Business news from the Boston Globe
E-book in hand not necessarily the book you want to read
I have a modest proposal. Every large library in the state - heck, in the country - should buy 10 electronic book readers and allow patrons to check them out for two weeks, just like real books.
Taking stock since ’99, it’s not all pretty
What does it mean to be a moneymaking stock through one of the market’s worst decades in history?
OneUnited skips third dividend payment to US
OneUnited Bank, one of the nation’s largest minority-owned banks, skipped another dividend payment to the US government on the $12.1 million it received under the financial industry bailout, according to newly released data from the US Treasury Department.
Stores banking on gift-card credits to bring shoppers back
Call it the gift card giveaway. L.L. Bean is handing out a $10 gift card for every $25 that shoppers spend, a much sweeter deal than last year’s $10 for every $50 purchase. Popular teen merchant Abercrombie & Fitch, which has long resisted promotions, is featuring a $25 gift card for every $100 spent. And upscale Boston hair salon Mizu ...
NStar will sell power plant serving Longwood-area hospitals
NStar said it has agreed to sell a power plant subsidiary that provides heat and electricity to some of Boston’s top hospitals in the Longwood medical area for $320 million in cash.
With clients on the move, ad firms refocus
Boston’s advertising industry has been a revolving door for some marquee clients this year, and local agencies are scrambling to attract and retain them.
Sanofi-Aventis joins move to consumer care
TRENTON, N.J. - French drug maker Sanofi-Aventis SA said yesterday it plans to buy US health care company Chattem Inc. , maker of over-the-counter mainstays like Gold Bond skin products, for $1.9 billion in cash.
US limits tarmac standings
WASHINGTON - Stinky toilets, crying babies, airless cabins - the Obama administration said yesterday that passengers don’t have to take it any more. It ordered airlines to let people get off planes delayed on the ground after three hours.
Rates rise at Treasury bills auction
WASHINGTON - Interest rates on short-term Treasury bills rose in yesterday’s auction to the highest levels since late October.
OPEC expected to keep quotas level
LUANDA, Angola - OPEC will make no changes in production quotas when it meets today in Angola, Saudi oil minister Ali al-Naimi said yesterday.
Ford moves to cut size of workforce
DETROIT - Ford Motor Co. has offered buyout or retirement incentive packages to all of its 41,000 US hourly workers.
Investors targeting Florida banks
CHARLOTTE, N.C. - Former Bank of America Corp. chief executive Hugh McColl Jr. and chief financial officer Marc Oken are among investors raising as much as $600 million to buy Florida banking assets.
Key AIG staffer will get $4.26m extra
WASHINGTON - American International Group , the bailed-out insurer, was permitted by the special master for executive pay to give $4.26 million more to an employee who decided not to leave the firm.
Columnist joins Harvard group
Justin Fox, a business and economics columnist at Time magazine, will join Harvard Business Review Group as editorial director, a new position. The job will entail supervising content in all of the group’s properties, including the magazine, the website, and books.
Movie chain will sell up to 35 theaters
The Dedham-based movie chain National Amusements Inc. has finalized a deal to sell up to 35 theaters to Rave Cinemas LLC, a new company in Dallas.