Middlesex County pension plan files suit vs. Monster

THE REGION

The Middlesex County Retirement System sued Monster Worldwide Inc., its former chief executive, and two other officials, alleging the parent of jobs website Monster.com inflated its stock price by improperly accounting for stock option grants. The suit was filed in US District Court for the Southern District of New York on behalf of shareholders who bought Monster stock between May 6, 2005, and June 9, 2006. Monster Worldwide did not immediately return calls seeking comment. (Reuters)

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, Tufts Health Plan, and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts did well in J.D. Power and Associates' annual ranking of health plans. In the Northeast region, Harvard Pilgrim received the highest score, 785 points out of 1,000. Tufts was second with 771, and Blue Cross Blue Shield was sixth with 755. In a national ranking last fall by the nonprofit National Committee for Quality Assurance, Harvard Pilgrim ranked first, Tufts was second, and Blue Cross was fourth. (Jeffrey Krasner)

David S. Ishihara, the federal security director at Bradley International Airport in Windsor Locks, Conn., was appointed by the Massachusetts Port Authority board of directors as director of aviation operations, the number two day-to-day official running Logan International Airport. Ishihara is a former assistant manager of Portland International Jetport. (Peter J. Howe)

Peoples Federal Savings Bank , based in Brighton , and Brookline Cooperative Bank plan to merge under the Peoples banner in the third quarter , pending shareholder and regulatory approvals. The combined bank would have branches in Allston , Brighton , Brookline , West Roxbury , Norwood, and Jamaica Plain , and $370 million in assets. Jim Gavin , Peoples' vice president and chief operating officer, said no money changed hands in the deal, which was motivated by his bank's wanting a Brookline branch and Brookline Cooperative's desire to have more capital and offer more services. (Keith Reed)

Online video syndication service Brightcove Inc. has signed deals with three publishers to add video clips to the websites of several US magazines including Elle, Cosmo, and Men's Health. The moves come as magazines try to engage more readers online and tap into the growing Internet video advertising market. Magazine publishers Hearst Corp., Rodale Inc., and Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S., a unit of France's Lagardere, separately said they signed deals with Cambridge-based Brightcove, which helps media companies manage ad-supported videos. Terms were not disclosed. (Reuters)

Calpers, the biggest US pension fund, singled out Marsh & McLennan Cos. and Hopkinton-based EMC Corp., and nine other companies as failing in corporate governance and financial performance. The California Public Employees' Retirement System wants Marsh & McLennan, corporate parent of Putnam Investments, to ease supermajority rules for shareholder proposals and curtail executive severance-pay packages. The fund said EMC, the world's largest maker of data-storage computers and software, has resisted efforts to roll back severance pay for executives. An M&M spokesman said that since 2004, the board has adopted rules requiring directors to win a majority of votes in uncontested reelection votes; increased independent directors to 11 of 12, and separated the positions of chairman and chief executive. An EMC spokesman said that during the past three years, EMC has outperformed rivals, with revenue increasing 79 percent to $11.2 billion, and both net income and earnings per share growing nearly 150 percent. "A substantial portion of our executives' compensation is tied to EMC's business performance," he said. (Bloomberg)

Spectra Energy Corp., which has more than 17,500 miles of pipeline in the United States and Canada, won approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission for a line to a proposed offshore liquefied natural gas terminal in Massachusetts. The 16.4-mile line will be capable of sending up to 800 million cubic feet of gas a day into Massachusetts from a terminal proposed by Excelerate Energy. (Bloomberg)