Boston Business Journal

Business leaders in Massachusetts expressed a measure of relief on Tuesday that the Baker administration’s new COVID-19 restrictions fell short of a widespread shutdown, while still expressing concern for struggling businesses, especially those required to close. For most businesses, the rollback means they can still operate, but under slightly stricter conditions. Retailers, gyms, museums and corporate offices are limited...

International supermodel Gisele Bündchen and her husband, former New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, have tapped Maggie Gold Seelig to sell their Brookline home. Seelig is the listing agent for the sellers of 112 Woodland Road in Brookline, and is selling the property privately off market, she said in an email to the Boston Business Journal. Seelig declined to specify…

Sam Adams maker Boston Beer Co. plans to launch several new styles and brands in 2021 to capitalize on growth that comes as the pandemic boosts sales and its stock price. In its third quarter earnings report on Thursday, Boston Beer said it would launch Twisted Iced Tea Hard Seltzer; Samuel Adams Just the Haze, the brand’s first non-alcoholic drink; Dogfish Head...

Just months after images of students flooding Florida beaches and eschewing safety protocols for COVID-19 went viral, a growing number of university leaders are drawing a line in the sand with rigid plans for the upcoming spring semester.

Boston-based Santander Bank recently laid off approximately 200 employees in its consumer and business banking division, according to the unit’s new leader, who is shaking up how the bank works with small businesses. The job cuts were split roughly evenly between consumer-banking and business-banking personnel, Pierre Habis, Santander’s head of consumer and business banking, said in an interview Tuesday....

The Boston Red Sox finished in last place in the American League East, completing a 2020 season unlike any other. The historic season also came with high costs. The pandemic forced each Major League Baseball team’s schedule to be cut from its traditional 162 games to a truncated 60-game slate. That meant instead of teams having 81 home games, each…

Raytheon Technologies Corp. confirmed to the Boston Business Journal a report saying the company is cutting 15,000 jobs. The Waltham-based aerospace and defense company, one of the largest employers in Massachusetts, is cutting 15,000 people as part of an effort to reduce $2 billion in costs this year and save $4 billion in cash as the pandemic crushes airline travel,…

A state inspector found in March that the elevator that killed an Allston woman this week had a stop-switch problem, but a month later the company that services the elevator told regulators it had fixed the issue, according to inspection records made public Wednesday. On Monday, 38-year-old Boston University lecturer Carrie O’Connor died in an elevator accident at an...

A dog park, more seating and ornamental fencing: America’s oldest public park is set to get a facelift. Representatives from the city’s parks and recreation department and Reading-based design and engineering firm Weston & Sampson, along with nonprofit organization the Friends of the Public Garden, presented a master plan on Wednesday evening outlining proposed areas where the Boston Common...

Amazon.com is again hiring in Massachusetts. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant, already one of the largest employers in Massachusetts, is expecting to add more than 650 full-time and part-time jobs in the area, according to spokesperson Stephanie Cortez. She added that Amazon has hired for 15,500 full-time and part-time jobs in Massachusetts. The majority of the new positions will be based…

A Massachusetts hotel hosted back-to-back events last weekend that far exceeded the state’s 100-person capacity limit on outdoor events during the pandemic, despite multiple warnings from government officials tipped off to the plans, according to complaints received by state and local officials, Boston Business Journal reported. The hotel was the site of a wedding on Saturday that had 240 guests…

Local biotech firm Moderna Inc. has indicated its COVID-19 vaccine could be one of the most expensive in the industry. Executives from the Cambridge-based company discussed the commercialization plans for its COVID-19 vaccine, mRNA-1273, and other business updates during the company’s second quarter earnings call Wednesday. There were four key takeaways from the call. Read more at the Boston...

The Boston City Council voted unanimously Wednesday to pass a ban on the use of facial recognition technology by city government. The move makes Boston the second-largest U.S. city after San Francisco to enact a ban. The city joins several other Massachusetts communities that passed similar bans, including Cambridge, Springfield, Northampton, Brookline and Somerville. The move makes Boston the...

Some business leaders are frustrated with Gov. Charlie Baker’s decision to push off the third phase of the reopening the economy, a move that will keep museums, movie theaters, gyms and many tourist attractions closed for at least two more weeks. The governor surprised many in the business community when he said Friday that Phase 3 would not begin until…

A small but growing number of Boston-area businesses are giving their employees time off for the upcoming Juneteenth holiday, part of the national reckoning that has followed the killing of George Floyd in Minnesota. Juneteenth, celebrated on June 19 each year — this upcoming Friday — commemorates the end of slavery in the U.S. It marks the date in 1865…

WBUR plans to lay off 29 people, eliminate seven unfilled positions and halt production of the sports program “Only A Game,” as the Boston University-affiliated nonprofit radio station grapples with “the economic fallout of the past several months,” CEO Margaret Low said Wednesday. The layoffs affect newsroom leaders Tom Melville, the station’s executive news director, as well as Digital Managing Director John Davidow and...

The black executives and professionals who make up the Boston Men’s Dinner Group typically meet in restaurants or corporate offices after hours, at places like HubSpot and PricewaterhouseCoopers, to network, break bread and enjoy each other’s company. But this past weekend, the killing of George Floyd, and the ensuing demonstrations nationwide, prompted the business-minded group’s members to do something...

Doug Banks, editor of the Boston Business Journal, reflects on the business response to the George Floyd protests. Plus, how are businesses preparing for Phase 2 of reopening ?

As of now, the Boston Marathon is still on for Sept. 14. But media reports this week suggested the race is in jeopardy, given the still-raging global pandemic. Should organizers cancel the marathon, the runners would not be the only disappointed ones. The nonprofits that rely on the marathon, many of them based in Greater Boston, would see yet another…

Mass General Brigham expects to lose $400M per month due to the coronavirus shutdown. The health network’s CFO said even in the first quarter, which included just the start of the pandemic, the system suffered a massive operating loss. It expects to lose $400 million a month for the coming quarter. The system formerly known as Partners HealthCare reported a…