Business notebook
A new name: Allmerica Financial Corp., a Worcester holding company for insurance firms, changes its name Dec. 1 to Hanover Insurance Group Inc., following a decision to sell its variable life insurance and annuity business and focus on property and casualty.
Goodbye GE, hello Harvard: Benjamin W. Heineman Jr., 61, who built General Electric Co.'s law department into one of the world's largest, will leave GE by year's end to take separate posts at Harvard University and the law firm Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale & Dorr.
Candle slump: Yankee Candle Co. of South Deerfield forecast costs of $4 million to $8 million in the fourth quarter related to a plan to close up to 20 stores and trim its workforce.
On the danger list: Data security company Wave Systems Corp. received notification from the Nasdaq that its stock failed to meet listing requirements by trading below $1 per share for 30 consecutive days. The Lee company must trade above $1 for 10 consecutive days before April 24 to avoid delisting.
New numbers: NaviSite Inc. of Andover revised its results to include a $500,000 legal settlement with two former employees. Its fourth-quarter net loss was revised to $1.8 million, or 6 cents a share, from $1.5 million, or 5 cents; its revised fiscal 2005 net loss was $16.1 million, or 57 cents a share, up from $15.7 million, or 56 cents.
Paper, too: Entries from Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia, may soon be available in print and on CDs for readers without Internet access in the developing world, founder Jimmy Wales said.
Video boom: Apple Computer, maker of the iPod music player, said it has sold over 1 million videos that run on the devices since adding the programs less than three weeks ago.
(Globe wire services)
