Study: Mass. life science initiative creating jobs

BOSTON — Midway through Massachusetts' ambitious 10-year, $1 billion life science initiative, the state is already reaping benefits.

That's the finding of a new study by Northeastern University economists Barry Bluestone and Alan Clayton-Matthews.

The report found that after 5 years and more than $300 million in investments, Massachusetts has overtaken all competitor states in its rate of life sciences job creation.

The analysis found the state made $301 million in investments between June 2008 and June 2012, including more than $186 million for capital projects and nearly $57 million in tax incentives to companies that meet specific hiring goals.

By June 30, 2012, those companies had created 2,537 new jobs.

The report also concluded that investments in startup companies are a strong draw to Massachusetts for larger companies.

Gov. Deval Patrick signed the bill into law in 2008.

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Yahoo buys startup run by 17-year-old entrepreneur

SAN FRANCISCO — A London startup owned by a 17-year-old entrepreneur has Yahoo as a buyer.

The teenager was seeking an easier way to read news stories and other content on the smaller screens of smartphones, so he built an app for that.

The deal announced Monday is Yahoo's fifth small acquisition in the past five months. It's part of CEO Marissa Mayer's effort to attract more engineers with expertise in building services for smartphones and tablet computers, an area of technology that she believed the Internet company had been neglecting.

Yahoo didn't disclose how much it is paying for Summly.

Founder Nick D'Aloisio began working on the app at his London home when he was 15. He's younger than Yahoo, which was incorporated in March 1995.

D'Aloisio said Summly will no longer be available, but the technology will return in other Yahoo products.

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Restaurateur has his plate full with Hub community projects

Restaurateur and developer Darryl Settles has seen many of the Hub's ups and downs since he came here as a Digital Equipment Corp. engineer three decades ago — before he took over the landmark nightclub Bob the Chef's, now Darryl's Corner Bar and Kitchen, and built his reputation as a successful Boston businessman.

Drawing on his experience reviving Bob the Chef's and developing other projects in the Hub, Settles sees his new joint venture with the Winn Cos., dubbed WiSe Urban Development, as a way for property owners to upgrade their residential units at a time when credit is tight following the housing crash.

"This is innovative in terms of what the joint venture is doing by working with nonprofits and partnering with them," Settles told the Herald, during an interview at his Faneuil Hall office. "In the old days, when things were great, a nonprofit could go to a bank and say, 'Hey, I have 200 units or 150 units that I want to redevelop, help me out,' and the bigger banks would say, 'sure.' That was their community thing to do because everybody was making so much money. But since the crash, it's been tough for nonprofits and community development corporations."

In addition to his work as a developer, Settles is known as the early force behind the Beantown Jazz Festival and the South End's Beehive restaurant. He recognized the value of live music venues when he took DEC clients to Turner Fisheries in the Westin.

"They had live entertainment and I went there often with customers and they always thought it was the coolest thing to do," said Settles. "That place was packed every night."

Settles' success has also made him a go-to person when civic leaders want to take the pulse of the minority business community. He has recently served on committees to help select the new Newton police chief and pick developers for two new convention center hotels in Boston.

He's also hosting a forum tonight at Darryl's on the "Status of Minority Businesses in Massachusetts and the USA" featuring Ron Marlow, the Patrick administration's assistant secretary for access and opportunity; Ron Walker, president and managing partner of Next Street; and Beth Williams, CEO of Roxbury Technology Corporation.

Settles said it's still challenging for minority business owners to secure the resources they need — and he has been helped by partnerships along the way.

WiSe has several projects under way, including the 96-unit Washington Park in Roxbury and Dorchester and 430 more units of housing in Connecticut and Massachusetts.

Married with two young children and with business booming, Settles has his hands full, but as he turns 52 this month, he's also thinking a lot about helping the next generation.

"When you travel you realize that America is one of the best places in the world to be, if not the best place and how we're fortunate," Settles said. "But even so, I understand and accept and acknowledge that it's difficult here in the states and the gap is getting wider and wider between those that have and those that do not, and I'm doing whatever I can to bridge that gap and give (people) access to opportunities."

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Cyprus secures bailout, avoids bankruptcy

BRUSSELS — Cyprus avoided bankruptcy, and potential turmoil across the eurozone, by securing a last-minute 10 billion euro ($13 billion) bailout with promises to sharply cut back its oversized banking sector and make large bank account holders take losses to help pay much of the bill.

