Alphabet posted Q4 revenue of $75 billion that resulted in more than $20 billion of profit for Google’s parent company—a 32% increase from a year earlier. The figures topped analyst expectations across the board and sent Alphabet shares soaring in aftermarket trading - NYTimes and WSJ and Bloomberg
Those strong figures are helping usher in a 20-1 stock split that—if approved by the company’s investors—would make Alphabet’s stock more affordable and could lead to its listing on the Dow - MarketWatch and WSJ and Bloomberg
They’re also increasing the likelihood of a good day for the Nasdaq. Meta and Spotify earnings due out later today will confirm whether that premarket enthusiasm was justified - WSJ
Johnson & Johnson and hundreds of Native American tribes agreed this week to “a tentative settlement of $590 million” to address the “disproportionately high addiction and death rates” that the opioid epidemic wrought across Indian Country - NYTimes and WSJ and Law360
2021 closed with job openings and resignations again at elevated levels, with the Labor Department reporting that openings in December hit 10.9 million, even as signs of an Omicron-caused slowdown in labor-market demand started popping up late in the month - WSJ and Marketplace and NYTimes
Starbucks is raising prices again, “blaming supply chain disruptions and a sharp rise in labor costs” for its third price hike in four months - NYTimes and WSJ and MarketWatch
General Motors said on Tuesday that it expects production to “be running at a normal clip again by the second half of the year” thanks to an easing computer chip shortage - NYTimes and WSJ
For its part, Ford revealed that it is undertaking a “major reorganization to prepare for its electric future,” an effort that could accelerate the auto giant’s EV spending “by as much as $20 billion” over the next five to 10 years—a staggering sum that would “be on top of the $30 billion Ford already has committed to EVs through 2025” - Bloomberg
Either way, any hint of a more normal supply of anything would be welcome news. It sure doesn’t look like that’s what most industries can count on in the year ahead - NYTimes
On Sherlock Holmes’ emergence in an “age of stunning change,” and the makings of the first scientific detective - TheNewYorker
Stay safe, and get boosted,
MDR
