The 2011 fourth-quarter earnings has shown that most companies are still laser-focused on whittling down costs to wring every ounce of profit from sluggish, or nonexistent, revenue growth. However, Caterpillar is in a different camp though, and after a record-breaking year the heavy equipment make says it expects to add costs in 2012 through increased capital [...]
McDonald’s beat the Street on Tuesday by posting an 11% jump in fourth-quarter profits. McDonald’s, the world’s largest hamburger chain, enjoyed strong quarterly sales growth and its best U.S. results since 2006. The Oak Brook, IL-based blue-chip company said it earned $1.38 billion, or $1.33 a share, last quarter, compared with a profit of $1.24 billion, [...]
General Motors has bounced back from bankruptcy and sold 9.026m vehicles last year to again claim the number one carmaker position. General Motors regained its mantle as the world’s top-selling carmaker from Toyota last year, but faces a challenge to stay on top this year as its rival rebuilds its business after being affected by disasters in [...]
According to multiple sources on Monday, Facebook’s long-anticipated initial public offering (IPO) is now likely to come in the third week of May. That means that the company must file its IPO documents within the next month, given that the review by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) usually takes about three to four months. That [...]
Video game sales failed to live up to high hopes in December, with total industry sales falling 21 percent to $3.99 billion from $5.07 billion a year ago. For the year, game sales were $17.02 billion, down 8 percent from $18.59 billion a year ago, according to market researcher NPD Group. The poor performance of [...]
Yahoo appears to be getting closer to giving its frustrated shareholders something they’ve long wanted: a sale of the Internet company’s holdings in China and Japan. The prospect of the Sunnyvale-based search company finally consummating a deal with China’s Alibaba Group and Softbank Corp., the controlling owner of Yahoo Japan, emerged in online reports published [...]
Twitter Inc., the microblogging service with more than 100 million users, won a $300 million investment from Saudi investor Prince Alwaleed bin Talal as it pushes through a redesign of its site to attract advertisers. Alwaleed and his investment company agreed to buy a “strategic stake,” Kingdom Holding said today, without giving details. Alwaleed is [...]
U.S. oil major Chevron Corp., faces heavy fines in Brazil after the company accepted responsibility for an oil spill at an offshore field, including the possible loss of a key license that allows Chevron to operate in deep waters that potentially hold billions of barrels of crude, government officials told reporters late Monday. Brazil’s leading [...]
Oh, the Netflix nightmare continues. Shares plunged 35% in afternoon trading Tuesday after the video service revealed it lost 800,000 subscribers in its difficult third quarter. Netflix (NFLX) earned $62 million, or $1.16 a share, on a record $822 million in revenue in the quarter that just ended, beating analysts’ estimates. But shareholders focused on [...]
F ord Motor Co. may have dodged its first nationwide strike in 35 years and secured labor peace while the United Auto Workers adds thousands of new members. UAW members at Ford went from voting 53 percent against the proposed contract on the morning of Oct. 14 to 63 percent in favor. The union said [...]
