Verizon net income, revenue increased in third quarter

Verizon Communications Inc. on Tuesday reported higher net income and revenue in its third quarter, helped by strong wireless subscriber growth and demand for its high-speed FiOS Internet services.

Verizon, which bought out its wireless division from British cellphone carrier Vodafone Group this year, said it added 1.5 million net retail wireless connections in the quarter – up 44 percent from the same time last year. About 1 million of those were for tablets and devices other than phones. It ended September with 106.2 million wireless connections, including 100.1 million that involved monthly service contracts.

Chief Financial Officer Francis Shammo said promotion pricing has helped Verizon push customers into plans that should increase sales of phones using the more efficient 4G LTE network.

The largest U.S. cellphone carrier also added 162,000 FiOS Internet subscribers and 114,000 FiOS video net subscribers.

Yahoo’s quarterly earnings surge on Alibaba windfall

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Yahoo’s third-quarter earnings soared as the Internet company collected a huge windfall from Alibaba’s recent IPO. Revenue also rose slightly from the previous year, a welcome change for a company that has been posting quarterly declines for most of the past five years.

The uptick included more than $200 million in revenue from mobile devices. That represented 17 percent of Yahoo’s total revenue for the three months that ended in September, an indication that CEO Marissa Mayer’s emphasis on designing sleeker applications for smartphones and tablets is starting to pay off.

Yahoo’s stock climbed $1.12, or nearly 3 percent, to $41.30 in extended trading Tuesday.

The Sunnyvale, California, company earned $6.8 billion, or $6.70 per share, in the third quarter.

Staples reveals investigation into potential data breach

Staples is looking into a potential credit card data breach and has been in touch with law enforcement officials about the issue.

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The office supplies retailer said Tuesday that if it turns up any data discrepancies during its investigation, customers won’t be responsible for fraudulent activity on their credit cards as long as it is reported in a timely manner.

Earlier this month, Sears Holdings Corp. reported a breach at its Kmart stores that started last month, saying some customers’ credit and debit cards may have been compromised.

Shares of Staples Inc., based in Framingham, Massachusetts, slipped 3 cents to $12.27 in midday trading. Its shares have fallen 23 percent over the past year.

Expert on Internet privacy named FTC lead technologist

The Federal Trade Commission on Tuesday named an outspoken Internet privacy expert, Ashkan Soltani, as its chief technologist in a move that signals the agency’s focus on protecting consumers’ online privacy.

A computer scientist and technology researcher, Soltani has advised several leading news organizations in reporting on complex technical issues related to Internet privacy.

Over the last year, he co-authored a series of Washington Post articles that examined government surveillance programs first revealed by former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden. The series earned a Pulitzer Prize for Public Service earlier this year.


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