Facebook Down on Earnings Report; Netflix Finally Adds Delete to ‘Continue Watching’; Alphabet Took in Over $75 Billion 4th Quarter; Cruise Opening RoboTaxis to Public

Facebook whiffed on earnings, and the stock took a 20% haircut today. CNBC.com reports that in addition to disappointing earnings, the company gave weak guidance…saying that user growth had stagnated. The earnings per share were $3.67, while $3.84 was what was expected. Revenue was $33.67 billion…which did beat the $33.4 that was expected. Daily Active Users was 1.93 billion, and they had been looking for 1.95 billion. Facebook says first quarter revenue will be between $27 and $29 billion. They blamed inflation and supply chain issues on lower ad budgets from their clients. 

Netflix at long last had added a way to delete the shows in ‘Continue Watching’ that you just watched a bit of and hated, or got tired of. According to engadget.com, you can just go to the title you want to drop, and there will be a little ‘Remove from Continue Watching’ icon under the menu of user preferences. Not everyone is seeing this just yet. It’s several years later than would have been cool, but better now than never. 

While Facebook took a hit on earnings, Google parent Alphabet did nicely…reporting forth quarter revenue of $75.3 billion. 9to5google.com says that figure was up 32% from the same quarter of 2020 (which was $56.9 billion.) It was also up from the $65.1 billion take for 3rd quarter of last year. 

They have been relentlessly patrolling San Francisco for the last several years, and now the ubiquitous Cruise self-driving cars will become available for driverless ride hailing. TechCrunch.com reports that SoftBank has dumped another $1.35 billion into the startup. As of now, the rides will be free, and there is a wait list on the Cruise website. Cruise says riders will not have to sign a non-disclosure agreement before using the service. It will run from 11 PM to 5 AM initially. Also, for the time being, the driverless service is limited to certain areas and streets within the Haight-Ashbury, Richmond District, Chinatown and Pacific Heights neighborhoods.