Bill Simmons thinks Amazon’s Jeff Bezos is interested in buying the Boston Celtics, saying the billionaire tech-mogul may view the championship team as “one of the crown jewel franchises” of sports, as Boston.com reports. … Well, the Washington Post was once considered “one of the crown jewel franchises” of journalism and look at it today, thanks to Bezos. … My money is still on Stephen Pagliuca stiching together an investment team to buy the Celts.
Month: August 2024
-
Report: The billionaire who wrecked the Washington Post wants to buy the Celts
-
A hidden player in the Steward Hospitals fiasco: State Street Corp.
Scott Van Voohis’s Contrarian Boston contains lots of fascinating tidbits about the Steward Hospitals tragedy, including how one of the investors in the notorious real estate company that helped drive the hospital chain into the ground is none other than Boston’s very own State Street Corp. Geode Capital Management also holds shares in Medical Properties Trust. … Don’t miss Mark Pickering’s take on the Steward mess at the bottom of Scott’s CB newsletter. … Separately, the WSJ has an update on the greed of Ralph de la Torre, CEO of Steward. … It still boggles the mind these PE firms were allowed to legally pillage a hospital chain that was originally formed with the charitable nickels and dimes of long-ago immigrant families. But legally pillage they did. Without any hesitation or remorse.
Update – The Globe’s Larry Edelman is wondering why the Healey administration isn’t stepping in to save the Steward hospitals in Dorchester and Ayer.
-
Here’s an idea to spur more housing in Massachusetts: start new towns
To address the housing crisis in the U.K, the new Labor government is reviving an old idea of building entirely new towns on vacant land. One project includes building 10,000 homes on a former WWII airfield. … The pace of the new construction has been ‘sluggish.’ Sound familiar? Like our stalled development plans for Devens and South Weymouth?
Update – Sal Lupoli has just landed a manufacturing tenant at his mega-development site in Littleton, where he plans to build more than 1,000 housing units as part of a mix-used project.
-
Interest rate cuts, here we come
It was barely enough, but interest rates did fall to a level last month that will likely warrant interest rate cuts. … And Kamala Harris’ luck continues.
-
College Closure Tracker: Private non-profit schools going under at faster clip
The Globe may have its new Rent Tracker. But there’s also a College Closure Tracker (for lack of other words), via Best Colleges. I just stumbled upon the handy site while doing research for another story. … Note: the vast majority of colleges that have gone under since 2004 have been for-profit colleges. But the most recent listings show private non-profit colleges are now closing at a faster clip than for-profits, due largely to student-debt and demographic trends.
-
Trump vs Harris: It’s still going to be close
Kamala Harris has made the presidential race competitive again (thank goodness). But Trump still leads in five of seven battleground states, according the Washington Post. Just pointing it out.
Update – 8.15.25 – It’s still close. But she’s caught up or pulled ahead in five of six battleground states, according to a new Cook poll.
-
‘Rent Tracker’
This is an interesting new feature at the Globe, via data from Apartment List. … I wonder if there’s a way to expand and monetize it. It seems only a step or two away from rental searches or actual listings.
Update – Hopefully, any monetization effort won’t include ‘AI Price-Fixing.’
-
Report: John Henry et gang consider bid for Celtics
This is interesting. The NY Post is reporting that Fenway Sports Group, owner of the Red Sox, and RedBird Capital are considering a bid for the Celtics. The Globe and Herald are confirming the Post report. …. The Herald’s Bill Speros isn’t exactly excited at the thought of John Henry, who heads FSG, owning the Celts. … My money is still on Stephen Pagliuca buying the Celts in full. He already owns 20 percent of the franchise.
Just fyi: The Celtics recently hired JPMorgan and BDT & MSD Partners to begin the sales process, reports Sportico.
-
Pro-Palestinian Marxists: They’re just misunderstood idealists
You really have to read this Globe story to believe it. The headline above is not an exaggeration of the story’s tone and general intellectual heft (or lack thereof). …
-
‘Compact living’: Another trendy housing program bites the dust
Remember the ‘compact living’ concept? You know, the one where developers were encouraged to build lots of smaller living units for single people in Boston – and then passing along savings to residents? It’s not working as planned. Some of the units are going for $4,000 a month, according to researchers at Tufts University’s Department of Urban and Environmental Policy and Planning. … So yet another good-intentioned housing program fails to deliver. Next idea! … Banker & Tradesman’s Steve Adams has more (sub.).
Hub Blog 