Amazon’s shares decline as results fail to measure up

Amazon’s profit and revenue both grew in the latest quarter but its results fell below what Wall Street was expecting and shares of the world’s biggest online retailer declined after hours.

Amazon said Thursday that it earned $239 million, or 51 cents per share, in the October-December period. That’s up from $97 million, or 21 cents per share, in the same period a year earlier.

Revenue grew 20 percent in the fourth quarter, to $25.59 billion from $21.27 billion.

Zynga Inc. buying company, cutting workforce 15 percent

Zynga Inc. said Thursday it was buying NaturalMotion, the company behind the hit mobile games “CSR Racin and “Clumsy Ninja,” while cutting 15 percent of its workforce.

U.S. wants Bank of America to pay $2.1 billion penalty

Federal prosecutors want a judge to order Bank of America to pay $2.1 billion in penalties for knowingly selling bad home loans, more than double the amount the government had sought in the case.

In documents filed Wednesday, the government said it wants Bank of America to make a payment based on its total revenue from the fraud instead of the profit it made.

The U.S. had wanted Bank of America to pay about $864 million over losses it incurred after it bought thousands of home loans made by Countrywide Financial in 2007 and 2008 during the housing boom.

Facebook stock jumps 14% on strong mobile advertising

Facebook’s stock is soaring after the social networking company reported stronger-than-expected results for the fourth quarter, fueled by strong mobile advertising revenue.

Facebook Inc., which turns 10 next week, said Wednesday that more than half of its ad revenue now comes from mobile.

Its stock jumped $7.55, or 14 percent, to $61.08.

— From news service reports