Amazon got off to a roaring start in 2018, posting a profit during the first three months of the year that easy surpassed analysts' expectations.

The Seattle retail giant on Thursday reported a profit of $3.27 a share during the three months ended in March, from $1.48 a share a year ago ago. Sales, including more than $4 billion contributed by ...Read more

Microsoft reported third-quarter financial results Thursday that surpassed analyst expectations, once again rising on the strong growth in its cloud products.

Microsoft said revenue from its Azure cloud computing service grew 93 percent during the quarter, a trend that has marked the company's momentum in the increasingly important market for ...Read more

SANTA CLARA -- Intel reported better-than-expected first-quarter earnings and sales Thursday as the semiconductor leader turned in strong sales from its data-center business to go along with solid gains from its traditional personal computer chip offerings.

After the stock market close, Intel said it earned 93 cents a share, on $16.1 billion in...Read more

Starbucks brewed $6 billion in sales during its fiscal second quarter, but saw its operating margin shrink amid business changes in China and investments in its workforce.

The Seattle-based coffee giant said Thursday that earnings in the quarter ended April 1 were $660.1 million, or 47 cents per share, up 4 percent from the year-earlier period,...Read more

Entertainment Studios founder Byron Allen is known for unexpected bets, such as recently buying the Weather Channel's parent company for $300 million.

Even so, why would the comedian, who owns television channels such as Pets.TV and Cars.TV, want to get into the business of releasing big-screen features?

In remarks at CinemaCon in Las Vegas, ...Read more

DETROIT -- Back in 2002, urban guru Richard Florida published his influential book "The Rise of the Creative Class," which highlighted the importance of so-called "creatives" -- artists, graphic designers, architects, and others -- to the vitality of cities trying to overcome long-term decline.

Florida's book helped set the agenda for many a ...Read more

In rolling out major updates to Gmail, Google announced Wednesday that the popular email service will soon feature a new "confidential mode" that promises to give users more control over who sees the emails they send, and for how long.

Users should still be mindful about what they send over email, privacy experts warned, as messages sent in ...Read more

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- At Bank of America's annual shareholder meeting Wednesday, CEO Brian Moynihan stood firm on his company's decision to stop serving some gun makers in the aftermath of the Parkland, Fla., school shooting.

During the question-and-answer session, a shareholder asked Moynihan how much business the bank was giving up because of ...Read more

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was a congressional overreaction to the financial crisis of 2008-9, and a process of amelioration is underway. Under the proposed Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act, introduced by Sen. Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, certain provisions of Dodd-Frank would not apply to...Read more

Q: I read your recent tree article and want to know how I can protect myself? -- Bob

Q: My neighbor has a tree near the fence, and the roots are intruding in my yard and ruining the fence. What can I do? -- Jay

Q: I do not think the law is fair that I have to pay for damage caused by my neighbor's trees! Where the trunk lies, so should the ...Read more

DETROIT -- Ford has announced new leaders for its China operations and organizational changes there.

The moves follow by four months the sudden departure of Jason Luo as the automaker's China CEO. Luo was in the post only five months, leaving for still-unexplained "personal reasons that predate his time at Ford."

The Dearborn-based automaker ...Read more

DETROIT -- General Motors said it earned $2.6 billion in pretax profits in the first quarter of 2018.

The results, released Thursday morning, were a decline of $944 million from the same period a year ago. The company said it had net income of $1.1 billion for the quarter after taxes and special charges. Overall revenue of $36.1 billion was a ...Read more

DETROIT -- Fiat Chrysler Automobiles said Thursday it earned a profit of $1.2 billion (1 billion euro) during the first quarter, a nearly 60 percent gain over the same period a year ago, driven in part by a jump in worldwide Jeep shipments, improved performance in South America and a lower U.S. corporate tax rate.

The earnings were a first-...Read more

Environmental groups and the family of a man who died last year from exposure to fumes from an off-the-shelf paint stripper are petitioning Lowe's Home Improvement stores to stop selling products containing a chemical compound blamed for at least 56 deaths since 1980.

North Carolina-based Lowe's is one of many home improvement and hardware ...Read more