Category: Stock Market News

Travis Kalanick, who co-founded Uber Technologies Inc. and was ousted as its chief executive last year, plans to sell about a third of his stake in the company, Bloomberg News reported Thursday night. The sale of 29% of his shares will earn him about $1.4 billion in a transaction with Japan’s SoftBank Group Corp. . Last month, SoftBank won a bid to buy about 15% of Uber at a price roughly 30% discounted from its last valuation of $68 billion. The deal is expected to be finalized later this month. In 2016, Kalanick boasted that he had “never sold a single Uber share.” Kalanick was forced out of the company he helped build in June following a shareholder revolt after a series of scandals tainted the ride-sharing giant.

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Apple Inc. published information Thursday evening confirming that all devices running its mobile and personal-computer operating systems are affected by two massive vulnerabilities publicly disclosed Wednesday. “All Mac systems and iOS devices are affected, but there are no known exploits impacting customers at this time,” a post on Apple’s support forum said. Apple said that recent updates to its Mac, iOS and tvOS software would help to mitigate against Meltdown, and that it was working on an update to its Safari web browser that would help fight off Spectre. Intel Corp. admitted Wednesday that its chips, which are used in Mac computers, are affected by Meltdown; Spectre affects all modern CPUs, including mobile chips from Softbank Group Corp.’s ARM Holdings. Other software companies, like Microsoft Corp. are patching operating systems to ward off potential exploits that use the vulnerabilities as well.

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Longtime music executive Jimmy Iovine plans to leave Apple Inc. in August, according to Thursday reports. Iovine has been assisting with the launch and operation of streaming music service Apple Music since the iPhone maker acquired his previous company, headphones-maker Beats Electronics Inc. Billboard reported Thursday that Iovine will time his departure to the end of a vesting schedule for Apple shares put in place at the time of acquisition. Apple Music subscriptions were up 75% year over year in the most recently completed quarter, Chief Financial Officer Luca Maestri said in November, which has helped Apple’s software and services segment become its second biggest revenue generator behind iPhone sales. Apple shares closed Thursday with a 0.5% gain at $173.03, and have increased 49.4% in the past year, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average , which includes Apple as a component, has gained 26.9%.

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Xilinx Inc. said Thursday afternoon that Chief Executive Moshe Gavrielov will retire from his position on Jan. 28 and be replaced by Chief Operating Officer Victor Peng. Gavrielov has been at the helm of Xilinx for 10 years, during which time the stock has more than tripled. Peng served as executive vice president and general manager of products for Xilinx, and previously worked at Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Xilinx shares have gained 16.7% in the past year, which trails gains of larger indexes like the Nasdaq Composite Index , up 31.5%, and the PHLX Semiconductor Index , up 45.3%.

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JetBlue Airways Corp. said late Thursday that it plans to give a $1,000 bonus to its 21,000 employees except the chief executive, and its executive vice presidents. JetBlue stock is flat at $21.69 after hours. The company cited the federal tax reform legislation and the company said it will dole out the cash by the end of February. “In the months ahead, we look forward to working with our Values Committees and directly with you on other ideas for how we can use tax reform benefits to make JetBlue even stronger,” the company said. JetBlue joins other companies such as Netflix Inc. , several banks such as Wells Fargo & Co. , and others such as Comcast Corp. , which have announced similar plans. Rival Southwest Airlines Co. has also announced a $1,000 bonus.

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Shares of AveXis Inc. fell more than 7% late Thursday after the gene-therapy company said it was preparing to respond to Food and Drug Administration information requests about AveXis’s primary gene therapy, which would be used to treat a form of spinal muscular atrophy. The company and the FDA met in early December and the government agency pinpointed specific next steps for the company in applying for a biologics license, AveXis said in a statement. Shares of AveXis ended the regular trading day down 1.8%.

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Sonic Corp. moved about 4% higher in late trading Thursday after the fast-food company reported earnings that beat expectations. Sonic reported fiscal first-quarter earnings of $11.4 million, or 29 cents a share, on total revenue of $105.4 million, down from $129.6 million a year ago. After adjusting for costs from a data breach, Sonic claimed adjusted earnings of 30 cents a share, up from 24 cents a share in the same period the prior year. Analysts on average expected Sonic to report adjusted earnings of 25 cents a share on sales of $107.7 million. Shares topped $28.50 in after-hours action, after the stock closed with a 0.4% decline at $27.57.

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U.S. stocks recorded their third consecutive day of gains on Thursday, as the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed above the psychologically important 25,000 mark for the first time in history. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite hit records for the first three trading days of the year for the first time since 1964 and 1999, respectively. Sentiment remained upbeat on the back of supportive ADP payroll data, as well as a rise in commodity prices. In individual stocks, CVS Health Corp rose 2.6% after issuing its 2018 guidance. Financials were up across the board , with JPMorgan Chase & Co. rising 1.4%, Bank of America Corp. up 1.3% and Wells Fargo & Co. 1.3% higher. Among the days losers was Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. , which fell 5.1% despite better-than-expected earnings.

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Sears Holdings Corp. said Thursday that it is closing more than 100 stores in March and April of this year. Sixty-four of the stores will be Kmart locations and 39 will be Sears. Eligible associates will receive severance packages and can apply for open positions at nearby locations. The number of associates affected is not available, according to a Sears spokesperson, who says most of the jobs are part-time positions. Liquidation sales at the impacted stores will begin as early as Jan. 12. The store closures will be nationwide. There were 1,104 stores, 510 Kmart stores and 594 Sears stores, as of Oct. 28. Sears shares are down 4.5% in Thursday trading, and down 65.4% for the past year. The S&P 500 index is up 20% for the last 12 months.

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Oil prices climbed Thursday to again settle at their highest in about three years, buoyed by a bigger-than-expected drop in weekly U.S. crude inventories and production concerns tied to protests in Iran. February West Texas Intermediate crude rose 38 cents, or 0.6%, to settle at $62.01 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was the highest most-active futures contract settlement since December 2014, according to FactSet data.

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