ONLINE RETAIL

Amazon’s hiring boom could include expansion into Boston

Amazon.com Inc. said Thursday that it plans to add 100,000 jobs nationwide over the next 18 months. And it sounds like that could include a big expansion into Boston. The tech and retail giant is looking to lease 100,000 to 200,000 square feet of office space downtown, enough for hundreds of employees, ­according to several real estate sources with knowledge of the company’s search. Amazon wants to secure a location within the first quarter, and open the new offices by year’s end, according to the sources. Amazon already has a large and growing presence in Kendall Square but is eyeing downtown Boston in part because it has cheaper rents and more available space than in nearby Cambridge. It would also join a string of tech companies that have set up shop downtown, helping to reinvent the traditional business district as a hub for a new industry. Amazon did not return messages seeking comment Thursday, and the sources with knowledge of its search would not discuss it publicly, citing the ongoing negotiations. And Amazon could yet scrap the plans, or choose to expand in Cambridge instead, the sources said. — TIM LOGAN

NONPROFITS

Boston Foundation gets gift worth an estimated $28 million

As charitable donations go, it’s not as unique as the cruise ship it was once given. But the Boston Foundation announced Wednesday that it expects to receive one of the largest and most unusual gifts in its 101-year history: an estimated $28 million from the sale of a Boston-area business that is effectively donating most of itself to charity. It’s a complicated arrangement with a speculative value and inexact payout date, and no cash will immediately change hands. But Boston Foundation president Paul Grogan says it has the potential to significantly expand his organization’s grant-giving ability. Here’s how it works: Curriculum Associates, a private Billerica educational technology company, recently transferred the majority of its ownership, in the form of nonvoting shares, to the Iowa State University Foundation, a nonprofit at its cofounder’s alma mater. When the university sells those shares, which is expected to happen within five years, it will give a portion of the proceeds to the Boston Foundation, one of New England’s biggest grant-making organizations, and keep the rest. Curriculum Associates estimates the total donation is worth $120 million, with the Boston Foundation’s share pegged at $28 million, which would be the second-largest gift it has ever received. The gift could be worth more or less if the company’s value changes over time, and the total amount of the gift will not be determined until the company is sold. — SACHA PFEIFFER

ROOM RENTALS

Long-term Airbnb landlords could face hotel taxes

Airbnb users who rent out private rooms for five months a year or longer would have to collect hotel taxes under a proposal detailed Thursday by Governor Charlie Baker. The governor’s plan, to be included with his formal budget proposal later this month, would target a small group of landlords who operate high-volume rental businesses on Airbnb and similar sites, which include HomeAway, owned by Expedia, and FlipKey, owned by TripAdvisor. Baker estimates the tax would raise $12 million for the state in the 2018 fiscal year by applying hotel taxes to home-rental landlords operating “a de facto business.’’ But the proposal would not subject those rental business to additional regulations, such as for health and safety codes, as pushed by the state’s hotel industry. Airbnb has repeatedly asked lawmakers to assess hotel taxes on its users, saying it wants to pay its fair share to state and local governments. But the San Francisco-based company also has said any regulations should distinguish between professional rental operators and the large number of people who use the service occasionally to make a few extra bucks. — CURT WOODWARD

HEALTH CARE

Study suggests changing the way doctors are paid could boost outcomes for the poor

A Harvard Medical School study suggests that changing the way doctors are paid could narrow some of the health disparities between poorer and wealthier patients. Poverty has long been linked to poorer health, an intractable problem that health care experts have long sought to address. The study suggests that one solution may lie in the way health care ­providers are compensated by insurers. The paper, published Monday in the journal Health Affairs, studied one type of ­coverage offered by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts. The contract links what physicians are paid to dozens of health care quality measures. When patients score high on those measures and doctors stay under budget, they earn more money. The study found that quality for all patients in the Blue Cross contract improved, but the gains were greater for poorer patients. The findings appear to be the first of their kind in health policy. The improvement largely was in access to care, such as medical checkups, cancer screenings, and blood pressure checks. Experts believe this type of preventive care can help avoid difficult and costly health problems down the road. The findings, though limited to members of just one insurer, suggest that the way payments are structured has the potential to improve the health of those who need care the most. — PRIYANKA DAYAL MCCLUSKEY

ENERGY

Eversource wins state approval for plan to build solar facilities

Eversource Energy has received state approval for a plan that involves building at least a dozen solar energy facilities, ­allowing it to take advantage of a change in state law that ­permits utilities to generate more solar power on their own. Eversource said it is seeking locations for the facilities, which will be split between Eastern and Western Massachusetts. It is also unclear how many sites the company will build upon ­because the number will depend on the size of each site. ­Eversource plans to focus on a list of proposed sites by May, and they may require municipal ­approval. The state gave its OK to the plan on Dec. 29. Already, Eversource operates three solar facilities capable of ­generating a combined eight ­megawatts of power in Western Massachusetts. By the time the new facilities — akin to large expanses of ground-based solar panels — are brought online, Eversource will be capable of generating 70 ­megawatts, which the company ­estimates is enough to power about 10,000 homes. — ADAM VACCARO

BIOTECH

Ariad Pharmaceuticals to be taken over by Japanese company

Ariad Pharmaceuticals Inc. on Monday accepted a $5.2 ­billion takeover offer from Japan’s Takeda Pharmaceuticals Inc., making the Cambridge company the latest Massachusetts biotech to be gobbled up by a global drug company ­seeking to strengthen its product line. The 26-year-old Ariad has a blood cancer drug on the market and is seeking US ­approval for a lung cancer treatment. Takeda, which gained a foothold in Massachusetts in 2008 when it paid $8.8 billion for Millennium Pharmaceuticals Inc., runs a research center at the former Millennium site in Cambridge, now headquarters for Takeda’s global cancer drug business. The takeover of Ariad will broaden the Japanese company’s portfolio of ­hematology drugs. For Ariad shareholders, the Takeda purchase provides a profitable exit that not long ago might have seemed unlikely. Ariad’s stock plunged after its chronic myeloid leukemia drug, Iclusig, was temporarily pulled from the market in 2013 over safety concerns. — ROBERT WEISMAN