Negotiations into early Monday ended with approval of the deal by the 17-nation eurozone's finance ministers. The European Central Bank had threatened to cut off crucial emergency assistance to the country's banks by Tuesday if no agreement was reached.

Without a bailout deal by Monday night, the tiny Mediterranean nation would have faced the prospect of bankruptcy, which could have forced it to become the first country to abandon the euro currency. That would have sent the region's markets spinning.

"It's not that we won a battle, but we really have avoided a disastrous exit from the eurozone," said Cyprus' Finance Minister Michalis Sarris.

The eurozone finance ministers accepted the plan after hours of negotiations in Brussels between Cypriot officials and the so-called troika of creditors — the International Monetary Fund, the European Commission and the ECB.

"We believe that this will form a lasting, durable and fully financed solution," said IMF chief Christine Lagarde.

To secure the rescue loan package, the Cypriot government had to find ways to raise 5.8 billion euros ($7.5 billion) on its own. The bulk of that money is now being raised by forcing losses on large bank deposit holders, with the remainder coming from tax increases and privatizations.

Cyprus must drastically shrink its banking sector, cut its budget, implement structural reforms and privatize state assets, said Jeroen Dijsselbloem, who chairs the meetings of the eurozone's finance ministers. The country's second-largest bank, Laiki, will be restructured, with all bond holders and people with more than 100,000 euros in their bank accounts there facing significant losses.

The measures are likely to deepen the recession in Cyprus.

The cash-strapped island nation has been shut out of international markets for almost two years. It first applied for a bailout to recapitalize its ailing lenders and keep the government afloat last June, but the political negotiations stalled. After a botched agreement last week, the European Central Bank threatened to cut off emergency assistance to the country's banks.

"We've put an end to the uncertainty that has affected Cyprus and the euro area over the past week," Dijsselbloem said.

That uncertainty around the tiny nation of about 800,000 had shaken the entire eurozone of 300 million people, even though Cyprus only makes up less than 0.2 percent of the eurozone's economy.

Several national parliaments in eurozone countries such as Germany must also approve the bailout deal, which might take another few weeks. EU officials said they expect the whole program to be approved by mid-April.

The country's second-largest bank, Laiki, will be dissolved immediately into a bad bank containing its uninsured deposits and toxic assets, with the guaranteed deposits being transferred to the nation's biggest lender, Bank of Cyprus.

Dijsselbloem said it was not yet clear how severe the losses would be to Laiki's large bank deposit holders, but he noted that it is expected to yield 4.2 billion euros overall — or much of the money that Cyprus needed to raise to secure the bailout. Analysts have estimated investors might lose up to 40 percent of their money.

Large deposits with Bank of Cyprus above the insured level will be frozen until it becomes clear whether or to what extent they will also be forced to take losses, the Eurogroup of finance ministers said in a statement.

Dijsselbloem defended the creditors' approach of making deposit holders take heavy losses, saying the measures "will be concentrated where the problems are, in the large banks."

The international creditors, led by the IMF, were seeking a fundamental restructuring of the country's outsized financial system, which is worth up to eight times the Cypriot gross domestic product of about 18 billion euros. They said the country's business model of attracting foreign investors, among them many Russians, with low taxes and lax financial regulation had backfired and needed to be upended.

The drastic shrinking of the financial sector, the wiping out of wealth through the losses on deposits, the loss of confidence with the recent turmoil and the upcoming austerity measures all mean that Cyprus is facing tough times.

"The near future will be very difficult for the country and its people," acknowledged the EU Commission's top economic official, Olli Rehn. "But (the measures) will be necessary for the Cypriot people to rebuild their economy on a new basis."

Cypriot banks have been closed this past week while officials worked on a rescue plan, and they are not due to reopen until Tuesday. Cash has been available through ATMs, but long lines formed and many machines have quickly run out of cash.

Amid fears of a banking collapse, Cyprus' central bank on Sunday imposed a daily withdrawal limit of 100 euros ($130) from ATMs of the country's two largest banks to prevent a bank run by depositors worried about their savings.

The Cypriot government also approved a set of laws over the past week to introduce capital controls, in order to avoid a huge depositor flight once banks reopen.

Creditors had insisted that Cyprus couldn't receive more loans because that would make its debt burden unsustainably high. The IMF's Lagarde said Cyprus would now reach a debt level of about 100 percent of GDP by 2020.

A plan agreed to in marathon negotiations earlier this month called for a one-time levy on all bank depositors in Cypriot banks. But the proposal ignited fierce anger because it also targeted small savers. It failed to win a single vote in the Cypriot Parliament.

