The Region Boston bound? - The Boston Globe (Boston, MA)

ITT Corp. said it may relocate its corporate, gaming, and hotelheadquarters to Boston, where the New York company has 39 SheratonHotel employees. ITT also is considering Fairfield, Conn., and WhitePlains, N.Y., as potential relocation sites, as well as another sitein Manhattan. A possible move, however, could be imperiled by HiltonHotels Corp.'s $11.5 billion hostile takeover bid for ITT.No bargain

BJ's Wholesale Club of Natick gave up its legal fight against thebank that issues BJ's credit cards, acceding to the bank's demandsthat cardholders who pay off their balances each month pay a new $30annual fee. BJ's will also give Beneficial National Bank of Delaware$1.3 million to help maintain the MasterCard program, as well as forthe first time pay interchange fees, a percentage of its sales.Cause and effectEnding a two-year investigation, the state fire marshal's officeconcluded that the fire that nearly destroyed Malden Mills in 1995was 'most probably' caused by the ignition of dust-like nylon fiberscreated in making upholstery. This, the investigation found, sent awave of fire racing over two textile lines. State investigators saidthe airborne fibers, which had been thought to pose no flash-firethreat, were set off by what would otherwise have been a harmlessignition source, an electrical spark.Logical dealViewlogic Systems Inc. of Marlborough is being acquired bySynopsys Inc. of Mountain View, Calif., in a stock transaction thatthe companies expect to be worth nearly $500 million. The firms saidthe merger would unite two broad, complementary lines of electronicdesign automation software, sold primarily to the computer-chipindustry.'Just where is loge section?'If 87 ushers at the FleetCenter make good on a threat to strike,sports enthusiasts at this week's preseason Boston Celtics andregular-season Boston Bruins games may be ushered to seats at thesports facility by top managers. The ushers, all members of theInternational Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1499, votedthree weeks ago to authorize a strike if the FleetCenter persists inpromoting a contract that would allow new hires to work at such topevents as Bruins and Celtics games.Fuzzy picturePolaroid Corp. expanded its digital photography offerings with theintroduction of a filmless camera that relies on software to createand manipulate images on personal computers. Separately, theCambridge company reported that third-quarter profits were up 9.4percent but that sales fell 9.3 percent, prompting investors to drivedown its stock price as Wall Street analysts lowered their year-endforecasts. The stock closed at 46 11/16, down 2 5/16, on Thursday,and finished the week at 46 5/8, down another 1/16.Fine, VeryfineVeryfine Products Inc., the Westford-based juice maker, tappedHolland Mark Martin Edmund of Boston to be its new ad agency.Holland Mark Martin beat out two other finalists, Ingalls Advertisingof Boston and Leonard/Monahan of Providence.Clearing a hurdleThe New York-based Millennium Partners moved one step closer tobuilding a $250 million mixed-used development on the outskirts ofChinatown when the project won approval of the state's topenvironmental official. Trudy Coxe, secretary of the ExecutiveOffice of Environmental Affairs, said the developers, who hope tobuild a 1.4-million-square-foot residential, retail, and moviecomplex off Washington and Tremont streets, do not have to submit toa full-scale environmental review. Coxe reached her decision after anumber of groups, ranging from the Boston Preservation Alliance tothe Chinatown/South Cove Neighborhood Council, filed comments eithersupporting or opposing the massive project, which is calledMillennium Place. Some groups argued the project would provide aboost to the blighted area, while others have said it would compoundtraffic and safety problems.Nation/WorldChip resultsIntel Corp.'s third-quarter profit rose 20 percent, slightlybelow analysts' expectations, as a weak market for certain memorychips and higher sales of cheaper microprocessors hurt profits. Netincome rose to $1.57 billion, or 88 cents a share, from $1.31billion, or 74 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. Revenueclimbed 21 percent to $6.16 billion from $5.14 billion.One bad quarterApple Computer Inc. reported a bigger-than-expected fiscalfourth-quarter loss, as sales for the computer maker fell 31 percentfrom year-ago levels. The company announced a loss of $24 million,or 19 cents a share before charges. The Cupertino, Calif., computermaker was expected to post a loss of 12 cents, the average estimateof 25 analysts surveyed by IBES International Inc. Apple, which haslost more than $1.5 billion in the last eight quarters, has yet toreverse its plunging market share, and it again declined to say whenit would turn a profit. Also, two senior vice presidents resigned,the latest in a steady stream of executive departures.THEY SAID ITMCI is drying their tears and feeling loved again.DWIGHT ALLEN telecommunications consultant, after GTE Corp. becamethe third company, after British Telecom Plc and WorldCom Inc., toenter the bidding for the second-largest US long-distance carrier.The deal stinks.DANIEL TANNER former holder of a BJ's Mastercard, on the company'sdecision to allow holders to be charged a fee if they pay off theirbalances each month.Party line -- The tug of war over MCI Communications Corp. turnedinto a free-for-all, as GTE Corp. entered the bidding for thenation's second-biggest long-distance carrier with a cash offer worthmore than $28 billion. The unexpected bid from the Stamford,Conn.-based GTE was made just two weeks after WorldCom Inc., ascrappy Mississippi-based long-distance company, shocked the industrywith a $30 billion stock offer that threw a wrench into MCI's plansto merge with British Telecommunications Plc. Although GTE's offeris lower than WorldCom's, the all-cash bid may prove more appealingto MCI shareholders because the value of WorldCom's offer might nothold up if the price of its stock sinks. If GTE prevails in thethree-way contest, it would become a telecommunications powerhouse,with $40 billion in revenue, 21 million local phone lines, 24 millionlong-distance lines, 5 million wireless customers, and a major datacommunications network.