From: bostonglobe.com

Harvard pays more for ho-hum endowment returns

Harvard University, which holds the world’s largest university endowment, doubled the pay of its investment chief in 2013 despite mediocre returns. Jane Mendillo earned $9.6 million in 2013 and her successor Stephen Blyth earned $11.5 million in his old position as Harvard’s head of public market investments. More than one-third of the university’s annual budget is paid out of its endowment returns, yet over the past five and 10 years, its returns have been lackluster. Last year, it ranked last among the Ivies with a 15.4 percent return. Yale topped the list, at 20.2 percent.

Markets

A Kold reaction for Keurig

Stocks fell for Keurig Green Mountain Inc. last week after investors reacted negatively to the company’s latest news about its Keurig Kold beverage system. Shares dropped almost 9 percent Monday to close at $94.26, their lowest level in a year, after the company said prices would be higher and the system’s rollout would be slower than investors expected. The company, whose Keurig subsidiary is based in Burlington, has also lost value over the past few months amid lackluster sales for its Keurig 2.0 coffee brewing unit, but analysts lowered their sights after the company’s Thursday news update.

Automobiles

Toyota, Nissan, Honda recall millions more vehicles

The Japanese automakers recalled another 11 million vehicles last week about questions about the integrity of their airbag systems made by Takata. On Wednesday, Toyota and Nissan said they were recalling more than 6.5 million vehicles about concerns that airbag malfunctions could harm consumers, although it said it wasn’t aware of it happening. About 637,000 cars newly recalled by Toyota were sold in the US. The next day, Honda said it was recalling 4.89 million cars worldwide, though none of them were American. The automaker also said it was recalling thousands of cars worldwide, including 22,700 in the United States, for a software update to its radar systems. Globally, Takata airbag problems have led to the recall of around 36 million vehicles, according to Reuters.

Transportation

After Amtrak crash, lack of service boosts airfares

A train crash in Philadelphia that led to the deaths of eight people sent East Coast travelers scrambling last week. Investigators said an Amtrak train was going more than double the speed limit of 50 miles per hour when it rounded a curve that threw it off the tracks Tuesday evening, injuring hundreds. Officials said they were just months away from installing a system that could have automatically applied the train’s brakes before it derailed. Meanwhile, train service between Philadelphia and New York remains suspended while the wreckage is investigated. And short-term airfares between New York and Washington have surged as rail travelers have been forced to find alternate routes.

Retail

Converse moves to Lovejoy Wharf

Two years after announcing its plans to move into Boston, the Nike subsidiary Converse is showing off its new headquarters downtown. The company has spent years working on its building near North Station, near the Zakim Bridge, and recently moved its workforce in from the old headquarters in North Andover. On Friday, Converse opened a 3,500-square-foot store in its headquarters building to the public. There, shoppers can choose custom materials to make a unique pair of Chuck Taylors, or buy premium Converse products co-produced with fashion brands such as Missoni and the designer John Varvatos.

Olympics

Baker to Boston 2024: Hurry up

Governor Charlie Baker has called on organizers of Boston’s Olympic bid to flesh out their proposals by next month so members of the public can weigh them. In discussions with donors that he confirmed with the Globe, Baker said the backers of Boston’s bid needed to share the latest version of their plans well in advance of confirming the bid in September after taking the pulse of residents, landlords, and neighborhood groups.

Hospitals

Tufts, BMC end merger talks

Two of Boston’s most important hospitals for poor and elderly patients have called off their proposed merger. Despite a rising tide of competition in one of the country’s most crowded health care markets, the hospitals said a merger would be “complex” to pull off. Combined, the hospitals have almost 900 beds. The reasons for the announcement weren’t entirely clear, but people involved in the negotiations said the hospitals had different goals. The aborted merger is the third big Boston hospital deal to fall apart since 2014.

Mergers

Verizon buys AOL

The country’s largest wireless carrier said last week that it would pay $4.4 billion to buy AOL Inc., the Internet company that has invested heavily in video ad technology. Although AOL still gets a large share of its revenue from the Internet subscriptions that boosted its value in the late 1990s, analysts said Verizon would probably take advantage of the company’s ad-buying technology as consumer demand and options for streaming Web video grow and traditional cable subscriptions shrink. It wasn’t clear what would happen to AOL’s media properties, like the Huffington Post and TechCrunch, but some analysts suggested the companies would be sold.

Pharmaceuticals

Vertex drug wins advisory board nod

Vertex Pharmaceuticals, the Boston company that makes an expensive treatment for cystic fibrosis, received the endorsement of an advisory panel of the Food and Drug Administration. Despite concerns by FDA staffers that Vertex didn’t give enough study to the individual effect of one of the two active ingredients in the treatment, the influential advisory board voted 12 to 1 to encourage regulators to approve the use of Orkambi in a group of 8,500 patients. Currently, only around 2,000 patients are currently approved to take another one of its drugs, Kalydeco, which is a component of Orkambi. The FDA will issue a final ruling in July.

Supermarkets

Parents of Stop & Shop, Hannaford in merger talks

The Delhaize Group and Royal Ahold NV, the European parent companies of New England grocery stores Hannaford and Stop & Shop, confirmed last week that they are discussing a possible merger. If they combined, the companies would have around 2,000 stores across the eastern half of the United States and others in Europe. Analysts said the merger would likely be approved, although the stores would probably be required to sell off some of their locations in Massachusetts, the main market where the grocery giants compete with one another. Supermarkets have been squeezed by rising grocery spending at Walmart and other retailers.