quarterly

Google will report financial results Thursday for the last quarter of 2008, but the crystal-ball set likely will be watching for indications of how much Google's belt-tightening efforts will help the search and advertising giant's future profits.

It's not clear exactly how deeply Google is affected by the recession. The company has been bullish about how its search-ad business is better able to withstand a down economy because advertisers can find out just how well a campaign is faring financially and because cost-conscious buyers might use Google's services more. But the economic malaise has proven a … Read more

Updated at 11 a.m. PST with additional information from analysts.

These are not ordinary times. Not for Advanced Micro Devices, which reports earnings on Thursday. Nor for Intel.

For starters, AMD said last week that it would slash its workforce by 9 percent and institute temporary salary cuts.

This comes as the company enters the final stages of bifurcating into AMD the product company, which designs chips, and The Foundry Company, which manufactures them. A measure taken to stave off collapse. (There are still a few more steps that have to be taken before the split is sanctioned by … Read more

Updated at 1:56 p.m. PST, with additional earnings information and after-hours trading performance.

IBM reported Tuesday a 12 percent increase in fourth-quarter earnings, coming in stronger than analysts' expectations.

Big Blue generated net income of $4.4 billion, or $3.28 a share, for the quarter, up 12 percent over the same period a year ago.

Wall Street had expected Big Blue to post earnings of $3.03 a share for the three-month period.

The technology bellwether also reported that it is not only on track to achieve its previously stated goal of generating an annual profit of $… Read more

Updated at 4:25 p.m. PST throughout, including correction to mobile processor revenue

Intel reported Thursday a 90 percent drop in net income for the fourth quarter, as the company continued to cite an "uncertain" environment.

Revenue met the expectations that Intel set last week when it issued a warning on fourth-quarter revenue. The $8.2 billion in revenue amounts to a 23 percent drop from the year-earlier period, when it reported revenue of $10.7 billion.

Profits plunged 90 percent to $234 million, or 4 cents a share, for the quarter. This is in stark contrast … Read more

Updated at 12:15 p.m. PST with information from iSuppli.

Nvidia is slashing fourth-quarter revenue guidance 40 percent to 50 percent. This comes on the heels of Intel's revision last week. Both companies are citing collapsing demand from customers.

"Total revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009 is now expected to decline 40 percent to 50 percent sequentially as a result of further weakness in end-user demand and inventory reductions by Nvidia's channel partners in the global PC supply chain," the largest graphics chip supplier said in a statement Tuesday.

This revises the fourth-quarter … Read more

Intel's fourth-quarter warning is not only bad news but bad timing. With the Consumer Electronics Show kicking off Thursday adorned by all those bright, shiny gadgets, Intel effectively said: gadgets maybe, but not so bright and shiny.

And for an Intel warning, this one was particularly dire. The biggest chip bellwether said it now expects only $8.2 billion in revenue for the quarter, a 23 percent drop from the year-earlier period, and 20 percent from the third quarter. And this comes after issuing a warning on November 12.

So what's happening? The clearest example of the gloom … Read more

This post was updated at 11:16 a.m. PST with comments from a Friedman, Billings, Ramsey & Co. analyst.

Intel warned Wednesday that its fourth-quarter revenue will fall $2 billion short of its original forecast, due to PC makers curtailing chip orders.

The announcement comes less than two months after Intel warned on November 12 that its fourth-quarter performance would fall below its original forecast.

Revenue is now expected to be about $8.2 billion, down 23 percent over the same quarter in the previous year and down 20 percent sequentially.

On November 12, Intel said it expected revenue … Read more

Updated at 7:15 p.m. PST with additional information from earnings conference call.

Memory chipmaker Micron Technology posted its eighth-straight loss as it was hit by a steep drop-off in chip prices caused by global oversupply.

In the quarter ended December 4, 2008, the Boise, Idaho company posted a net loss of $706 million or 91 cents per diluted share, on net sales of $1.4 billion, down 8.7 percent. Analysts surveyed by Bloomberg had forecast a loss of 45 cents a share.

The 2009 fiscal first quarter results include a $369 million write-down of memory chip products, … Read more

Jason Howell, Buzz Out Loud producer and podcast guru, joins the show today, so you can complain to him about anything we say that offends you. As per our m.o., we bring out the worst in Jason, taking him for a tour of the magical land of NSFW. In today's headlines, McDonald's sales are up despite the economic crisis while they serve up Japanese burgers in a "no logo" storefront. Also, the iPhone wants to charge you for tethering, Turkey sues Christopher Nolan and, as always, tons of calls from the public.

Dan the Mantern here. Something you might have missed on the show today: The 404 got a big shout-out from everyone's hyper-liberal political blog, The Huffington Post. Justin, no surprise, was searching the site for mentions of the podcast on Twitter and happened to come across a Huffington Post tweet plugging the show. We severely doubt that Arianna herself tunes in, but we would appreciate if the phantom Twitter-er/404 fan would identify him or herself! As I'm writing this post, the Twitter search function is down, so no jpeg proving this claim, but I swear, I saw it with my own two eyes!