LOS ANGELES - Stone & Youngberg, one of the top underwriters of municipal bonds in California, has set up a new home page on the Internet's World Wide Web, featuring broker profiles, a description of the firm's services, and general information about tax-exempt securities.
Chief executive officer Kenneth E. Williams said the firm's Web site is designed to capitalize on the fast-paced communication vehicles available through the Internet.
"We believe the Web can help us expedite business and provide information to existing clients, as well as prospective clients, about what's going on in California and what role we have in the market," Williams said in an interview yesterday. "It's a way for us to reach a much broader audience on a regular basis."
Williams, a strong advocate of the paperless office, has given day-to- day responsibility for the Web site to Thomas Lockard, a partner in the public finance department.
Lockard, who spends much of his time these days tinkering with the site, said two of the most interesting aspects of the new technology are the firm's growing use of electronic mail, and the expanding popularity of Stone & Youngberg's California Municipal Market Report, a 500-word weekly newsletter.
The market report is available on the Web site, or readers can subscribe by e-mail and have the report sent directly to their computer each Monday.
"We make it available by e-mail so a finance director or city administrator can walk into his office on Monday morning and, 500 words later, he or she knows what went on in the California market," Lockard said.
"I've instantly gotten into their office with an explanation of what happened in the market and what we think is going to happen in the next week or so," Lockard said. "In my book, that's better than trying to call on somebody."
During January's major snowstorm on the East Coast, Lockard said the firm used e-mail extensively to communicate with many bond analysts who were working from home.
"One of these days, when everyone is comfortable with this technology, it's going to be bye-bye FedEx," Lockard said.
Stone & Youngberg's Web site has been up and running for about a month, but was just recently advertised to the public this week in the Los Angeles Times' new computers and technology section.
Creating the Web page involved a one-time cost of $5,000 - paid to a northern California multimedia design company, Lockard said. The firm pays $30 a month to maintain the site.
Bids were taken from several Web page designers, and Lockard said the firm decided to go with a designer that does not discriminate between corporate and individual clients. Some design firms charge more for commercial Web sites. Lockard said the bids ranged from $5,000 to $30,000.
Some very large companies, such as San Francisco-based Bank of America, are rumored to have paid hundreds of thousands of dollars for more sophisticated Web pages.
Stone & Youngberg's page is not the firm's only foray into electronic media. Robert Firring, a retail salesman in the firm's Los Angeles office, hosts a daily television program on KWHY Channel 22 - available in the greater Los Angeles area only. The show airs at 9:10 a.m. and features discussions about the municipal market. Information about the program is available on the firm's Web page.
Lockard said it's too early to tell whether the Internet has helped the firm's bottom line. But it has impressed many of his clients.
"It has clearly reinforced goodwill among our clients who have computers connected to the Net," he said. "They are pleased to see that we are into that, and we're forward thinking."
Established in 1931, San Francisco-based Stone & Youngberg is the leading underwriter and distributor of tax-exempt bonds in California, measured by number of issues. By dollar volume, it is consistently ranked among the top four underwriters in the state, along with Merrill Lynch & Co., PaineWebber Inc., and Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Stone & Youngberg has 18 partners, 70 employees, and offices in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and San Diego, providing banking, sales, and trading services.
In its most recent deal, the firm was a member of a J.P. Morgan Securities Inc.-led underwriting syndicate on $135 million of California lease revenue bonds sold to finance improvements to the state's community college system.
Stone & Youngberg's address on the World Wide Web is http://www.styo.com. The firm's e-mail address is sy@syllc.com.
