Attorneys awarded $6.5m

A federal judge in Boston approved paying $6.5 million to attorneys who brought class-action cases against TJX Cos., of Framingham, over a massive consumer data breach. Last year, the retailer said hackers had compromised the data in as many as 100 million accounts. It eventually settled lawsuits by offering free credit monitoring to customers whose personal information may have been stolen and other services. The attorneys valued these benefits at more than $200 million, according to a Nov. 3 ruling by Judge William Young, who questioned whether consumers really claimed benefits worth that much. (Ross Kerber)

Genzyme Corp. will pay Osiris Therapeutics Inc. as much as $1.38 billion to develop therapies that use stem cells to treat blood cancers, inflammation, and joint damage. Maryland-based Osiris will get $130 million initially for work on the experimental medicines, Prochymal and Chondrogen. It could get $1.25 billion more if the drugs meet development and sales goals. Genzyme, of Cambridge, is betting on the technology to expand its cell-transplant therapies. (Bloomberg)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. is closing down a 75-person group that traded the bank's own money in everything from stocks to commodities, a person familiar with the move said. The stand-alone trading desk had worked separately from traders doing similar work within various business lines. While most of the traders from the group will be laid off, some will be transferred within the bank, said the person, who asked to remain anonymous because he was not authorized to speak publicly. The move was designed to eliminate duplication and help cut costs. (AP)

Sprint Nextel Corp., the mobile-phone company ordered to pay $73 million to customers in a California lawsuit over termination fees, was sued in federal court over the charges in a new complaint seeking as much as $1.2 billion. Four Sprint customers said in a complaint filed in federal court in San Francisco that the fees, as high as $200, are illegal because they are not tied to actual costs associated with early terminations, as required by law. "Plaintiff's counsel estimate that defendants have charged customers approximately $1.2 billion in illegal early termination fee penalties since 1999," according to the complaint against Sprint, the third-biggest US wireless carrier. (Bloomberg)

U.S. News and World Report plans to cut its publishing frequency by half for the second time this year, making it the latest news publication to embrace an online-heavy approach, according to a published report. The Washington Post, citing unnamed staffers briefed on the decision, said the magazine's print edition will focus on popular consumer guides such as its annual ranking of colleges, while its website will offer expanded features. A U.S. News spokeswoman declined to comment. The Post did not say when U.S. News will go monthly. (AP)

The chief executive of Gannett Co. will take a voluntary 17 percent pay cut through next year, while senior executives will have their salaries frozen as the nation's top newspaper publisher prepares for major layoffs next month. In a memo to the staff, Craig Dubow acknowledged the "deep sacrifices" that all employees are making. He said he was reducing his annual pay by $200,000, beginning this month and continuing through 2009. The memo did not specify his base compensation. According to proxy statements filed with federal regulators, he made $1.2 million in 2006 and 2007, and $200,000 is 17 percent of that amount. (AP)

American International Group Inc. trampled investors' rights by accepting a rescue package from the federal government in return for a majority stake in the insurer, a shareholder contends in a lawsuit. AIG's board violated Delaware corporate law by refusing to allow shareholders to vote on a key part of the bailout proposal, which gives a 79.9 percent stake to the government in return for $85 billion in loans, Wilma Walker said in a complaint filed in Delaware Chancery Court in Wilmington. New York-based AIG, the nation's biggest insurer by assets, is incorporated in Delaware. (Bloomberg)