Boston Business Journal articles from August 1990

Boston Business Journal archives from August 1990

NASDAQ rules zap little guy. (many small, publicly traded Massachusetts companies may be bumped off NASDAQ and Boston Stock Exchanges)
August 20, 1990... NASDAQ rules zap little guy Higher listing requirements and a slumping economy may conspire to bump many small, publicly traded companies from Massachusetts off the NASDAQ stock market and the Boston Stock Exchange. "Getting delisted...

Service tax jitters shake real estate.
August 20, 1990... SERVICE TAX JITTERS SHAKE REAL ESTATE The commercial real estate market, reeling from low rents and high vacancy rates, is bracing for the effects of the state's 5 percent service tax. Although a wait-and-see posture dominates the real...

Haute commodities listed for cold cash. (company profile)
August 20, 1990... HAUTE COMMODITIES LISTED FOR COLD CASH If Richard Goldberg has his way, great master paintings will be listed on Dow Jones-style electronic price networks complete with 52-week highs and lows, just like pork bellies and wheat futures. ...

Taking wary nonprofits to the PILOT. (Payment in Lieu of Taxes program)
August 20, 1990... TAKING WARY NONPROFITS TO THE PILOT For the third consecutive year, the city of Boston collected more than $10 million from tax-exempt institutions during fiscal year 1990 through its highly successful Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT)...

Polaroid in search of another instant success.
August 20, 1990... Polaroid in search of another instant success Polaroid Corp. is so sure about its latest digital imaging product, Helios, that the Cambridge-based company is building its first new factory in more than a decade to manufacture it. ...

Earnings rebound. (Xtra Corp.)
August 20, 1990... Earnings rebound After a protracted proxy contest and subsequent change in management, the Xtra Corp. announced a profitable third quarter on Aug. 9 (see BBJ, March 26). The Boston-based truck leasing company announced third-quarter...

Mobile no more. (Advertising)
August 20, 1990... Mobile no more Suffolk Superior Court last week slapped a preliminary injunction on a Connecticut outdoor advertising company, banning it from driving trucks that promote products on mobile billboards. Stamford-based Moving Advertising...

Symmes Hospital released from intensive care. (emerges from chapter 11)
August 20, 1990... Symmes Hospital released from intensive care Less than a year after mounting debts forced it into bankruptcy court, Symmes Hospital of Arlington emerged from Chapter 11 last week. With the sales of its two sister facilities helping to repay...

Goal for soccer team? More fans, more money.
August 20, 1990... Goal for soccer team? More fans, more money Three years after it all began, both the Boston Bolts and the American Soccer League (ASL) are still alive and barely kicking, hoping to survive until the arrival of the World Cup in 1994, which...

B-schools take a course in economic reality. (business schools)
August 20, 1990... B-schools take a course in economic reality Cutbacks in corporate education-reimbursement programs and the gloomy economic picture of Massachusetts being painted around the country are driving down enrollments at most of the region's...

Lack of cash hobbles toxic cleanup drive.
August 20, 1990... Lack of cash hobbles toxic cleanup drive Unable to win full funding for hazardous-waste cleanup in the new state budget, the state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) instead has turned to a 12-member advisory group composed of...

IntroVision tackles a singles bastion. (matchmaking service through home mail/voice mail) (company profile)
August 20, 1990... Intro Vision tackles a singles bastion Remember bumper-sticker dating services? Probably not. That fad went the way of discos and platform shoes, and flopped as soon as it started in Boston several years ago. Another matchmaker...

Donald Gillis; a neighborhood perspective. (Executive Director of the Economic Development and Industrial Corp.) (Personnel File)
August 20, 1990... Donald Gillis A neighborhood perspective When John Walker Sr. looked for city assistance to expand his Jamaica Plain manufacturing company, Donald Gillis became the first - and last - word in that process. Initially it was as director...

Bargain hunting for mansions; buyers still shell out for pricey homes, but pay less.
August 20, 1990... Bargain Hunting for Mansions First the good news. Sales in the million-dollar home market are steady, which is much more than other segments of residential real estate can boast. After all, the rich can afford to spend even when times are...

Offbeat M-80 club grooves for world peace. (company profile)
August 20, 1990... Offbeat M-80 club grooves for world peace Inside the M-80 dance club, things are dark. The floor is black, the small round tables are black, the battered felt covering the booths is black, as is the major support column. Big black speakers...

Easel, welcome to NASDAQ; a little firm braves the market. (Stock Watch)
August 20, 1990... Easel, welcome to NASDAQ A little firm braves the market Despite a panic-stricken market, Easel Corp. (NASDAQ: EASL), a computer communications and graphics software company, decided to follow through with its initial public offering. On...