Cyprus' bid to secure more financial aid from its long-time ally, Russia, then failed, forcing it to turn again to its European partners. Russia was expected, however, to extend a 2.5 billion euro emergency loan granted last year, also lowering the interest rate due and extending then repayment schedule.

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Associated Press writers Elena Becatoros and Menelaos Hadjicostis in Nicosia, Cyprus, contributed to this story.

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Juergen Baetz can be reached at http://www.twitter.com/jbaetz

Don Melvin can be reached at https://twitter.com/Don_Melvin

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App gives more than ‘likes’

A new app launching in Boston April 3 aims to help businesses boost sales by offering customers rewards for promoting them on social media.

Socii (pronounced so-she) was founded last year by three Boston-area college grads who noticed how companies struggle to generate word-of-mouth marketing.

"Businesses spend millions of dollars every year to create it, but there's no system to do it," said Victor Dweck, a 2010 Northeastern University alum. "They use social networks like Facebook and Instagram, but their messages typically get lost in the noise. People go on to connect with their friends, not businesses."

Socii allows people to partner with up to three businesses and earn points for completing up to one activity per day, such as "liking" them on Facebook or posting photographs about them on Instagram. The points lead to rewards, including discounts and free goods.

Socii limits the number of businesses and activities people can choose to encourage them to partner only with their favorite businesses and to complete activities on a regular basis to accrue points, Dweck said.

"These aren't people who just want deals like on Groupon," he said. "These are the companies' most loyal customers."

So far, more than a half-dozen Boston area businesses — including J.P. Licks, Finale and Crema Cafe in Cambridge — have signed on to use the app, which doesn't require any new hardware, Dweck said.

"We feel this kind of word-of-mouth marketing creates loyalty among our customers," said J.P. Licks Marketing Manager Jason Provost. "When Victor reached out to us, I was like, why hasn't anyone thought of this before?"

Liz Cohen, head of marketing and design for Crema Cafe, said the company regularly tweets and posts on Facebook. But although it has more than 1,500 "likes," she's struggled with finding a way to get people to actually talk about the cafe on Facebook.

"When I saw what (Socii) was doing, it sounded great because it's a mutual thing," Cohen said. "We'll be asking customers to do things, but we'll also be showing them how much we appreciate them. Right now, we don't have that."

When the Specialty Coffee Association of America rolls into Boston on April 11 for its 25th annual expo, she said, the cafe will be able to use the app to get people attending the conference to tweet about Crema.

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Former workers find new life in industry

There is life beyond the ashes of Curt Schilling's 38 Studios, as seven former employees of the imploded Rhode Island gaming company came to PAX East yesterday to talk about the new studios they've started.

Featured on a panel at the video gaming convention, the budding entrepreneurs — most of whom have set up shop in the Bay State — join what's become a huge increase in the number of gaming and digital company startups in Massachusetts, 
up 78 percent from three years 
ago.

With the increased presence of indie gaming companies at PAX 
one of the big stories of this weekend's event, there's consensus that some of the most creative ideas in gaming are coming not out of the risk-averse mega companies, but rather from small studios, many based here.

The seven former 38 Studios employees confirmed that perception.

"Curt used to tell us that he hoped 38 Studios was the last place 
we'd work unless we started our own studios," said Joe Mirabello, who started Sharon-based Terrible Posture Games right after losing 
his job.

"It didn't pan out with his company so I decided that if I was going to work for a place that could go out of business it might as well be my own," Mirabello said.

Everyone on the panel said the spectacular collapse of Schilling's company was devastating, but it lit a fire under them. And while all refused to dish dirt on their former boss, they said that the collegial environment, which came before the abrupt flameout, had bonded former 38 Studios workers into a "brotherhood."

"We continue to take solace in one another and some have become close friends and help one another," said Geraldo Perez, who started King Bee Digital Games.

"It's been hard, but the video game industry has always been volatile," Perez said.

Rich Gallup got a job as a producer for fast-growing Disruptor Beam, but on the side started Summer Camp Studios.

"After what happened, my company's name was a way of picturing all of us all sent to a safe haven where we could go and learn new things," Gallup said.

Gallup said that most of the roughly 400 former employees of 
38 Studios have found work, 
with about half of them staying in the area and half relocating across the country.

"The attention this got opened a few doors," he admitted.

"But these were talented people, and that's why they found other jobs," he said.

