Business

Two-way Street

A year ago, Michael Dell was Wall Street’s whipping boy. Now he’s its darling.

Meaner Than a Junkyard Dog

“Guys like me like Iraq,” says Houston oilman Oscar Wyatt. “That’s the way the real world works, baby.”

Court Order

For a Houston court clerk, having millions in his bank account is not a dream-it’s his job.

Making the Team

Whenever pro sports franchises are up for sale, appraiser Steve Matt is likely to be a major player.

Means of Descent

As LBJ’s heirs go their own way, the family dismantles its business empire.

Hock Treatment

With clean, well-lighted places-filled with bargains-Forth Worth-based Cash America is spiffing up the sullied image of pawnshops.

Question Authority

A tiny Houston delivery firm did-and now it has the broadest trucking rights ever granted in Texas.

Saving Face

Nearly two years after the Exxon Valdez relations gurus are busy telling industries how to avoid looking bad.

God’s Jeweler

Piety or passion: The trials of James Avery, craftsman.

Risky Business

Eastern states have hit the jackpot with lotteries. But will Lotto play in Texas?

Return to Sender

In 1998 Neiman Marcus shelled out $119 million for Horchow Mail Order—only to have the cataloger lose $28 million within two years.

A Bitter Pill

Two-way Radio

With a sweet leasing deal, Austin sister stations KASE and KVET pack a one-two punch on the FM dial.

Dressed in Peace

When it’s time for that final fashion statement, a Fort Worth clothier has just the thing—complete with Velcro.

Man at Work

Now that Drayton McLane has sold his family company to Wal-Mart, he has no intention of retiring from the daily grind.

Boomtown

Don’t give up on oil yet, Texas. Come along to Pearsall, deep in the brush country, and learn how the new oil boom is different from the old.

Ad Men at War

How the battle for the Southwest Airlines account turned into a long-awaited showdown between Texas’s two top agencies.

Pipe Dream

Polybutylene plumbing systems were supposed to be a homeowner’s fantasy; they turned out to be a nightmare.

Meet the Governor: Clayton Williams

Onward to the past.

Power Switch

Are customers of the Comanche Peak nuclear plant better off with safety advocate Juanita Ellis on the inside or the outside?

The Quickest Draw In the West

Not since Remington and Russell has a cowboy artist sold so many works—for so much—as Fredericksburg’s G. Harvey.

The Texas 100

Who’s up, who’s down, who’s gone, and who’s new on our second annual study of the state’s superrich.

Howdy, Comrades! Let’s Do a Deal

A Texas businessman launches his one-man invasion of post-Communist Romania.

Venus Behind Bars

A new private prison brought a belated boom to tiny Venus, but the state contends that the jailhouse is a bust.

A Ride On the Wild Side

Conquering Arlington’s Texas Giant.

Jeff Reynolds, Zillionaire

The mysterious Texan who tried to take over australia’s mighty Bond Corporation last January looked good on paper—but paper was about all he had.

Wouldn’t You Like To Be a Pepper Too?

A Dublin bottler is the only one in Texas who’s still sweet on traditional Dr. Pepper.

A Bridge Too Far?

Laredo initially hated Monterrey’s plan for a new border crossing but had second thoughts when it realized that there was money to be made.

Boom and Bust

When oil and real estate boomed, a lot of Texans rode the tiger. But the beast turned, and those who weren’t devoured faced the prospect of limping back. It has been a long but not uninteresting trip.

Strike Up the Bands

The bands play on and on and on in Austin.

The $76 Million Divorce

The eldest son of Trammell Crow used his money for drugs, guns, and high living. His wife spent a fortune on personal trainers and self-promotion. Now they’re squaring off in an L.A. divorce court.

The Price of Peace

With the cold war fading into history, Fort Worth’s General Dynamics now has to regard peace as not merely an ideal but an economic reality.

Chalk Talk

Horizontal drilling has not only hit pay dirt in South Texas-it has also revived oil-patch wheeling and dealing.

Billie Sol Estes Has a Deal for You

The guy whose name is synonymous with swindling is finally a free man—but it may not last.

TV Guides

Daytime television isn’t just for housewives anymore; car salesmen, cops, and stockbrokers are tuning in to business networks.

The Day Leroy Died

When a small private bank was closed on August 7, depositors lost all of their money, a pillar of the community came tumbling down, and the town’s trusting way of life was shattered.

The Texas 100

Wealthy Texans have been heard to say that money is just a way of keeping score. Here's the scoreboard.

Greed is Good

Having a billion dollars isn’t everything, unless you’re Harold Simmons.

The Long, Strange Trip of Ed Bass

Interesting things can happen when a man with an unusual vision also has an unusual amount of money.

Rock Bottom

A series of terrible decisions and bad breaks ruined Gibraltar Savings. Is rescuing it another mistake?

Masa Marketing

In most Texas cities, tortilla making is an endangered family business; in Austin, it’s a thriving family rivalry.

The Wooing of Chairman Wang

The decision by a Chinese plastics company to build a billion-dollar plant in Texas proves that economic development works—but it comes at a high price.

Chip Ahoy

A new gambling-cruise-ship enterprise out of Port Isabel makes it possible to spend an evening in a casino while going nowhere in the Gulf.

A Dirty, Rotten Mess

Every day each of us contributes five pounds to the growing mountain of garbage. Now the mountain looks like a volcano that’s threatening to erupt.

Bringing It All Back Home

Through shrewd buying and aggressive marketing, Fort Worth-based Pier 1 has transcended its old head-for-the-home image and emerged into the new age a more profitable company.

Zoom at the Top

What kind of woman gets her own skin-care company, a place in Nouvelle Society, and the second-most-eligible bachelor in the world? Meet Georgette Mosbacher.

The Battle of the Bubbles

One man’s obsession with kicking Perrier in the derriere.

$3,000,000,000

Now that he’s got it, what does Ross Perot plan to do with it?

Can Ross Perot Save America?

One day in 1962 Ross Perot read Thoreau’s insight that the “mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” The country hasn’t been the same since.

How Houston Beat the Bust: Branching Out

An entrepreneur captures customers in public rest rooms. A high-tech plant moves from oil to medicine. Space and biomedical manufacturing are finally off the drawing boards. And a former union boss becomes a bingo mogul.