Ex-Gillette marketing chief hired as Globe executive
The Boston Globe yesterday named Patricia Knight vice president of consumer sales and product development. Knight, 45, will oversee the Globe's single-copy circulation sales, including the Globe's distribution subsidiary, Retail Sales LLC. She also will be responsible for developing new lines of business that extend the Globe's brand into markets such as content licensing and reprints, photo sales, book and DVD development, and product merchandising. Knight will start Jan. 9 and will report to Yasmin Namini, chief customer officer. A Boston native, Knight previously worked for Gillette Co., where she held a variety of marketing posts. Most recently, she was global marketing director for Gillette's Oral-B division.
Outgoing Biogen chairman to receive $7m severance
William H. Rastetter, outgoing chairman of Biogen Idec Inc. of Cambridge, will receive a severance payment of $7 million when he leaves the company next week, according to a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The company said Rastetter's resignation was structured as a termination for ''good reason." That qualifies Rastetter for payments of three times his annual base salary and target bonus, or about $6 million. He also will get a $1 million bonus based on Biogen Idec's performance in 2005. Outstanding options for 1.6 million shares of stock will fully vest upon Rastetter's departure. He will also receive $134,682 in reimbursement for furnishings he bought for a company condominium he stayed in while in Boston. (Jeffrey Krasner)
Utility's rate deal unfair to consumers, group says
An organization that buys wholesale electricity for 183,000 Cape Cod homeowners and businesses is opposing a proposed NStar rate deal, calling it unfair to consumers. Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly and Associated Industries of Massachusetts negotiated the proposed reduction earlier this month, saying it will save consumers $20 million, or 46 cents a month for the average homeowner, starting Jan. 1. But the Cape Light Compact, made up of Barnstable County and Martha's Vineyard town governments, said some of the claimed savings are just bill collections being deferred until 2012 with nearly 11 percent interest. The state Department of Telecommunications and Energy is due to rule on the NStar case by next Friday. (Peter J. Howe)
Highfields presses Mellon for a deal with Merrill unit
Highfields Capital Management LP, saying investors have lost their patience over a lagging stock price, pressed Mellon Financial Corp. to split the company in two and merge its asset-management unit with that of Merrill Lynch & Co. Highfields, a Boston hedge fund company cofounded by former Harvard University endowment fund manager Jonathon Jacobson, said the combination would increase revenue and lower costs at Mellon. (Bloomberg)
Wakefield firm's IPO flat on first day of trading
The last US initial public offering of 2005 got off to a ho-hum debut. Nucryst Pharmaceuticals Corp. of Wakefield ended its first day of trading as a public stock at $10 a share on the Nasdaq Stock Market, flat with its IPO price. The subsidiary of Westaim Corp. of Calgary, Alberta, sold 4.5 million shares at a price below the expected range of $12 to $14. The company had originally filed to sell 5.77 million shares. Nucryst develops medical products with a patented silver coating that fights infection and inflammation. (AP/Dow Jones)
Workers OK pact requiring higher health payments
Ford Motor Co. workers narrowly approved a pact with the United Auto Workers that will require hourly workers and retirees to pay more for their healthcare, the union said. The deal is expected to save Ford $850 million annually in healthcare costs. Workers approved the deal by a 51 percent majority, the UAW said. Last month, hourly workers at General Motors Corp. approved a similar agreement by a 61 percent majority. (AP)
Employee union mulls bid for Knight Ridder papers
A union representing newspaper employees said it had retained two advisory firms to consider bidding for as many as nine newspapers owned by San Jose, Calif.-based Knight Ridder Inc., which has been forced by its largest shareholders to explore a sale. The Newspaper Guild-Communications Workers of America said it had retained Duff & Phelps Securities of Chicago and Ownership Associates Inc. of Cambridge to advise the union on putting together a ''worker-friendly" proposal for some of Knight Ridder's papers. Guild president Linda Foley said an employee stock ownership plan was one possibility. (AP)