Not everyone is making money off their new ventures, although a number of their games, mostly mobile-based, are for sale. Some said they relied on savings, others had a spouse with a good job, but a few are still living hand-to-mouth, determined to follow their passion to make games.

"My idea and my need was to make a game I wanted to play, and when I started it didn't matter if I made any money," said Paul Siegel, founder of Dancing Sorcerer Games.

Gallup has a better idea.

"My dream scenario is that companies put money in a fund, and if they go out of business workers can tap into that to do the games they want to do."

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BRA pushing forward on Downtown vendors

Boston Redevelopment Authority officials will meet with Downtown Crossing pushcart operator Craig Caplan on Tuesday to discuss the future of the outdoor program after Mayor Thomas M. Menino intervened to prevent the vendors' ouster at the end of this month.

"This meeting is part of the ongoing conversation that is happening to determine the next phase of the Downtown Crossing pushcart program," BRA spokeswoman Melina Schuler said. "Talking and listening to the needs of pushcart operators is a crucial part of moving the pushcart program in Downtown Crossing forward."

Last week, Menino gave 26 pushcart operators in the Downtown Boston Business Improvement District a 60-day reprieve after the BID informed them they would be required to shut down at the end of this month. Vendors' permits now have been extended at least through the end of May.

The vendors, who have been hawking food and merchandise since the late 1970s, cried foul after receiving notice that the BID planned to implement a temporary, scaled-down pushcart program this spring for which they'd have to reapply — without guarantees of being accepted. The vendors argue that they've remained in business during Downtown Crossing's hard times and should be included in its revitalization.

The BID's long-term plan, which the BRA supported, was to upgrade and professionalize the vending program for 2014, with new merchandise and more permanent kiosks.

"We have communicated to all the vendors that their Public Works permits have been extended for another 60 days," BID president Rosemarie Sansone said by email. "The BID is continuing to work closely with the BRA and other city agencies in developing a plan for the coming year. In speaking to many of the vendors, we have let them know we are addressing this issue as thoughtfully and quickly as possible."

Caplan, who has forwarded a letter to Menino along with 1,000-plus names on a petition that supports the vendors, did not respond to Herald inquiries.

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It’s hip to be square in Cambridge

This architect-designed home may be the most unique in Cambridge, as much a work of art as a place to live.

The single-family detached house at 19 Clifton St. sits on commonly held land behind an 1886-built home and is technically part of a two-unit condo association. Designed in 2006 by local architects Beat Schenk and Chaewon Kim, the dwelling consists of three stacked boxes set at angles, with an exterior of stained Okoume plywood, the kind normally used on yachts.

The home looks unusual from the outside, but the interior consists of well-thought-out rooms and a masterful use of space. The two-bedroom, free-standing townhouse is on the market for $579,000.

From the front of the house you don't see any windows, but there are windows on the far side and in back, and many of the rooms get decent light from skylights cut into the exposed roof corners.

The first floor of the house has a skylit living/dining area with a white Carrara marble floor. A plywood staircase set at an angle divides this room from a kitchen area with four skylights that features a bottom row of stainless steel cabinets topped by brown granite counters.

Up above is a row of frosted glass lift-up cabinets. Stainless-steel appliances include a new Bosch dishwasher, a General Electric refrigerator and an Amana gas stove with a stainless-steel hood that vents to the outside. There's an additional wall for more kitchen storage and gadgets.

A glass door leads out to a crushed stone back yard with trees that provides parking for two vehicles.

The home's second floor has a guest bedroom, set off with sliding plywood doors, with polished plywood floors and knotty pine walls with two skylights and a window. Adjacent is a full bathroom with a white ceramic sink and a tub/shower with Carrara marble walls. Also on this floor is a small home office area with a window and a built-in bookcase.

The third floor is a sunny master bedroom suite with a large oak-floor bedroom, two windows, a wide skylight and recessed lighting. In one corner of the room is a two-door custom wardrobe with built-in drawers and hanging rods.

An angled frosted-glass window shields the bedroom from a large en-suite master bathroom. This space features Carrara marble floors and walls and an open shower area. There's also an area for a stacked Kenmore washer/dryer.

The 150-square-foot finished basement, with a window, is outfitted as a family room. The home has a heat-pump-based multi-zoned central heating and air-conditioning system.

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Walmart ad chops Stop & Shop

Walmart takes aim at competing local grocery stores in a new price-comparison advertising campaign, but a Somerville consumer advocate warns such ads are "inherently deceptive."

