Jan 30 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories on the New York Times business pages. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.
* With the latest earnings reports from Microsoft Corp and Apple Inc, the once-unthinkable became reality: Apple's market capitalization hit $683 billion, more than double Microsoft's $338 billion. (http://nyti.ms/15ZuZD9)
* Some cardiologists are reaping huge reimbursements for operating to relieve blockages in peripheral veins and arteries, a treatment many may not need. (http://nyti.ms/1yHLuuo)
* Because Venezuela is so dependent on oil sales to buy imports of food, medicine and many other basics, the drop in oil prices means that there is even less hard currency to buy what the country needs. (http://nyti.ms/1wGyBjs)
* Shake Shack Inc, a burger-and-crinkle-fries empire with outposts in London, Dubai, Istanbul and Las Vegas, will begin trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, with a valuation of about $745 million, and will increase restaurateur Danny Meyer's net worth by about $155 million. (http://nyti.ms/1tBEqDS)
* After years of making record profits as oil prices soared, America's oil giants are beginning to lose money. For the first time since the 2008 financial crisis, ConocoPhillips reported that it had lost money - $39 million in the fourth quarter in contrast to a profit of $2.5 billion the year before. Occidental Petroleum, another large producer in United States shale fields and the Middle East, said it lost $3.4 billion in the quarter, in contrast to a $1.6 billion gain in the same quarter in 2013. (http://nyti.ms/1uHC9Cg)
* Amazon Inc's profits fell in the fourth quarter. Revenue did not meet expectations. The company said it might lose money in the current quarter. For years, Amazon was a story about growth. It invested in warehouses and faster delivery systems, in making movies and building devices. Wall Street was willing to dismiss profits as long as sales continued to jump. If Amazon achieved the kind of domination it was striving for, the results would be worth it. (http://nyti.ms/15Nxj0c)
* Everybody knows Google Inc is working on a lot of things besides search. Wall Street wants to know when all those projects will start making a lot of money. In the last three months of 2014, Google's net revenue growth slowed to 10 percent when compared with the same quarter a year ago. (http://nyti.ms/1A54NV8) (Compiled by Supriya Kurane in Bengaluru)