between $25 and $30 million. In order to continue the momentum that it has picked up during the retail recession, over the next five years the company plans to remodel 70% of its approximately 3,600 U.S. stores.
So what does a Project Impact store look like? One recent weekday afternoon I toured a brand new, 210,000-sq.-ft. Walmart in West Deptford, N.J., with Lance De La Rosa, the company’s Northeast general manager. “We’ve listened to our customers, and they want an easier shopping experience,” says De La Rosa. “We’ve brightened up the stores and opened things up to make it more navigable.” One of the most noticeable changes is that Project Impact stores reshape Action Alley, the aisles where promotional items were pulled off the shelves and prominently displayed for shoppers. Those stacks both crowded the aisles and cut off sight lines. Now, the aisles are all clear, and you can see most sections of the store from any vantage point. For example, standing on the corner intersection of the auto-care and crafts areas, you can look straight ahead and see where shoes, pet care, groceries, the pharmacy and other areas are located. And the discount price tags are still at eye level, so the value message doesn’t get lost. (See how Americans are spending now.)
“They are like roads,” De La Rosa says proudly. “And look around, the customers are using them. We’ve already gotten feedback about the wider, more breathable aisles. Our shoppers love them.”
The layout is also smarter. “You can kind of guess where everything is going to be,” says Sharon Tilotta, 73, a shopper in the West Deptford store. The pharmacy, pet foods, cosmetics and health and beauty sections are now adjacent to the groceries. In the past, groceries and these other sections were often at opposite ends of the store, which made it more difficult for someone looking to pick up some quick consumables to get in and out of Walmart. “Under Project Impact, Walmart is providing more of a full supermarket experience within its walls,” says Feldman. “The biggest complaint against them has always been that it takes a long time to get through everything. This definitely improves efficiency.” De La Rosa also points out the party-supply section. Favors, wedding decorations, cards and scrapbooks are all in one area. “In the past, these products would be in three different places,” he says.
And although Walmart won’t admit to targeting specific competitors – “We’re just listening to what our customers want,” De La Rosa says – it’s clear that, under Project Impact, Walmart will make major plays in winnable categories. The pharmacy, for example, has been pulled into the middle of the store, and its $4-prescriptions program has generated healthy buzz. With Circuit City out of business, the electronics section has been beefed up. Walmart is also expanding its presence in crafts. Sales at Michael’s Stores, the country’s largest specialty arts-and-crafts retailers, have sagged, and Walmart sees an opportunity. Stores are chock-full of scrapbooking material, baskets and yarns. “Look, they’re selling the stuff that accounts for 80% of Michael’s business, at 20% of the space,” says Flickinger. “It’s very hard for any company to compete with that.” (Read “That Viral Thing: People of Walmart.”)
Apparel, one of Target’s traditional strengths, gets a prominent position at the center. The color palettes of the shirts and dresses are brighter and more appealing than they’ve been in the past. “Walmart has figured out fashion for the first time in 47 years,” Flickinger says. “They’ve gone from a D to an A-minus.” Briefs and underwear have been shuttled to the back. “That’s a smart move,” Flickinger says. “People know to come to Walmart for the commodity clothing. Now, they have to walk past the higher margin, more fashionable merchandise to get what they need.”
Of course, Project Impact isn’t perfect. You’d think that if Walmart was going to open a massive new store with a cutting-edge layout, the company would at least put a sign up. In West Deptford, it’s easy to miss the entrance to the Walmart – which is buried in the back of a parking lot – while driving along a main thoroughfare. And of course, customers will always nitpick. One elderly shopper complained about a shortage of benches in the store (she needed a rest). Another had a more esoteric, yet legitimate, gripe. “Their meat is leaky,” says Jeff Winter, 30, a West Deptford shopper. “And instead of giving you a wet wipe to clean it off, they give you a dry towel. How’s that going to prevent E. coli or whatever?” (See which businesses are bucking the recession.)