The Bentonville, Ark.-based retail giant specifically targets Quincy-based Stop & Shop, showing how a shopper saved 14 percent at its Walpole store on items that she had purchased at a Stop & Shop in the same town.

Walmart launched the price-comparison campaign more than a year ago in Charlotte, N.C., and now is shooting commercials in some 50 markets across the country.

"We've had a lot of positive customer feedback, and we think that reflects how much customers appreciate learning about the price differences that exist in their communities and where they can find the most affordable prices," spokesman Bill Wertz said.

In a TV commercial shot Tuesday in Walpole, shopper "Grey" from Wrentham, who was compensated for her appearance, saved a combined 14.3 percent, or $14.75, on 24 items, ranging from Cabot Extra Sharp Cheddar Cheese (8 oz.: $2.28 at Walmart and $3.04 at Stop & Shop) to Tide Clean Breeze Laundry Detergent (100 oz., 64 loads: $11.97 at Walmart and $14.49 at Stop & Shop). Some items were duplicates, but all except four were cheaper at Walmart, whose comparison excluded non-identical items and random-weight meat and produce on Grey's original Stop & Shop receipt.

But Somerville consumer advocate Edgar Dworsky urges shoppers to "take such comparisons with a grain of salt," noting they generally don't include a big enough sample of random items to mimic the average consumer's shopping experience.

"Do your own comparison for the items you buy," said Dworsky, a former director of consumer education at the state Executive Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation and former state attorney general in consumer protection. "The best shopper is the 'specials' cherry picker. The one who buys the best sales items from a variety of stores is going to save the most. You cannot save the most just going to one store."

Walmart's campaign runs through Monday and includes print, radio, TV and online elements at www.walmart.com/boston.

A Stop & Shop spokeswoman said "we continually strive to bring our customers savings every day." The chain offers weekly specials, "Real Deals" items on sale for multiple weeks and a gas rewards program. It also recently has provided clip coupons in its circulars, according to spokeswoman Suzi Robinson.

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Saudi buyer has new Ames for Hub mansion

Brokers wrapped up a blockbuster deal in Boston's Back Bay this week, finalizing the $14.5 million sale of the Ames-Webster mansion.

But it took three years and a hefty 37 percent price cut before a deep-pocketed Saudi businessman snapped up 306 Dartmouth St., one of the largest properties in the neighborhood.

The grand 26,000-square-foot property — with 50 rooms and 28 fireplaces and parking for up to six cars — hasn't been serving as a home but rather the offices of owner Raymond Property Co., a Hub real estate developer.

Originally listed in January 2010 for $23 million, then transferred to broker Campion & Co. in May 2011, the property had one price reduction to $18 million in November 2011.

306 Dartmouth was built as the home of Stephen Van Rensselaer Thayer and his wife, Alice. The wealthy Thayer was president of the Institute of 1770, Hasty Pudding Club and the Harvard Boat Club. But during construction, Thayer died at the age of 24. The home was bought by Charles Whitney, who sold it to prominent capitalist Frederick L. Ames in 1880.

Ames was born into great wealth in the 1830s. His great-grandfather founded the Ames Shovel Works and Ames invested heavily in railroads, becoming one of the principal owners of the Union Pacific Railroad.

Ames was determined to give this home his personal stamp, so he hired the architectural firm Sturgis and Brigham to extensively renovate the home and add a four-story, off-center tower — highly fashionable at the time.

The renovation also doubled the size the home's dining room, and added some of the finest museum-quality finishes including a skylight by Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant. The French artist's work is housed in collections across the world including New York's Metropolitan Museum and Russia's Hermitage.

Campion's listing boasted that the mansion has an "embassy-worthy main floor with handsome carved wood and elegant detail at every turn. The main entry is covered in hand-applied tesserae glass mosaic and bordered in market. The great hall, with its elaborate staircase and tower, is 60 feet long.

According to real estate records, the buyer of the property was FAL Boston LLC, an entity managed by Fahad Al-Athel, a Saudi sheikh and head of FAL Holdings, a conglomerate based in Riyadh. FAL was represented by broker First Boston Realty.

It's unclear at this point what Al-Athel intends to do with the property — keep it as an office, convert it back to a single-family residence or divide it into condominiums. The property has duel permit status both commercial and residential.

One thing is certain: The powerful Neighborhood Association of the Back Bay will be watching closely.

Jennifer Athas is a licensed real estate broker. Follow her on Twitter @JenAthas.

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