Page 25 - ATD 17OCT,2015

BUSINESS A25
Saturday 17 October 2015

Alibaba offers to buy rest of China’s Youku in $3.6B deal

AP Business Writer to China’s growing ranks of to buy the remaining stock a deal to collaborate with ing sites, which attract a
HONG KONG (AP) — Aliba- middle-class consumers. for $26.60 in cash per share, Paramount Pictures to pro- young audience, have op-
ba said Friday it’s offering to “Digital products, especial- or 30.2 percent more than mote “Mission: Impossible erated with fewer of the re-
buy up the rest of Chinese ly video, are just as impor- the last closing price on the — Rogue Nation,” the lat- strictions dogging state-run
video streaming site Youku tant as physical goods in New York Stock Exchange. est in the spy thriller series TV broadcasters, allowing
Tudou in a $3.6 billion deal e-commerce, and Youku’s After subtracting Youku’s starring Tom Cruise, and an it to introduce more varied
signaling the e-commerce high-quality video content approximately $1 billion in investment in a movie star- and foreign content. Youku
giant’s intent to expand will be a core component cash on hand, Alibaba is ring South Korean star Kim has never turned a profit by
beyond its core business of of Alibaba’s digital product paying about $3.6 billion Soo-hyun. Alibaba made its standard accounting mea-
online shopping. offering in the future,” Al- to buy the stake. The offer initial investment in Youku sures. Its loss for the most
The deal would give the ibaba Group Holdings Ltd. follows a series of moves Tudou, which is seen as Chi- recent quarter widened to
company, which has been CEO Daniel Zhang said. by Alibaba Group Holdings na’s version of Youtube, in 342 million yuan ($55.2 mil-
expanding into films, a big- The company, which al- Ltd. to expand into the film 2014. The deal gives Aliba- lion) from 142.3 million yuan
ger platform to broadcast ready owns 18.3 percent industry through its film arm, ba access to a sophisticat- in the same period in 2014,
content including Holly- of Youku Tudou’s U.S.-listed Alibaba Pictures Group. ed, user-friendly operation. according to its latest earn-
wood blockbusters directly shares, said it’s proposing Recent investments include Youku’s two private stream- ings report.q

GE beats Street 3Q forecasts as it refocuses on industry

The General Electric logo is seen at a plant in Belfort, eastern France. General Electric Co. on Fri- making large, complicat- The industrial conglomer-
day, Oct. 16, 2015 reported a decline in third-quarter profit, but strong performances from its core ed equipment for other ate posted revenue of
units helped the company top Wall Street expectations. companies — and shrink- $31.68 billion in the period,
ing its other businesses that though revenue from its in-
(AP Photo/Thibault Camus) focus on finance. The larg- dustrial and verticals units
est change involves selling only reached $27.9 billion.
NEW YORK (AP) — Indus- quarter profit, but strong tions. most of GE Capital’s assets, Eleven analysts surveyed
trial conglomerate Gen- performances from its core General Electric has been including $26.5 billion in by Zacks expected $28.67
eral Electric Co. on Friday units helped the company making a push to focus real estate assets. billion.
reported a decline in third- top Wall Street expecta- on industrial businesses — The Fairfield, Connecticut- During the quarter, the
based company said profit company’s power and wa-
fell 29 percent to $2.51 bil- ter division saw revenue rise
lion, or 25 cents per share. 1 percent to $6.46 billion.
Meanwhile, revenue fell 1 The unit, which makes pow-
percent to $31.68 billion. er generators and related
Earnings, adjusted for non- equipment, is the indus-
recurring costs and to ac- trial core’s largest revenue
count for discontinued op- driver. Meanwhile, revenue
erations, came to 32 cents rose 5 percent to $6 billion
per share. Earnings includ- in the aviation unit. Trans-
ing the GE Capital busi- portation revenue rose 3
nesses that the company percent to $1.59 billion and
is keeping amounted to revenue rose 8 percent to
29 cents per share. That $2.29 billion in the appli-
topped Wall Street expec- ances unit.
tations. The average es- The oil and gas unit contin-
timate of 11 analysts sur- ues to be weighed down
veyed by Zacks Investment by low oil prices. Revenue
Research for earnings of 26 fell 16 percent to $3.87 bil-
cents per share. lion. q

Ex-Microsoft CEO says he’s taken 4 percent stake in Twitter

MARLEY JAY for the Clippers, confirmed make Twitter more acces- afternoon trading. its permanent CEO. Ballmer
AP Business Writer that Ballmer had made the sible and broaden its ap- Ballmer also said he liked tweeted that day that Twit-
NEW YORK (AP) — Los An- investment. peal. that Saudi billionaire Prince ter “is remarkable” and
geles Clippers owner and The high-profile investment The company’s shares lost Alwaleed bin Talal and called Dorsey an “impres-
former Microsoft CEO Steve comes as Twitter is trying to about half their value be- his investment company sive dude.”
Ballmer has bought a 4-per- win more users and turn a tween late April and late bought more shares of Twit- According to FactSet,
cent stake in Twitter, a vote profit. August as investors worried ter. The prince and his firm Ballmer’s holdings would
of confidence in the strug- This month, its co-founder about Twitter’s disappoint- said this month the stake make him the third-largest
gling messaging company. Jack Dorsey returned as its ing financial performance had doubled over a six- individual owner of Twitter
That makes Ballmer one of permanent CEO. Then the and slowing user growth. week period to more than shares after company co-
Twitter’s largest sharehold- company announced that The nine-year-old compa- 5 percent. founder Evan Williams and
ers. it would lay off up to 8 per- ny has never reported an Dorsey was the San Francis- bin Talal.
A Twitter account that cent of its workforce and annual profit. co company’s CEO during Ballmer, who was Micro-
identified itself as Ballmer’s unveiled a new feature, The stock has recovered its early years and became soft’s CEO for 14 years end-
said Friday morning that he “Moments.” Those packag- some of those losses as the interim CEO in July, when ing last year, is also the larg-
bought stock in Twitter in es of commentary, video broader markets rose in Dick Costolo stepped est individual owner of Mi-
the last few months. Seth and photos about major October, and is up $1.51, down. Twitter said on Oct. crosoft stock with a 4.2-per-
Burton, a representative events are an attempt to or 5.1 percent, to $31.22 in 5 that he would become cent stake. q