Ryka Inc. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (company profile)
August 20, 1990... RYKA Inc. Ryka is trying to carve out a niche in the $3.7 billion athletic-footwear market by designing shoes exclusively for women. The company manufactures running, aerobics, tennis, cross-training and walking shoes in South Korea and...

Richard A. Gilleland. (Health/Science) (Boston on the Record: Fast Track)
August 20, 1990... Richard A. Gilleland, Richard A. Gilleland, a 23-year health care industry veteran has been named chairman, president and CEO of The Kendall Co. Previously he held a similar position at A.M.I. in California. Located in Boston, Kendall is...

Economy's undertow pulls down Multibank. (Multibank Financial Corp.)
August 13, 1990... ECONOMY'S UNDERTOW PULLS DOWN MULTIBANK Conservative bank stung by softness in real estate market The rising red tide of loan losses has finally washed over Multibank Financial Corp., one of the state's most conservative and stable...

Clarke's victory spells trouble for landlords. (Boston restaurant)
August 13, 1990... Clarke's victory spells trouble for landlords Commercial landlords in Massachusetts will have less control over subleasing in their buildings if a state appeals court upholds a recent ruling against Merchants Row Inc., owned by developer...

Skin maker searches for market. (Organogenesis)
August 13, 1990... SKIN MAKER SEARCHES FOR MARKET Cambridge-based Organogenesis is hoping to capitalize on the controversy surrounding animal testing in cosmetics laboratories with TESTSKIN, its human skin analog. But while more than 50 companies have begun...

Mideast crisis could oil the way for Environmental BioScience's bug. (microbe that removes sulphur from crude oil)
August 13, 1990... Mideast crisis could oil the way for Environmental BioScience's bug When Ben Downs looks toward the Canadian north, he sees a vast untapped resource of oil that he hopes someday to liberate. Downs is vice president of Environmental...

Lotus Development Corp. (Debriefing)
August 13, 1990... Lotus Development Corp. last week announced new hiring restrictions and the layoff of 40 workers from its worldwide ranks of 3100 workers. Just weeks before, the computer software firm warned that its bottom-line performance would disappoint...

Towle Manufacturing Co. (Debriefing)
August 13, 1990... The Federal Trade Commission last week approved the purchase of the bankrupt Towle Manufacturing Co. by silver tycoon Leonard Florence and his Syratech Corp. The deal would not violate US anti-trust laws, the FCC ruled, although sale of the...

Lifeline Systems Inc. (Debriefing)
August 13, 1990... Lifeline Systems Inc. of Watertown assigned its $1.5 million ad account to Cabot Communications, the Boston-based firm that has been generating negative publicity of its own due to client resignations and management problems. Lifeline, maker...

Bank of New England Corp. (Debriefing)
August 13, 1990... Bank of New England Corp. plans to create a single, statewide bank by merging with Bank of New England-West, based in Springfield. The merger will boost the capital of the ailing Boston bank.

Microwave Research Corp. (Debriefing)
August 13, 1990... Microwave Research Corp. agreed to pay $175,000 in civil penalties in a suit by the state, charging the North Andover firm with illegally dumping hazardous wastes and metals into ground water, attorney general James Shannon announced last...

A flustered Monarch reaches for a quick fix. (Monarch Capital Corp.)
August 13, 1990... A flustered Monarch reaches for a quick fix In an effort to pull up its flagging financial services subsidiary, Springfield's Monarch Capital Corp. (NYSE: MON) has purchased a savvy New York annuities firm with strong marketing connections....

Record Royalties. (Biogen Inc.)
August 13, 1990... Biogen Record royalties Biogen (NASDAQ: BGENP), the 12-year-old Cambridge-based biotech firm, is again enjoying record royalties from old patents, including alpha interferon, a drug used to treat hairy cell leukemia and genital...

Blues, CMA link to provide home AIDS care. (Blue Cross and Blue Shield of MAssachusetts; Community Medical Alliance)
August 13, 1990... Blues, CMA link to provide home AIDS care Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Massachusetts has signed an agreement with a Boston medical group to treat critically ill AIDS patients in their own homes. During the first year, up to 150 of the...

DEC engineers being abusive--to a fault. (Digital Equipment Corp.)
August 13, 1990... DEC engineers being abusive--to a fault Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC) is busy finding fault with its computers these days. After all, if the Maynard-based computer maker is to effectively compete in the lucrative fault-tolerance end of the...

Schoolkids' parents get assigned reading. (Polaroid Corp.; education policy)
August 13, 1990... Schoolkids' parents get assigned reading Polaroid Corp. wants its employees to hit the books. As part of an effort to improve grade school education, the Cambridge-based company recently decided to send a monthly newsletter to its employees...

Trina Waniga. (founder of Markham International debt trading company) (Personnel File)
August 13, 1990... TRINA WANIGA Trading in debt--and risk At 5 am, Trina Waniga's phone rings. On the line is a European construction company that just got word that its bid to build a hydroelectric dam in Nigeria is under consideration. The company...

Celtics trim "unit" perks. (Boston Celtics Limited Partnership) (Stock Watch)
August 13, 1990... Celtics trim "unit" perks Now, one dividend, one report a year Somehow this must have quietly slipped by unnoticed. In June, the Boston Celtics Limited Partnership (NYSE: BOS), the publicly traded company that owns the Celts,...

Prime Computer. (Fast Track)
August 13, 1990... Prime Computer recently announced two new executive appointments. Delbert Lippert, formerly president and CEO of NovAtel Communications, a Canadian cellular telephone manufacturer, has joined the company as executive vice president. In...

Wang Laboratories. (Fast Track)
August 13, 1990... Wang Laboratories announced that Joseph M. Tucci, former president of US information systems at Unisys Corp., will join the company as executive vice president of operations. He will be responsible for all sales, marketing, service and...

The Weber Group. (Corporate Notes)
August 13, 1990... The Weber Group of Cambridge, a public relations and marketing consulting firm with a growing list of high-technology clients, recently landed the Security Dynamics Inc. account. Also based in Cambridge, SDI develops state-of-the-art computer...

New England Tea & Coffee Co. (Corporate Notes)
August 13, 1990... New England Tea & Coffee Co. named Quincy's Graham Communications as its marketing agency of record. Besides serving New England Tea & Coffee's advertising, public relations and promotional needs, Graham will assist its Malden-based client in...

Esprit de Corp. (Corporate Notes)
August 13, 1990... San Francisco-based Esprit de Corp., international designers of young women's and children's sportswear, apparel, shoes and accessories, selected Boston's Cone Communications to develop a national marketing and public relations program....

Bachman Information Systems Inc. (Corporate Notes)
August 13, 1990... Bachman Information Systems Inc., a Burlington-based software developer, entered a joint relationship with IBM Asia/Pacific. IBM Asia/Pacific will market, sell and support the BACHMAN/Re-Engineering product set in East Asia.

M/A-COM Inc. (Corporate Notes)
August 13, 1990... M/A-COM Inc. recently sold its government systems division to The Titan Corp. of San Diego. The sale is the largest completed by M/A-COM since the company announced a divestiture plan. Based in Burlington, M/A-COM supplies surveillance...

Sequoia Systems Inc. (Corporate Notes)
August 13, 1990... Sequoia Systems Inc., a Marlboro manufacturer of fault-tolerant systems serving on-line transaction needs, established a working agreement with Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd., Korea's largest electronics company. Under terms of the agreement,...

Hospital CEO pay up 12%.
August 6, 1990... Hospital CEO pay up 12% B&W's Nesson received $100,000 raise in '89 The salary and compensation for chief executives of Boston's major teaching hospitals rose 12.5 percent last year, according to records on file with the state...

Gemini may launch proxy battle for Healthco. (Gemini Partners L.P.; Healthco International)
August 6, 1990... GEMINI MAY LAUNCH PROXY BATTLE FOR HEALTHCO Unable to score a clear victory in its first attempt at a hostile takeover of Healthco International, Gemini Partners is expected to launch a proxy fight to overthrow Healthco's board of directors...

Investors flock to Boston Chicken. (Boston chicken take-out restaurant)
August 6, 1990... Investors flock to Boston Chicken George Naddaff is always hungry. The Newton resident hungers for small, successful businesses that he can clone and turn into big, bustling chains. Which is how he stumbled upon Boston Chicken. One...

Leon Clothing Manufacturers. (Debriefing)
August 6, 1990... The 39-year-old garment factory, Leon Clothing Manufacturers, threatened last week to fold due to unrenewed contracts with the federal government to make dress blue uniform jackets for the US Marine Corps. Counting on the one-year military...

Stanley P. Gold. (Debriefing)
August 6, 1990... Stanley P. Gold announced plans last week to buy Child World, the No. 2 retail toy store chain in the country, from Cleveland-based CNC Holding Corp. Gold was unsuccessful last year in an attempted a hostile takeover of Polaroid Corp. ...

GTE Corp. (Debriefing)
August 6, 1990... GTE Corp., the telecommunications giant, took over the No. 3 independent phone company in the nation, Contel Corp., based in Atlanta. The merger will boost GTE's presence in the cellular phone business, creating the second largest cellular...

Raytheon Co. (Debriefing)
August 6, 1990... Raytheon Co. announced trend-bucking earnings of $144.8 million for the second quarter 1990, amid speculation that defense stocks will suffer from a drop in military spending. The Lexington-based defense electronics company posted...

Sequoia Systems Inc. (Debriefing)
August 6, 1990... The Marlborough-based biotech company Sequoia Systems Inc. posted record revenues of $48.61 million after its first year as a public company. Fiscal 1990 net income more than tripled to $4,470,000, or 61 cents per share, from $1,422,000, or...

Wang Laboratories. (Debriefing)
August 6, 1990... Wang Laboratories posted a fourth-quarter loss of $496.7 million last week and announced layoffs of 1000 employees, including 190 jobs at the Lowell manufacturing facility, over the next few months.

1st American Bank for Savings. (Debriefing)
August 6, 1990... 1st American Bank for Savings of Dorchester last week announced a $14.8 million loss for the first six months of the year, a lesser blow compared to losses of $60.6 million in the first six months of 1989. The company's nonperforming assets...

New England Power Co. (Debriefing)
August 6, 1990... New England Power Co. filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last week to hike residential customers' bills by about $2.90 a month, amounting to a $119.4 million rate increase. With federal approval, the Westboro-based utility...

Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. (Debriefing)
August 6, 1990... Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Co. announced last week it will jointly acquire Oppenheimer Management Corp., the No. 25 mutual fund company in the country, with Oppenheimer's senior management. MassMutual, the 11th largest national life...

Tons of Toys Inc. (Debriefing)
August 6, 1990... The US Bankruptcy court approved the reorganization plan of Tons of Toys Inc., the retail toy store chain headquartered in Wareham. Under the plan, Tons of Toys will sell a controlling interest in the company to shareholders of T.H.E. Corp.,...

Enzytech savors the potential of its faux fat. (biotechnology company)
August 6, 1990... Enzytech savors the potential of its faux fat At their board meeting in May, directors of Enzytech Inc. put their mouths where their money is. The Cambridge-based biotechnology company served its directors a luncheon consisting of...

Judy George. (Personnel File)
August 6, 1990... JUDY GEORGE The passion and the profit Judy George was dining at her friends' home in Spain several months ago when she eyed a hand-crafted iron table that she just had to have for Domain, her upscale, eclectic Norwood-based...

Lending first-time buyers a helping hand. (Boston Five Bancorporation Inc.)
August 6, 1990... Lending first-time buyers a helping hand A lethargic residential real estate market and increased competition within New England's banking community are the impetus behind the courtship of first-time home buyers by Boston-area banks. ...

PictureTel Corp. (Proxy Report Excerpts) (company profile)
August 6, 1990... PictureTel Corp. THE BUSINESS Headquarters: Peabody Stock Symbol: PCTL Market: NASDAQ Annual Revenue: ...

Seaforth M. Lyle. (Boston on the Record)
August 6, 1990... Seaforth M. Lyle was named chairman of the board of Ontologic, an object-oriented database firm headquartered in Burlington. He joined the company in 1986, after serving as vice president of Banyan Systems. Lyle will retain his title as...

Fitchburg Gas and Electric Light Co. (Dividends)
August 6, 1990... Fitchburg Gas and Electric Light Co. declared a dividend of 53 cents per share on the company's common stock payable Aug. 15 to shareholders of record on Aug. 3. Quarterly dividends on the company's cumulative preferred stock, $100 par value,...

UniFirst Corp. (Dividends)
August 6, 1990... UniFirst Corp. announced a regular quarterly dividend of 3 cents per share payable Oct. 2, to shareholders of record on Sept. 12. The directors of Easton Vance Corp., which is a holding company owner of all shares of Boston-based...

The Sandwich Co-operative Bank. (Dividends)
August 6, 1990... The board of directors of The Sandwich Co-operative Bank announced a quarterly cash dividend of 5 cents per share payable Aug. 14 to stockholders of record on July 31. The dividend decreased from its previous quarter's 15 cents per share due...

The Colonial Group Inc. (Dividends)
August 6, 1990... The Colonial Group Inc., which specializes in investment management and distribution of mutual funds, declared a regular quarterly dividend of 10 cents per share on its Class A and Class B common stock payable by Aug. 15 to shareholders of...

Marsoft Inc. (Corporate Notes)
August 6, 1990... Marsoft Inc. of Cambridge, a leading developer of PC-based decision-support tools for the maritime industry, signed a contract providing Citibank NA with its bulk decision support system (BDSS). Installed in Citibank sites in New York, London...

Digital Equipment Corp. (Corporate Notes)
August 6, 1990... The Institute for Visualization and Perception Research at the University of Lowell signed Digital Equipment Corp. and Mercury Computer Systems as its first members. Founded in May, the institute is chartered to advance technology in various...

AMNET. (Corporate Notes)
August 6, 1990... AMNET, a software developer in Framingham, was selected after a worldwide search by IBM to develop network software for IBM personal computers.

Xylogics. (Corporate Notes)
August 6, 1990... Burlington-based Xylogics, a leading supplier of intelligent high-performance peripheral controllers, recently signed a major contract with International Computers Ltd. of England. Under the agreement, Xylogics will supply its 780...