AOL (NYSE:AOL), the Internet company that purchased the Huffington Post in March, said its second-quarter loss narrowed as an increase in advertising helped overcome the continuing decline in subscriptions to Web access. Net loss shrank to $11.8 million, or 11 cents a share, from $1.06 billion, or $10.02, a year earlier. Sales slid 8.4 percent to $542.2 million, New York-based AOL said today in a statement, topping the $530.8 million average of estimates. -Bloomberg
Satellite television provider Dish Network (NASDAQ:DISH) said that its second-quarter profit rose 30% to $335 million, or 75 cents a share, from $257 million, or 57 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue for the quarter grew 13% to $3.59 billion. The group said net subscribers fell 135,000 during the quarter to 14.056 million, due to increased competitive pressures, including higher levels of discounting. Analysts had been expecting earnings of 79 cents a share on sales of $3.38 billion. -MarketWatch
Transatlantic Holdings Inc. on Monday left the door open to talks with Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE:BRKA). But the reinsurer stopped short of accepting Berkshire’s $3.25 billion takeover offer made Friday. Transatlantic said Berkshire’s offer of $52 a share was likely to lead to a "superior proposal" to its existing merger agreement with a competitor, but wasn’t itself a superior proposal. The response puts the burden on Berkshire’s National Indemnity business, and two prior bidders, to prove how badly they want the company. -The Wall Street Journal
News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA) is taking a risk in putting boss Rupert Murdoch, famous for his off-script comments, on the media conglomerate’s quarterly earnings call on Wednesday with succession questions sure to be asked. Murdoch, 80, will be speaking to Wall Street for the first time since the phone hacking scandal in Britain, and the issue of succession planning at the global media empire is certain to be raised, according to people familiar with the company. It will be Murdoch’s first appearance on an earnings conference call since last August, and Wall Street wants to know if he is any more willing to hand over the CEO reins to trusted lieutenant Chase Carey, currently deputy chairman. -Reuters
Filed under: 