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![Facebook pays for all its mistakes at once, and it’s a big bill]()
Facebook pays for all its mistakes at once, and it’s a big bill
- Facebook stock drops more than 20% after warning that revenue growth will take a hit
- Twitter and Snap fall along with Facebook
- Nigam Arora: This reversal shows there’s risk in the bullish stock market — and Facebook is further proof
- Facebook, Google, Twitter asked to appear before Senate again to discuss Russian meddling
- Nasdaq futures tumble nearly 1% after Facebook sinks on results
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Need to Know
![Even if short of specifics, the Trump-Juncker agreement is significant]()
Explosion reported near U.S. embassy in Beijing
Multiple news sources have reported an explosion outside the U.S. Embassy in Beijing on Thursday. Videos on social media showed emergency officials on the scene and smoke in the area, which also houses a number of other embassies, including India's. There were no immediate details of the cause of the apparent blast, or whether there are casualties. The incident happened around 1 p.m. local time. The U.S. Embassy in Beijing is an eight-story facility in a 10-acre compound in the northeastern part of the city.
Shell reveals profit rise, $25 billion buyback plan
Royal Dutch Shell PLC RDSB.LN said Thursday that it has launched a $25 billion share-buyback program and that second-quarter profit rose 30% on year. The Anglo-Dutch oil company said it will buy back a maximum of 834 million shares. The program will kick off with an initial $2 billion of buybacks. Our free cash flow outlook and the progress we have made to strengthen our balance sheet give us the confidence to start our share buyback program," Chief Executive Officer Ben van Beurden said.
Cobham warns of Boeing payment delay
Cobham PLC (COB.LN) said Thursday that Boeing Co. (BA) is withholding payment over the KC-46 aircraft refueling tanker program, which will also have higher-than-expected costs, but backed its underlying profit guidance for 2018.
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Personal Finance
![How the death of your local newspaper could cost you money]()
How the death of your local newspaper could cost you money
The Tronc-owned New York Daily News is the latest newspaper to experience massive layoffs as print journalism struggles in a digital world.
![Republicans and Democrats love luxury goods, but buy them for difference reasons]()
Republicans and Democrats love luxury goods, but buy them for difference reasons
Our desire to maintain social status can motivate purchases.
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Inside MarketWatch
BreakingMillions of LifeLock email addresses may have been exposed: report
Symantec Inc.'s LifeLock identity protection service may have exposed the email addresses of millions of customers, according to a report late Wednesday. Shares of Symantec, which had been up nearly 4% after hours, were flat at last check, following a 0.7% gain to close the regular session at $20.69. Noted cybersecurity blogger Brian Krebs reported late Wednesday that LifeLock just fixed a bug on its site that would allow hackers to fool LifeLock customers in phishing attempts. Krebs said Symantec took the site offline shortly after he contacted the company. In late 2016, Symantec said it would buy Lifelock for $2.3 billion, and the deal was closed in February 2017.
BreakingQualcomm suggests Apple will use Intel modems in new iPhone
Qualcomm Inc. said in a post-earnings conference call Wednesday that Apple Inc. would rely solely on a competitor's modem chips in its next iPhone, almost assuredly referring to Intel Corp. Apple had been splitting iPhone modem duties between Qualcomm and Intel, which did not offer CDMA connections in its wireless modems. Previous reports have said that if Intel adds CDMA, as it has, it could win all the share in future iPhones, and Qualcomm seemed to confirm that Wednesday. "We believe Apple intends to solely use our competitors' modems rather than our modems in its next iPhone release," Qualcomm Chief Financial Officer George Davis said while discussing the company's fourth-quarter forecast. "We will continue to provide modems for Apple legacy devices." The announcement didn't immediately hurt Qualcomm stock, which was up more than 7% after announcing an earnings beat and plans to drop acquisition plans for NXP Semiconductors NV.
BreakingQualcomm plan to kill NXP deal, earnings beat send stock popping higher
Qualcomm Inc. shares received a jolt Wednesday afternoon after the chip maker beat quarterly earnings expectations, confirmed that it plans to end a long-planned acquisition of NXP Semiconductors NV and buy back up to $30 billion in stock. NXP shares gained more than 5% in immediate after-hours trading after gaining 1% in regular trading, when reports suggested the company would dump the NXP deal and instead buy back shares. "We intend to terminate our purchase agreement to acquire NXP when the agreement expires at the end of the day today, pending any new material developments," Chief Executive Steve Mollenkopf said in Wednesday's announcement. "In addition, as previously indicated, upon termination of the agreement, we intend to pursue a stock repurchase program of up to $30 billion to deliver significant value to our stockholders." Qualcomm reported third-quarter net income of $1.2 billion, or 82 cents a share, on sales of $5.6 billion, up from $5.37 billion a year ago. After adjusting for stock-based compensation and other effects, the company claimed earnings of $1.01 a share, up from 83 cents a share a year ago. Analysts on average expected Qualcomm to report adjusted profit of 71 cents a share on sales of $5.19 billion, according to FactSet, after the chip maker predicted adjusted earnings of 65 cents to 75 cents a share on revenue of $4.8 billion to $5.6 billion. Qualcomm predicted fourth-quarter adjusted earnings of 75 cents to 85 cents a share on sales of $5.1 billion to $5.9 billion. For the company's fourth quarter, analysts on average were predicting adjusted profit of 77 cents a share on sales of $5.47 billion, according to FactSet. Qualcomm stock has fallen 7.2% so far this year, as the S&P 500 index has gained 5.5%.
