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Digest
Five big stories of the week
By JEFF HARRINGTON
Published December 24, 2006
1. Moffitt, Merck join forces Merck & Co. will partner with the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute in Tampa to research cancer treatments. WHAT IT MEANS: Moffitt and Merck are pledging to create 165 jobs within five years for their M2Gen Moffitt subsidiary based here. The deal will cost taxpayers mightily - more than $35-million in state and county money - but there's hope for a huge payoff in drug development. 2. Caremark gets new suitor Express Scripts offers $26-billion for Caremark Rx, $5-billion more than CVS. WHAT IT MEANS: The race to consolidate is picking up in the drug industry in no small part because of pressure to lower prices. Wal-Mart Stores led the trend by selling some generic drugs for $4. 3. Reptron Electronics finds a buyer Kimball Electronics is buying the Tampa electronics manufacturer for $50-million. WHAT IT MEANS: Once a rising star in Tampa, Reptron never recovered from the tech meltdown six years ago and its stock has languished below $1 a share. Kimball says "no significant changes" are planned for Reptron's 1,000 employees. 4. Big, big year-end bonuses In New York City, a caravan of Porsche Cayman sports cars and a Cayenne SUV on Friday towed Santa and his gift-filled sleigh to a toy hand-off on Pier 17. WHAT IT MEANS: It's the most wonderful time of the year... on Wall Street. Courtesy of a record year, thousands of Wall Streeters are reaping megabonuses with some appraching $50-million or even $100-million. No wonder Santa is in the Big Apple with all those Porsches. They'll soon be snapped up by rich investment bankers. 5. Desal plant faces setback The opening of Tampa Bay Water's desalination plant will be pushed back until March. WHAT IT MEANS: The troubled desal plant is three years overdue; the latest delay adds six months to the timetable. Frustrated area water officials have been counting on the new Apollo Beach plant, the largest in the United States, to give them an alternative source of drinking water in times of drought. If it's not ready by spring, some 2-million Tampa Bay Water customers can expect water restrictions.
[Last modified December 23, 2006, 20:22:22]
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