A Look Back At 2009 | The past year has been a difficult one, to say the least. Many businesses were in survival mode, but many thrived. Here's a sampling of the stories and that made headlines in '09.
Commonwealth National Bidding War
Who would have guessed that a little Worcester bank with just six branches and $286 million in assets would be the subject of a lively bidding war? Certainly not the banks involved in this deal triangle. Commonwealth National Bank eventually agreed to be acquired by West Springfield-based United Bank in a $25 million deal. But that came after months of offer-counter offer from competing Berkshire Hills Bank of Pittsfield.
Unemployment Hits Historic Levels
No community was immune from seeing its unemployment rates rise during 2009. The statewide unemployment rate topped out at 9.3 percent in September and began what is hoped will be a continued slide. In Central Massachusetts, Fitchburg was particularly hard hit by the recession. The unemployment rate in that North County community reached 13.2 percent at its peak, nearly 6 percentage points higher than last year.
Unum Plans Move To CitySquare
News came in April that Unum had committed to moving its Worcester headquarters and some 700 employees from its current home on Chestnut Street to the planned $563 million CitySquare development at the former Common Outlets Mall in downtown. But so far, there’s been no formal lease signed between the developer, Berkeley Investments, and Unum. However, Unum’s CEO Tom Watjen says the insurer is still behind the project.
Madoff Scandal Hits Home
The Ponzi scheme orchestrated by Bernie Madoff might have originated on Wall Street, but its impact was felt by many philanthropists in 2009. A list of Madoff’s potential victims was released in February and included many local luminaries and successful business people. Among them was Nathan Greenberg, founder of Worcester-base Greenberg, Rosenblatt, Kull & Bitsoli and Myles McDonough, founder of the Spencer-based FLEXcon.
Hanover Insurance Bucks Industry Trend
Many insurers in the United States were particularly hard hit by the financial crisis due to their investments in mortgage-backed securities and other risky strategies. That wasn’t the case for Worcester’s Hanover Insurance Group. The company consistently performed in 2009. It anounced in December that it would it would acquire OneBeacon Insurance’s nonspeciality groups and expand in seven western states.
Green Continues To Gain Momentum
Despite declines in oil prices and a glum economy, the green and clean energy sectors continued to show signs of growth in 2009. Several clean energy companies located in the region this year, including Brookfield Revewable Power, which set up shop in Marlborough as well as Vestas Wind Power, which located in Hudson. Marlborough's Evergreen Solar, meanwhile, announced it would send jobs to China, as did Framingham's Boston-Power.
Nonprofits, Towns Brace For Budget Cuts
The economy wasn’t only hard on businesses in 2009. The state faced dramatic declines in tax revenues, which forced a round of budget cuts in the spring, followed by another round this fall. Gov. Deval Patrick used the Worcester Regional Chamber of Commerce’s business expo as a stage to deliver news of his planned $352 million in budget cuts.
NYT Seeks Buyers, But Holds On To T&G
Troubles at the New York Times led the company to announce that it would accept bids for its two New England dailies: The Boston Globe and the Worcester Telegram & Gazette. Two bidders surfaced. One group, led by the Crowleys of Polar Beverages in Worcester, went public, followed by Worcester native and billionaire Jeff Greene. But the New York Times abruptly announced in December that it would be holding on to the paper — for now.
Sepracor, 3Com To Be Acquired
Two companies based in Central Massachusetts became acquisition targets this year. First, Marlborough-based Sepracor announced in September that it had received a $2.6 billion offer from Dainippon Sumitomo Pharma Co., a Japanese pharmaceutical company. Two months later, another Marlborough-based firm, 3Com Corp., announced that it would be acquired by Hewlett Packard for an equally impressive $2.7 billion.
The Rise Of Social Networking
Twitter. LinkedIn. Facebook. All three became synonymous with marketing in 2009 and nearly every chamber and business group in Central Massachusetts held workshops over the last 12 months to bring business people up to speed. And while there’s been a lot of coverage of these services, the jury’s still out on how widely accepted they are becoming. By a recent count, EMC led the pack of locally based companies on Twitter with 3,000 followers.
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