Penney impresses market with its quarterly revenue
NEW YORK — J.C. Penney delivered some encouraging news: It reported a solid rise in sales at established stores Friday to $2.8 billion, reversing four straight quarters of declines.
It also posted a smallerthan-expected loss of $128 million for the third quarter, all news that sent its shares soaring 15 percent to $3.17.
The news stanched, at least for a moment, an extended sell-off in company shares, which accelerated last month when the Plano-based chain warned that it would be forced to liquidate poor-selling merchandise. Shares, which have tumbled 67 percent this year, had touched an all-time low.
Penney’s performance was a bright spot in a mixed bag of results from department stores, which released their reports this week. Yet more challenges lie ahead with the critical holiday shopping season.
Murdoch made a pair of calls to AT&T’s leader
Rupert Murdoch, 21st Century Fox executive chairman, made two calls to AT&T CEO Randall Stephenson to discuss CNN and whether there were plans to sell the news channel, according to people familiar with the situation.
Stephenson reiterated this week that he wasn’t interested in selling CNN and hadn’t offered a sale as a condition to gain U.S. approval of AT&T’s planned acquisition of Time Warner.
CNN has emerged as a lightning rod because of criticism by President Donald Trump, whose Justice Department is reviewing the acquisition. As head of CNN’s biggest competitor, Fox News, Murdoch would have a vested interest in learning about Stephenson’s plans. Murdoch is a Trump confidant, and the president has praised Fox’s coverage of his administration.
Foxconn leader signs contract with Wisconsin
RACINE, Wis. — Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and Foxconn Technology Group chairman Terry Gou have signed off on a $3 billion contract for the Taiwanese company to build a massive displayscreen factory.
Walker and Gou signed a contract Friday that locks the state into providing up to $3 billion in tax incentives if Foxconn invests $10 billion on a new display-screen manufacturing factory and campus near Racine. The company would also have to hire 13,000 workers to get the full benefit.
It is the largest state tax incentive package offered to a foreign company ever in the U.S.
Gou says he will pay Wisconsin up to $500 million if Foxconn does not fulfill its side of the contract.
Exxon Mobil’s wells nearing 4-mile mark
Exxon Mobil Corp. is drilling shale wells that stretch farther than the length of New York’s Central Park.
The world’s biggest oil explorer by market value recently finished four wells in North Dakota’s Bakken region that extend sideways for 3 miles, Barclays analyst Paul Cheng said in a research note after meeting Exxon Mobil executives, and it’s closing in on the 4-mile mark.
In the Permian Basin that stretches beneath Texas and New Mexico, the company’s horizontal wells are approaching the 2½-mile threshold, Cheng wrote, about the length of Central Park from north to south.
First Houston location for Burn Boot Camp
Burn Boot Camp has opened its first Houston location at Memorial City.
Gwen and Martin Sheir, owners and operators of the location at 947 Gessner, Suite B170, plan to open sites in The Woodlands, Katy and Cypress.
The North Carolinabased fitness concept targeting women has grown to more than 88 locations since opening in 2012. The 45-minute boot camps offer a range of styles and formats, and child care.
First long-haul test flight for Chinese airliner
BEIJING — China’s homegrown passenger jet touched down safely after its first long-haul test flight on Friday.
China hopes to develop its C919 jet to compete with popular single-aisle jets such as the Airbus A320 and Boeing 737.
State media said the plane lifted off from Shanghai and flew west about 800 miles to the city of Yanliang.
Lip-syncing video app sold for $800 million
Musical.ly, maker of a lip-syncing video app popular among teenagers, has reportedly been sold to China’s Beijing ByteDance Technology Co. for $800 million.
Musical.ly, which launched in Shanghai in 2014 and opened U.S. offices in Santa Monica, Calif., in 2016, was originally designed as a hub for 15-second goofy videos of users dancing and singing to snippets of pop tunes. The app has grown to 100 million users — known as “musers.”