Steinway Musical buys ArkivMusic for $4.5m

Steinway Musical Instruments Inc., the Waltham maker of the iconic grand piano, said it has bought ArkivMusic LLC, which sells classical music recordings online, for about $4.5 million. Steinway will pay $3 million in cash up front and make annual payments of about $500,000 over the next three years, according to a news release. ArkivMusic sells over 90,000 titles, including several out-of-print selections, the company said. Steinway does not expect the deal to affect 2008 earnings. ArkivMusic will operate independently as a subsidiary of Steinway, the company said. (AP)

A Chelmsford semiconductor equipment maker, Brooks Automation Inc., failed to properly account for employee stock options, overstating its income by $64.5 million over 10 years, the Securities and Exchange Commission said in a settlement with the company. The SEC previously had charged Brooks's former chief executive, Robert Therrien, with backdating stock options. Therrien has denied wrongdoing. The agency did not fine Brooks and praised the company for its "swift, extensive, and extraordinary cooperation" in the investigation. The company did not admit to or deny the allegations. (Ross Kerber)

RainDance Technologies Inc., a small life-sciences equipment provider, said it plans to move to Lexington from Guilford, Conn., this month. The company said its new 28,000-square-foot facility in Lexington is double the size of its current location and will employ 65 people by year's end. The four-year-old firm's "microdroplet" technology is used to help sequence the human genome at greater speeds. (Todd Wallack)

Health and industrial sciences company PerkinElmer Inc. said chief financial officer Jeffrey D. Capello is resigning June 6 to pursue an opportunity outside the company. Capello, who has held the post since January 2006, will be replaced on an interim basis by vice president and controller Michael L. Battles. (AP)

Eight former America Online Inc. executives, including chief financial officers John Michael Kelly and Joseph Ripp, were sued by US regulators for allegedly helping to overstate Internet advertising revenue by more than $1 billion from 2000 to 2002. Four of them agreed to pay more than $8 million to settle a Securities and Exchange Commission lawsuit filed in Manhattan, the commission said. The regulator's claims are still pending against Kelly, 51, Ripp, 56, and two others. In mid-2000, before AOL completed its takeover of Time Warner, the Internet service provider began overstating revenue by paying more for goods and services in exchange for customers' ad purchases, the SEC said. The company agreed to pay $300 million in 2005 to settle a related regulatory probe. (Bloomberg)

Napster Inc. begins selling MP3s today, a move the online music service hopes will lure iPod users and turn around Napster's sliding fortunes. The company is the latest to make the switch to the unrestricted file format, which makes its music tracks compatible with virtually any music player or other device. Tracks downloaded as part of Napster's subscription service will continue to have copyright restrictions. Amazon.com is the only other retailer offering MP3 downloads from all the major record labels. Napster MP3s will be priced at 99 cents each, while full-album downloads will start at $9.95, the company said. (AP)

DeVry Inc., a provider of technical and college degrees, was accused of filing false statements to the government and will turn over documents on recruiter pay and performance to the Justice Department's civil division. The department requested documents and other information from DeVry this month after receiving allegations the company may have submitted false claims or statements to the Education Department, DeVry said. The Oakbrook Terrace, Ill., company doesn't know who made the allegations and believes it did nothing wrong, a company spokesman said. For-profit colleges are barred from awarding bonuses to recruiters based on the number of students they enroll, said Alexander Paris Jr., an analyst at Barrington Research Associates Inc. in Chicago. DeVry fell $2.47, or 4.4 percent, to $54.20. (Bloomberg)