Yahoo shares fall on bad news
Shares in Yahoo Inc. tumbled nearly 16 percent Thursday, a day after the Internet media company said its first-quarter results would fall well short of expectations, prompting a slew of analysts to downgrade the stock and cut earnings forecasts.
Yahoo, which sharply scaled back earnings guidance as recently as January, also said Chief Executive Tim Koogle would step down.
Yahoo shares closed at $17.69 on the Nasdaq stock market, down $3.25.
Earnings
Profit warning, job cuts hit Intel
Semiconductor maker Intel Corp. will eliminate 5,000 jobs as it deals with a plunge in demand that has forced it to warn of falling revenues twice this year.
The company said Thursday that its first-quarter revenues would fall 25 percent from the fourth quarter. The chipmaker had said in January that revenues would decline by 15 percent from the $8.7 billion it posted in the fourth quarter.
The company is dealing with the downturn by cutting 5,000 jobs during the next nine months.
Before the latest warning, analysts surveyed by First Call/Thomson Financial had been expecting the company to post revenues of about $7.4 billion. The consensus view for earnings this quarter is 21 cents a share.
Airlines
US Airways merger hurts stock price
Stuck in a lengthy holding pattern with federal regulators, United Airlines' long-pending merger with US Airways may not fly until more changes in the deal are made, analysts say.
The latest delay in the nearly 10-month-old merger review process, announced earlier this week, has increased skepticism on Wall Street that the biggest-ever airline merger will be consummated as proposed.
US Airways' stock price, considered a barometer of market confidence in the deal's ultimate approval, fell $2.13 to close at $37.38 on the New York Stock Exchange a drop of nearly 20 percent since mid-December. United shares rose $1.44 Thursday to $40.65.
Acquisition
J.C. Penney to sell businesses to insurer
JC Penney Co. Inc. on Thursday agreed to sell its direct marketing and life insurance businesses to Dutch insurer Aegon NV for $1.3 billion in cash.
The sale of JC Penney Direct Marketing Services Inc. and JC Penney Life Insurance will allow the company to focus on its retail stores, chief executive Allen Questrom said.
The two firms also announced a 15-year alliance to offer financial products and membership services to Penney's 12 million customers.
JC Penney has a store in Lawrence.
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