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The chickens came home to roost on Thursday when AT&T took a $4 billion charge for the failure of its attempt to acquire T-Mobile. While AT&T’s $32.5 billion in revenue beat estimates, and while the company reported 7.6 million iPhone activations — thanks to the iPhone 4S — it nevertheless suffered a fourth-quarter net loss of $6.68 billion, or $1.12 per share.
Microsoft reported a mixed performance on Friday for its second quarter ending Dec. 31. Earnings were essentially flat compared with the same period last year. The company reported a profit of $6.62 billion, or 78 cents a share, on $20.89 billion in revenue. For the same period a year ago, Microsoft reported a profit of $6.63 billion on $19.95 billion in revenue.
Google’s investments in mobile advertising and dark clouds over Europe contributed to weak quarterly sales and earnings. Share prices fell 10 percent on the news that Google’s fourth quarter sales of $8.13 billion fell short of analyst estimates of $8.41 billion. Profit before certain costs was $9.50 per share, which was a dollar shy of the $10.50 estimate on the street.
Facebook will likely make its initial public offering in May and could be valued as high as $100 billion, according to a recent report. The social networking giant boasts 800 million users worldwide and is expected to hit 1 billion in August, according to iCrossing projections. It’s reportedly expected to raise about $10 billion in the IPO.
Samsung has sailed to record quarterly profits — despite difficulties with its memory sales — as the company’s top-of-the-line smartphones smacked Apple and crushed HTC. Meanwhile, HTC’s earnings slipped in the face of strong competition. Samsung on Friday reported strong profit for its fourth quarter — $4.5 billion — beating analyst expectations by roughly 10 percent.