Apple Computer Inc. said Wednesday that its fiscal fourth-quarter profit rose 27 percent, well past analysts’ expectations, boosted by sizzling sales of its iPod music players and Macintosh computers. Apple earned $546 million in the quarter ended Sept. 30, or 62 cents per share. That compared with net income of $430 million, or 50 cents per share, in the same period last year. Revenue for the quarter totaled $4.84 billion, a 32 percent jump from $3.68 billion last year.
WaMu profits drop despite cutbacks
Washington Mutual Inc. said its third-quarter profits slid nearly 9 percent as the company continued broad efforts to cut costs. The results widely missed Wall Street’s expectations. The nation’s largest savings and loan reported earnings of $748 million, or 77 cents per share, for the three months ended Sept. 30, down from $821 million, or 92 cents per share, in the same period a year ago. The results, released after markets closed for regular trading Wednesday, included a $31 million after-tax charge from a previously announced sale of $2.53 billion in mortgage servicing rights to Wells Fargo &Co.
AOL to lay off 1,300 workers
AOL announced Wednesday it will lay off 1,300 employees by closing call centers in New Mexico and Arizona as part of a previously announced restructuring plan. AOL, the Time Warner Inc. online unit formerly known as America Online, also plans to sell its call center in Ogden, Utah. The cuts include 900 layoffs at the Albuquerque call center and 400 jobs at the center in Tucson, Ariz., AOL spokesman Nicholas Graham said.
Some iPods spread virus to Windows
For more than a month, some iPod music players have spread a computer worm to Windows computers and external drives connected to those computers, leaving them vulnerable to attacks from hackers. The worm, which has been traced to a Windows computer used to test iPod software during manufacturing, affected less than 1 percent of the devices available for purchase after Sept. 12, said Greg Joswiak, Apple Computer Inc.’s vice president of iPod product marketing. It affected only computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system. The problem has been fixed, Joswiak said.
EBay profits beat expectations
EBay Inc. reported Wednesday that third-quarter profits increased 10 percent from the same period last year, beating Wall Street’s moderate expectations and encouraging executives to raise earnings forecasts for the full year. The online auction company earned $280.9 million, or 20 cents per share, for the three months ended Sept. 30, compared to $254.97 million, or 18 cents per share, in the year-ago period. Revenue for the third quarter totaled $1.45 billion, up 31 percent from last year’s $1.11 billion and at the high end of what Wall Street traders had expected. Excluding charges unrelated to ongoing operations, eBay earned $367.41 million, or 26 cents per share, up nearly 24 percent from the same quarter last year.
From Herald news services
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