Welch: Times Co. had no interest in selling Globe

April 13, 2007

THE REGION

Former General Electric Co. chief Jack Welch said it is clear the management of The New York Times Co. had "no interest" in selling The Boston Globe. Welch, along with Boston advertising executive Jack Connors, last fall teamed with other local investors to consider buying the Globe. "There was a time when it would have been right," Welch said in a speech at MIT. "Management has made it very clear to us that they have no interest in selling the Globe." Asked if that means his bid to buy the Globe is over, he said: "Today it is. Who knows what will happen in the future; but for now it is." Times Co. spokeswoman, Catherine Mathis, said: "It's our long-standing policy not to comment on potential acquisitions or divestitures." (Reuters)

The United Way of Massachusetts Bay is losing another executive. A United Way spokeswoman said Marilyn Anderson Chase, senior vice president for community impact, is leaving at the end of April to become an assistant secretary with the state's executive office of Health and Human Services. This week, Milton J. Little Jr., the charity's chief executive said he is leaving to take the same post at the United Way of Metropolitan Atlanta. (Bruce A. Mohl)

USA Today publisher Gannett Co. Inc. said it will sell four daily newspapers to GateHouse Media Inc. for $410 million. Gannett, the largest US newspaper publisher, is selling the Norwich Bulletin in Connecticut, the Rockford Register Star in Illinois, the Observer-Dispatch in Utica, N.Y., and The Herald-Dispatch in Huntington, W.Va. Gannett is selling the papers as part of a larger plan that includes focusing mostly on papers located near each other, a spokeswoman said. GateHouse, based in Fairport, N.Y., owns 84 daily papers in 19 states, according to its website. Last year the company acquired more than 100 daily and weekly newspapers around Boston, including Boston Herald publisher Patrick Purcell's Community Newspapers Co. and Enterprise News Media LLC, which owned The Patriot Ledger of Quincy and The Enterprise of Brockton. (Reuters)

JetBlue Airways Corp. is adding two destinations from Boston: Aruba and San Diego. Daily San Diego service starts June 28, with fares of $318 to $798 round trip, JetBlue said. On June 30, Saturdays-only service to Aruba will start with fares of $298 to $798 round-trip. Those figures don't include taxes and fees. On both routes JetBlue will use 150-seat Airbus A320 jets. (Peter J. Howe)

Bargain shopping appears to be trumping consumer fears about data theft at TJX Cos., owner of nearly 2,500 discount stores that are enjoying brisk sales despite a breach that exposed at least 45.7 million credit and debit cards to potential fraud. TJX reported sales at stores open at least a year rose 6 percent in March, beating Wall Street's expectations. The performance extended a recent run of sales gains since TJX three months ago disclosed a breach now known to be the biggest data theft ever in the United States. (AP)

UnitedHealth Group has cut patient fees as much as 90 percent for an asthma inhaler made by Marlborough-based Sepracor Inc. that doesn't use a banned air pollutant. Regulators barred inhalers containing CFCs, or chlorofluorocarbons, starting in 2009. Sepracor's Xopenex, one of four CFC-free inhalers, will cost as little as $5 for UnitedHealth patients. Xopenex generated $41 million last year, and Sepracor estimates it will earn $105 million this year. The deal with UnitedHealth may help Sepracor take market share from rivals GlaxoSmithKline, Schering-Plough, and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. (Bloomberg)

THE NATION

Jury deliberations began in Joseph Nacchio's insider trading trial after three weeks of testimony about what the one time head of Qwest Communications may have known when he sold $101 million worth of stock six years ago. Nacchio, accompanied by his wife and a son, appeared upbeat but declined to comment. He is charged with 42 counts of insider trading for sales he completed between January and May in 2001. Each count carries a penalty of up to 10 years in prison and a $1 million fine. (AP)