What analysts really want to see from Project Impact, however, is a faster pace of implementation. “The biggest hurdle facing Walmart is the speed with which they can roll this out,” says Feldman. As more Project Impact stores pop up, the existing stores appear worse by comparison. For example, while the merchandise at the Project Impact store outside of Philadelphia really speaks to that particular market – there’s tons of Eagles and Phillies gear – at one regular discount store outside New York City, Minnesota Twins and Seattle Mariners pajama pants wasted away on the racks. There were plenty of associates staffing the electronics section at the Project Impact store; at the discount store, five frustrated shoppers waited in line for help from a customer-service rep. Soon, it was closer to 10.
What about the friendly service? In West Deptford, the associates were sunny and bright. At the New York–area discount store, not so much. “You’ll notice we’ve been in the store for two hours, and no one has even said hello to us,” Flickinger says after he and I toured that store. He’s right, we weren’t feeling any love. But if Project Impact keeps picking up momentum, many more Walmart salespeople, and shareholders, should be smiling.
View this article on Time.com
Freelancers bag cheap office space
Three or four days a week, Boston-area entrepreneur Hooman Hodjat stops into a second-floor office just across the street from Boston’s South Station.
One day, he’ll use the conference room to meet with potential investors. The next day, he may be found at a table, working the phone lines, with a fresh cup of coffee in hand.
And for all this, he pays just $100 a month.
He’s a member at WorkBar, a pioneering new business that offers office space, like a gym offers exercise space.
Hodjat and other WorkBar members sign up, pay monthly dues and come in as often as they want to work.
Instead of treadmills and free weights, WorkBar has laptop charging stations, lounges and free coffee.
WorkBar director Bill Jacobson said the concept evolved after he realized that today’s offices don’t reflect today’s workers.
“The people who are working at home say they miss the other people from the office,” he said.
So far, WorkBar, which officially launches next month, offers two types of memberships. Community members pay $100 a month and must sign on for a six-month commitment. They get to use almost all the services, except the private desks, which are set aside for dedicated members, who pay $400 a month.
The 129 South St. shop is open Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
And at least three days a week, Hodjat is there.
He is one of the founders of Pickup Zone, a new service aimed at offering consumers relief from unattended package deliveries. With PickUp Zone, people can have their packages delivered to a neighborhood retailer, who will hold them until the person can pick them up.
As a result, Hodjat said, he’s often in the city, meeting with retailers and potential clients.
The convenience is great, said Hodjat, who lives in Framingham.
“My target market is in the city, so I get on the commuter rail, get out at South Station, and walk across the street for my meetings,” he said.
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/business/general/view.bg?articleid=1191126
Christy Mihos aide: ’Financial advantage’ key in 2010 race
BOSTON — The chief political consultant for Cape Cod businessman Christy Mihos said Tuesday his client lost the 2006 gubernatorial race solely because he ran as an independent.
Conservative commentator and author Dick Morris also predicted that Mihos will beat fellow Republican Charles Baker in the 2010 GOP primary and Gov. Deval Patrick, a Democrat, in the general election because of his opposition to Big Dig spending and the “considerable financial advantage” the multimillionaire brings to the campaign.
“I don’t think Baker is going to be a serious problem,” Morris told The Associated Press in an interview. “I think he’s subject to many of the same negatives that Patrick is. Patrick raised our taxes; Baker raised our tolls.”
The criticism harkened back to Baker’s work in the Weld and Cellucci administrations, when he served as the top finance official in the Cabinet from 1994 to 1998. During that time, the state sought to finance the $15 billion Central Artery tunnel project, which has triggered toll increases.
More recently, Patrick signed a 25-percent sales tax hike into law.
Yet Morris didn’t limit his attack there. He criticized Baker, who went on to become president of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, for helping negotiate a state receivership for the troubled insurer and then taking a $1.5 million salary package from the now-profitable company until he resigned in July to run for governor.
“I wonder how popular health insurance companies are,” Morris said. “Let’s put it this way: I’d rather run a hedge fund.”
A Baker spokesman dismissed the complaints.
