300 Blockbusters closing; fate of Yarmouth store uncertain

Blockbuster plans to close about 300 of its 800 remaining stores nationwide, cutting about 3,000 jobs, but it isn’t ready to identify the targeted stores.

A spokesman for Dish Network, corporate owner of the Blockbuster video rental chain, said Tuesday a decision will be made “in the coming weeks” on when to disclose which Blockbusters will shut down. It is closing stores that are underperforming or have leases that expire soon.

The only store in Greater Portland is on Route 1 in Yarmouth. An employee there would not say Tuesday whether workers had received any word about the status of their store, or how many people work there. A message left for the store manager was not returned.

Blockbuster closed three stores in Maine last year, in South Portland, Westbrook and Lewiston.

The chain has taken a hit in recent years from companies like Netflix, which offers movies and television shows by mail, as well as Internet-based movie-streaming services and satellite TV services.

Owners of pharmacy linked to outbreak made millions

BOSTON — The owners of a pharmacy linked to a fatal meningitis outbreak received more than $16 million in wages and payments as the company grew increasingly prosperous in its final months.

The four family members, who served as the New England Compounding Center’s directors, received the money between late December 2011 and late November 2012, according to a bankruptcy court filing. The largest payout went to the firm’s majority shareholder, Carla Conigliaro, who received $8.7 million.

Co-founder Barry Cadden, the company’s chief pharmacist, received $3.2 million, including a biweekly salary of about $17,900. His wife, Lisa Cadden, received about $2.8 million, mainly in shareholder payments.

The vast majority of the money paid to the owners was distributed before the outbreak was discovered in Tennessee in September. Before the company shut down in early October, its net sales were on pace to double over just two years.

The pharmacy produced a contaminated steroid, used mainly to treat back pain, that’s blamed for a fungal meningitis outbreak that has killed 44 and sickened more than 600.

Strong reports on earnings keep Dow on positive track

Strong earnings reports from big U.S. companies helped push the Dow Jones industrial average to its eighth gain in nine sessions Tuesday.

DuPont, Verizon and Travelers Cos., three of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow, closed higher after reporting their financial results for the final quarter of 2012.

The Dow closed up 62.51 points, or 0.5 percent, at 13,712.21. The Standard & Poor’s 500 index gained 6.53, or 0.4 percent, to 1,492.51. The Nasdaq composite average rose 8.47, or 0.3 percent, to 3,143.18.

Earnings have been strong enough this season to drive a five-day winning streak for the S&P 500 and put the Dow on track for its biggest monthly percentage gain since October 2011. Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at BMO Private Bank in Chicago, said traders have been encouraged by the number of companies beating analysts’ profit expectations.