Netflix surprised Wall Street with a fourth-quarter profit of $8 million and a customer base of more than 27 million American households, causing one analyst to say the company has “risen from the ashes†of its disastrous 2011. Shares jumped 30 percent in after-hours trading. Apple reported a profit of $13.1 billion and a 28 percent increase in the sale of iPhones but that still wasn’t enough for investors, who pounded the stock down 11 percent in after-hours trading.
Appearing via link from the Ecuadorean Embassy in London, Julian Assange attacked a new Hollywood film about WikiLeaks in an address to the Oxford Union. “The Fifth Estate,†a film by Bill Condon about the early days of WikiLeaks, is a “massive propaganda attack†according to Mr. Assange, who also said the film depicted Iran on the verge of having a nuclear arsenal.
Rolling Stone has laid off two longtime employees of the magazine: Eric Bates, the executive editor who had been with the magazine for more than a decade, and Mark Neschis, who handled press for Wenner Media, which owns Rolling Stone, Men’s Journal and US Magazine. Wenner Media has been struggling with declining ad revenues and a negative credit rating issued by Standard & Poor’s in December.
Fox announced it would put “Ben and Kate†on the shelf, another sign of a poor season for comedies. Ratings for “Ben and Kate,†“The Mindy Project†and “The New Girl,†all on Fox, have struggled this year, along with NBC’s “Go On†and “The New Normal,†both of which sank to new lows this past week.
A good time was had by all: more than 70 reporters and editors have responded to a casting call for a new reality series about a small-town newspaper, according to a report on Romenesko.
