COMPANY NEWS IN BRIEF

Exxon posts biggest profit in 7 years

Exxon Mobil Corp on Tuesday reported a fourth-quarter profit of US$8.87 billion, its largest in seven years, as the top US oil producer benefited from strong energy prices.

The company slashed spending after fuel demand cratered two years ago. Since then, earnings have topped pre-pandemic levels, helped by the rise in oil prices, with the global oil benchmark Brentalso at a seven-year high.

On Monday, Exxon disclosed a business shakeup to accelerate a US$6-billion cut to operating expenses set in motion last year.

The revamping will "position us to lead in cash flow and earnings growth, operating performance, and the energy transition,” Chief Executive Darren Woods said in a statement.

A continuation of high oil prices would "cause us to increase the pace of the share repurchase program," Chief Financial Officer Kathryn Mikells said. Exxon restarted buybacks last month after a long suspension, with pledge to buy US$10 billion by the end of 2023.-Reuters

J&J to pay US$590 mln

The three largest US drug distributors and drugmaker Johnson & Johnson have agreed to pay US$590 million to resolve claims by hundreds of Native American tribes that the companies fuelled an opioid epidemic in their communities.

Tuesday's deal came after the distributors, McKesson Corp, AmerisourceBergen Corp and Cardinal Health Inc, along with J&J last year proposed paying up to US$26 billion to resolve similar claims by states and local governments.

That proposed settlement, though, did not resolve lawsuits and potential claims by the country's 574 federally recognized Native American tribes and Alaska Native villages, which experienced disproportionately high rates of opioid overdoses.

Under Tuesday's settlement, the three distributors will pay nearly US$440 million over seven years. That is on top a US$75 million settlement they reached in September with the Cherokee Nation.

J&J agreed to pay US$150 million over two years, according to a court filing in federal court in Cleveland, Ohio, funds the drugmaker said will be deducted from its US$5 billion portion of the US$26 billion settlement. -Reuters

Google propels Alphabet revenue

Google parent Alphabet Inc reported record quarterly sales that topped expectations on Tuesday, as its internet advertising business surged on consumers using Google search as they shopped online and advertisers upping their marketing budgets.

Alphabet's shares jumped more than 8% in after-hours trading, also rising on the company's announcement that it would undertake a 20-to-one stock split.

The results were the latest to reinforce that the global trend toward a more digital economy has made Big Tech companies resistant to small-market shocks.

While concerns about rising inflation, Covid-19 variants and supply-chain shortages have rattled Wall Street and hurt sales at some businesses, the companies that control key gateways to e-commerce, hybrid work and streaming entertainment have not seen a dip since the early days of the pandemic.

Alphabet's sales jumped 32% to US$75.3 billion in the fourth quarter, for a third straight quarterly sales record and topping the average estimate of US$72 billion among financial analysts tracked by Refinitiv. -Reuters

PayPal gives downbeat forecast

PayPal Holdings Inc on Tuesday forecast first-quarter revenue and profit well below expectations, as it prepares to take a hit from eBay Inc's ongoing move to ditch its payments services, sending its shares down 17.4%.

PayPal's operating agreement with eBay has ended and the online marketplace's transition to its own payments platform is impacting transaction volumes.

EBay's transition is expected to put US$600 million of revenue pressure in the first half of this year, Chief Executive Officer Dan Schulman said on a conference call with analysts.

"In the second half of the year, I look forward to being able to stop adjusting for eBay, and letting the strength of our core results speak for themselves," Schulman added.

After spending more than a decade under eBay's fold, PayPal was spun out of the e-commerce marketplace operator in 2015.-Reuters

Gilead earnings hurt by legal settlement

Gilead Sciences Inc on Tuesday posted lower-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings, citing a US$1.25 billion legal settlement involving HIV drug patents and a charge related to its collaboration with Arcus Biosciences Inc, sending the company's shares down nearly 4%.

Gilead reported adjusted quarterly earnings of 69 cents per share, down from US$2.19 a year earlier. Wall Street analysts had forecast US$1.60 per share, as compiled by Refinitiv.

For full-year 2022, Gilead said it expects adjusted earnings of US$6.20 to US$6.70 per share on product sales of US$23.8 billion to US$24.3 billion, or US$21.8 billion to US$22.3 billion excluding sales of its Covid-19 drug Veklury.

The company said it will make a one-time US$1.25 billion payment to ViiV Healthcare - an HIV company majority-owned by GlaxoSmithKline, with Pfizer Inc and Shionogi & Co Ltd as shareholders. It will also pay a 3% royalty until 2027 on sales of HIV drug Biktarvy and on future US sales of any product containing its main component.

The targets are short of Wall Street estimates, "which puts a near-term damper on core business sentiment," said Jefferies analyst Michael Yee. -Reuters