Oracle expanding in Boston area
BOSTON – Oracle Corp. of Redwood City, Calif., the largest data-based software manufacturer in the country, has announced plans to expand its operations in the Boston area, locating in a campus area at a still-to-be selected site and add employees over a five-year period. The company already employs between 900 and 1,000 persons in various locations in this area. A spokesperson for the company said plans call for an additional 1,000 employees in the centralized location.
Polaroid reports quarterly profit
CAMBRIDGE – Spurred by the introduction of several new products, especially its disposable, single-use instant camera, Polaroid Corp. reported its first profitable quarter to quarter in three years, and the first report of profitability by the company in nine months. Strong sales of its new products in Japan were credited with a large share of the company’s new success. However, the reported profits were offset by the company’s announcement that its second half would not be so successful because of further declines in some of its non-core business and anticipated fluctuations in foreign currencies. As a result the company’s stock took a sharp decline. But the company’s chairman Gary T. DiCamillo asserted that the company was successfully pursuing its planned turnaround with its new products, employee reduction (3,000 jobs eliminated in the last three years), and sale of some of its non-core businesses.
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Open Market acquires Future Tense
BURLINGTON – Open Market Inc. has agreed to acquire Future Tense Inc., a privately held provider of content management software for the Internet for $125.25 million in stock. Open Market will issue 7.2 million shares of its own common stock for all of Future Tense’s share’s, plus 1.12 million options that can be converted into Open market shares. The two companies agreed that the deal will enable them to reach medium-sized companies looking for one-stop shopping in content management and commerce via the Internet.
Massport approves airline for Hanscom
BOSTON – The board of directors for Massachusetts Port Authority has unanimously approved commercial air service from Hanscom Field, despite the objections of neighbors. The field is surrounded by Bedford, Concord, Lexington and Lincoln and is located near Route 128. The service which is scheduled to begin Sept. 7 will be supplied by Shuttle America, a Connecticut company, which plans four flights a day to Trenton, N.J., with connections to Buffalo, N.Y. and Norfolk, Va. About 15 to 20 people would be employed by the airline at Hanscom, the company reported. Hanscom is used by private and corporate aircraft at present, but also has had commercial flights in the past. Shuttle America announced that it planned to fly Dash 8-300 aircraft, a 50-passenger aircraft, into Hanscom.
Times to buy Abuzz Technologies
NEW YORK CITY – The New York Times Co. has announced plans to buy Abuzz Technologies, Inc., of Cambridge, makers of Beehive, a knowledge management system. A Times spokesperson said the company planned to bring the Beehive system to the Internet as a way of producing a community of experts. Beehive is used by companies to profile its employees and link them through e-mail so that their specialized knowledge is accessible directly. The New York Times, which also owns the Boston Globe, apparently hopes to do something like that through its Website. The company recently combined all of its on-line properties into a business entity called Times Company Digital.
Convergence Pharmaceuticals sold
BOSTON – After four months of existence, Convergence Pharmaceuticals, Inc., founded by four researchers, was sold for $10 million in the stock of Ilex Oncology, Inc., the purchaser. Convergence’s work has been in the development of advanced and promising forms of cancer treatment It involves work in the field called angiogenesis. Ilex, based in San Antonio, is getting six anti-cancer compounds from Convergence. Its compounds are used to deprive cancerous tumors of blood and thus inhibit the growth of the tumors. Dr. Judah Folkman of Children’s Hospital did the pioneering work in the field and has licensed two promising compounds to EntreMed, Inc., of Rockville, Md., the principal competitor of Convergence. A Convergence spokesman said that by agreeing to the sale to Ilex, Convergence will be able to get its drugs into animal and human clinical trials much sooner than if the company had remained independent.
EG&G sells technical service unit
WELLESLEY – EG&G, Inc., maker of security and medical diagnostic products, has sold its technical services unit to Carlyle Group of Washington, D.C. for $250 million, the company announced last week. EG&G said was making the sale to consolidate its operations and to finance other investments. A company spokesperson said the unit sold provided management, engineering, scientific and other support services to government agencies. The spokesperson also said the sale advanced the company’s plan to focus on its electronics, aerospace, life sciences, and analytical instrument products. The sale is expected to be completed by September, the company reported.
Energy secretary plans regional power summit
SAN FRANCISCO – Bill Richardson, U.S. Energy Secretary, told state utility regulators here that he wanted to convene a “Northeast regional power summit” to look for ways to avert the kinds of blackouts and near blackouts that have hit the region since early June when the first of a series of heat waves arrived.
