Quarterly Earnings, Fourth Quarter | featured news

Fannie Mae earned $17.2 billion last year, the biggest annual profit in the U.S. mortgage giant's history, helped by a record fourth quarter.

Costs related to Staples turnaround plan helped drive down the office supplier's fourth-quarter net income by 72 percent. Its quarterly revenue and financial outlook for the year missed Wall Street's expectations.

The Commerce Department said that output expanded at an annual rate of just 0.1 percent, way below the country’s long-term average but above the original estimate of a contraction.

The Washington Post Co. reported a fourth quarter 2012 loss of $45.4 million, or $6.57 a share as it took $113 million of charges for goodwill write downs and restructuring, mostly in its Kaplan education subsidiary. A year earlier the company earned $61.7 million or $8.03 a share

The U.S. Postal Service lost $1.3 billion in the October to December quarter, an official said on Friday, days after the beleaguered mail agency announced plans to cut back on Saturday delivery to save money.

LinkedIn reported fourth quarter 2012 earnings that beat Street expectations, sending shares soaring in late trading.

Philip Morris International Inc., which markets Marlboro cigarettes outside the U.S., said fourth-quarter profit rose 11%, thanks to higher sales volumes in Asia and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa.

Rising TV subscription fees plumped up profits at Time Warner. The media and entertainment giant said profits in the last three months of 2012 rose 51% from a year ago to $1.2bn (£750m), despite no change in revenues. TV subscription income rose 7%, as cable and satellite operators paid more to carry channels such as CNN and TNT.

Hershey's fourth-quarter profit rose 5.4% as the candy maker posted higher revenue and saw strength in all of its categories.

Facebook Inc doubled its mobile advertising from the previous quarter as the world's No. 1 social network expanded its business aggressively onto handheld devices.