“Looks like Christy Mihos is back negatively attacking Republicans again,” Baker spokesman Andrew Goodrich said. “Christy’s negative campaign is one reason elected Republican officials from across the state are flocking to support Charlie Baker and see Charlie as our only hope to defeat Deval Patrick.”
Mihos garnered only 7 percent of the vote in 2006, when he squared off against Patrick and Republican Lt. Gov. Kerry Healey. The Christy’s convenience store magnate is running as a Republican this time around.
Mihos has hired Morris to develop strategy. He is a newspaper columnist and Fox News analyst who once served as Democrat Bill Clinton’s political adviser.
His work with Mihos is not the New Yorker’s first venture into Massachusetts politics. He previously ran Ed King’s successful campaign against Democrat Michael Dukakis, and also worked on state campaigns to limit property tax increases and elect William F. Weld as governor in 1990 and 1994.
Morris said Mihos’s candidacy will resonate with voters because he fought against cost escalation in the Big Dig project while a member of the Massachusetts Turnpike board of directors. The consultant also said Mihos knows how to cut government spending but won’t be afraid to spend his own money promoting his candidacy — perhaps as early as this fall.
He said Mihos lost 2 1/2 years ago only because he ran as an independent.
“It was a basic mistake to think that as an independent in a highly polarized, partisan year,” Morris said. “I think that people were not in the mood for a third choice.”
Article URL: http://www.bostonherald.com/news/politics/view.bg?articleid=1191857
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Will Biopharma Acquisitions Never Cease?http://www.fool.com/investing/high-growth/2008/08/29/will-biopharma-acquisitions-never-cease.aspx Brian Lawler In both the size and quantity of proposed deals, the past 24 months have been busier than ever for biopharma dealmakers. From industry giants like Genentech and Biogen Idec (Nasdaq: BIIB) to tiny players such as Mirus Bio, nearly every such drugmaker has generated at least rumors of a takeover. Why now? These drugmakers’ cash has to go somewhere, either through acquisitions, share buybacks, dividend payments, or paying down debt. Some of these options don’t make very much sense right now; with interest rates at historical lows, for example, now’s not the time for big pharma to pare down their debt levels. In addition, some drugmakers park a good portion of their cash outside the U.S. for tax reasons, making foreign biopharma acquisitions more attractive. Given their complex molecular nature and manufacturing processes, many biologically derived drugs and vaccines have innate natural protections against generic competition. In many cases, it can be nearly impossible to make a generic copy of a biopharmaceutical drug, even after its patents have run out. There are plenty of smaller variables at work, too:
All in all, the the environment for biopharma deals has never been stronger. What does Big Pharma want? Here’s a chart of some of the biggest biopharma acquisitions or proposed deals in the past 24 months:
*Compared to the day before the offer was made. In addition to heated acquitision activity, drugmakers have forged a slew of record-breaking partnership deals for biopharmaceutical assets. For example, in 2006 GlaxoSmithKline struck a deal with Genmab, worth as much as $2.1 billion, for one of the latter company’s late-stage monoclonal antibody drug candidates. Many of these deals involved drug developers working with technologies that competitors have previously validated, but in recent months, large-cap pharma has even started to bite on new unproven technologies like Cell Genesys‘ GVAX cancer vaccine. However, these deals have generally drawn smaller amounts of up-front cash (and some bad outcomes, too). What tempting targets remain? Here’s a partial list of some of the juiciest biopharma assets potentially still up for grabs:
Other drugmakers also have interesting biopharmaceutical assets, like Biogen Idec, Elan (NYSE: ELN), and Genzyme. But for a variety of reasons, including their large size or the nature of their existing partnership agreements, they’d be more difficult for a potential buyer to acquire. A year from now, I’ll be very surprised if every drugmaker on the above list remains independent. There are only so many mature biopharma assets to go around, and as the past months have shown us, big pharma isn’t afraid to snap them up. |
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Americans Renew Their Love for Cars — Online
By KEVIN HELLIKER
Anne Fleming felt deeply confident as a negotiator—except whenever she entered an automotive dealership, where research shows that women pay more for cars than men.
So last October the former apparel executive in Pittsburgh launched a Web site called Women-Drivers.com, which offers negotiating tips, as well as reviews of female-friendly dealerships. In just nine months, the site has received reviews from several thousand women car shoppers. “We’ve gotten enough feedback to start ranking the female-friendliest dealerships,” says Ms. Fleming.
Related Article
Despite a historic drop in U.S. auto sales, Women-Drivers.com is just one of scores of new automotive Web sites being launched that cater to car enthusiasts. For consumers, the Internet is helping to solve some of the most confounding aspects of buying a car, from comparing prices and reading reviews to getting tips on bargaining tactics. And the plethora of new sites for automotive buffs appears to demonstrate that Americans’ love affair with cars is alive and well.
Even as U.S. auto sales have fallen by about 30% this year from a year earlier, more than 100 new auto-related Web sites have been launched, says research group Hitwise. That brings the total number of such sites to nearly 5,000, more than for all but a few other industries. Since 2005, the ranks of automotive writers have grown to 2,700 from 1,600, says Autowriters.com, a site that tracks car writers for the auto industry.
Purchasing-related auto sites have generally experienced declining readership this year. But many sites that offer news and commentary and reviews have grown. Magazine stalwarts like Car and Driver, Road & Track, Automobile and Motor Trend now operate online editions. Fast gaining in the battle for car-news junkies is Autoblog, a five-year-old site whose motto is, “We obsessively cover the auto industry.”
Sexy Auto Spokescougars
TheTruthAboutCars.com is one of a slew of new sites for car buffs.
Almost no niche is too small. Online auto publications are appealing to readers based on geography ( DriveChicago.com ), type of car ( HybridSUV.com ), ethnic identity ( Latinos.onwheelsinc.com ), gender and even sexual orientation. At Gaywheels.com , readers can learn which auto makers do and don’t offer domestic-partner benefits to employees, as well as which vehicles are most popular among gays. “Gay men are four times more likely to own a Volkswagen than the average customer,” says Joe LaMuraglia, founder of the site.
Demand for automotive sites is increasing. A J.D. Power & Associates survey found that in 2008 more than 75% of car buyers conducted online research before shopping, up from 70% a year earlier. The popularity of cars online helps explain why General Motors Co. this month announced a joint venture to sell new cars through eBay Motors, the most visited online automotive site.
Some online auto entrepreneurs have struck it big. Kristin Varela was a single mom working for a Denver human-resources firm when she set about searching for the ideal vehicle for busing around children. “The only reviews I could find were basically by car buffs writing for gear heads,” she says.
So in 2004 she launched Motherproof.com , which reviewed cars from a maternal perspective. Among her questions: Were the seat belts simple enough for young children to fasten? Did it have enough cup holders? Could a young mom look hot in it? How did the reviewer’s children like the car?
Motherproof.com drew such strong traffic that advertisers flocked to it. In 2007, the site was purchased by Cars.com , one of the Web’s biggest automotive destinations, which hired Ms. Varela as its full-time editor. Every week, auto makers deliver new test cars to the driveways of young moms around the country who write reviews for Ms. Varela.
Sites devoted to electric-car coverage are particularly popular. Lyle Dennis, a neurologist at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, was hardly looking for a new career two years ago when he launched GM-Volt.com , a site that follows the electric-car efforts of General Motors. An electric-car enthusiast, Dr. Dennis was merely planning to post the occasional press release or news development about GM’s battery-powered Volt, a car not due out until 2010.
Blogger by Night
But the site drew so much traffic that GM began inviting Dr. Dennis to Volt-related events and offering him exclusive interviews with its top executives. Advertisers began paying him for space on the site. And upon completing his daily duties, including treating victims of stroke, Dr. Dennis began making daily posts to the site. Last week, when GM Chief Executive Fritz Henderson announced that the Volt would travel 230 miles per gallon of gasoline in city driving, Dr. Dennis flew in for the press conference. “This Web site has just added a whole new dimension to my life,” he says.
Write to Kevin Helliker at kevin.helliker@wsj.com
