Back in August, Uber announced a partnership with Cruise with plans to deploy autonomous vehicles on its ride-hailing platform, with the companies having planned to launch the partnership next year.
Chipmaker Broadcom's shares surged in after hours trading, with the stock up 14% pre-market open on Friday, on the back of its latest results.
Broadcom reported a slight net revenue miss of $14.05bn (£11.1bn), versus estimates of $14.08bn, in its fiscal fourth quarter. However, adjusted earnings of $1.42 per share came in ahead of expectations of $1.39.
Looking ahead, the semiconductor manufacturer guided to revenue of approximately $14.6bn for its first fiscal quarter. That was slightly ahead of average analysts' estimates of $14.57bn, according to Reuters.
Broadcom CEO Hock Tan also reportedly said on an earnings conference call that he expected a revenue opportunity in AI of between $60bn and $90bn in the 2027 fiscal year.
Reuters reported that eMarketer analyst Jacob Bourne said: "Broadcom's strong performance doesn't come as a surprise. It's one of several companies benefiting from AI invigorating the global semiconductor industry, with its AI revenue growing 220% this year."
Wholesale retailer Costco slightly beat forecasts in its fiscal first quarter, with adjusted earnings per share coming in at $4.04, versus Bloomberg consensus estimates of $3.81.
Meanwhile, revenue of $62.15bn also beat expectations of $61.98bn.
"Our members are willing to spend as inflation comes down" as long as there's "newness of items, quality, and value," CFO Gary Millerchip said on its earnings call.
The retailer's 5.1% growth in foot traffic, missed Wall Street expectations of 6.87% but the ticket size grew 0.1%, which beat the 0.4% decline investors had anticipated.
Millerchip added there's a "bifurcation" among consumers when it comes to food shopping with some buying higher-priced meats, while others going for lower priced items like poultry, some cuts of beef and pork.
Costco shares were flat on Thursday and were little changed in pre-market trading on Friday, though the stock is up 50% year-to-date.
In the UK, regulator Ofcom said that it had fined Royal Mail £10.5m for "poor delivery performance".
Ofcom said this was the second sanction in just over a year as Royal Mail – whose parent company is International Distribution Services (IDS) – failed to significantly improve service levels.
Ian Strawhorne, director of enforcement for Ofcom, said: "With millions of letters arriving late, far too many people aren’t getting what they pay for when they buy a stamp. Royal Mail’s poor service is now eroding public trust in one of the UK’s oldest institutions.
"This is the second time we’ve fined the company since the pandemic. Royal Mail has provided an improvement plan, and we’re seeing some signs of progress, but it must go further and faster to deliver the service that people expect."
In response, IDS said: "Throughout this year we have continued to implement substantial changes to drive improvements."
IDS said that while it was making the necessary changes to deliver for customers.
"However, it is essential that these efforts are backed by urgent reform of the universal service, restoring it to a level that meets the needs of today’s postal users, not the needs of customers 20 years ago," IDS added.
IDS shares were flat on Friday morning, following the news. Earlier this year, IDS agreed to a £3.6bn ($4.5bn) takeover offer from Czech billionaire Daniel Kretinsky's EP Group, with the deal close to being finalised.
Fast-fashion retailer Boohoo said on Friday that it would be willing to offer a single seat on its board to Frasers Group, but not to its founder Mike Ashley nor to restructuring expert Mike Lennon.
This is the latest update in a public row between Boohoo and Ashley's Frasers, which has been trying to gain more control at the fast-fashion retailer.
Friday's statement from Boohoo comes a day after Frasers published another open letter to shareholders. In the letter, Frasers said there were "no real governance or conflicts concerns, or competition law or other regulatory issues" in terms of appointing Ashley and Lennon to Boohoo's board, urging investors to vote in favour of this resolution.
Derren Nathan, head of equity research at Hargreaves Lansdown (HL.L), said that Boohoo has "shown some willingness to allow Frasers representation in the boardroom in the form of a single seat if it puts forward an ‘appropriate’ candidate".
"But this move has the potential to be viewed as inflammatory rather than conciliatory. Flies on the wall at next week’s general meeting could bear witness to some heated discussions," he added.
Boohoo shares were up nearly 2% on Friday morning, while Frasers shares were down just less than 1%.
•USD
(BOO.L)
Other companies in the news on Friday 13 December:
