Tech Rewind: Comcast Backs Off Its TWC Bid, Earnings Galore
The remaining report cards are in for tech titans, and Comcast scrapped its $45 billion bid for Time Warner Cable -- this is your tech rewind of the week.
Comcast’s (NASDAQ:CMCSA) plan to scoop up Time Warner Cable (NYSE:TWC) was officially off the table on Friday. The decision comes amid heavy scrutiny from regulators concerned the $45 billion deal wouldn’t help consumers. The company’s deals with Charter have also been scrapped. Comcast and TWC shares were both trading higher early Friday. And now that the deal has crumbled, the question becomes: What's next?
Currency headwinds have taken a bite out of several multinationals’ bottom lines: IBM (NYSE:IBM) revealed its twelfth-straight quarter of year-over-year declines, hurt by a stronger U.S. dollar and a drop in its hardware business. Meanwhile, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) beat Street estimates, but still posted a 12% drop in third-quarter earnings, citing higher costs and currency volatility overseas.
Investors shrugged off Google’s (NASDAQ:GOOGL) earnings miss Thursday – the Internet search giant revealed adjusted first-quarter earnings per share of $6.57, missing expectations for $6.60. Revenues excluding traffic acquisition costs came in at $13.91 billion, also below Wall Street estimates for $14.05 billion. Earlier in the week, Google also unveiled a new wireless service, Project Fi. The pay-as-you-go plan is cheaper than traditional services, and lets users toggle between cellular data and WiFi. Initially, Project Fi will only be available with Sprint (NYSE:S) and T-Mobile (NYSE:TMUS), and exclusively on Nexus 6 phones.
Circling back to (more) earnings: Ahead of eBay’s (NASDAQ:EBAY) PayPal spinoff, the digital payment division’s quarterly revenue outpaced that of the core marketplace for the first time. Yahoo (NASDAQ:YHOO) missed forecasts on both lines, citing higher costs and modest online ad sales growth. Meanwhile, Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) revenue jumped on a surge in mobile ad sales, despite the social network posting its slowest growth quarter in two years. And Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) shares soared after the e-retailer reported a 15% rise in revenue, including first-time profits from its cloud services business.
And there is only one U.S. store with the Apple Watch, which is no longer scheduled to be in stores on Friday. Los Angeles boutique Maxfield will be the exception, with in-store purchase of Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) much-anticipated smartwatch available.
Vênsette, the Uber-like on-demand beauty service app, held a launch event where Founder and CEO Lauren Remington Platt announced a handful of new services including a bridal package and Vênsette VIP.
And on the topic of Uber, ride-share competitor Gett raised the stakes this week introducing a surge-free guarantee in New York City -- regardless of demand, traffic or weather. In addition, Gett is offering fixed rates so that New Yorkers can expect the same trip will cost the same price each time.