Business News Roundup, March 10
In its first report as a public company, San Francisco’s Square topped analysts’ fourth-quarter revenue estimates, suggesting the digital-payments business will continue to grow in the face of increasing competition from PayPal Holdings and Apple.
Sales rose 49 percent to $374 million in the quarter, beating the average estimate from analysts of $345 million.
The company said revenue increased in all its categories — payment transactions, software and data products.
Larger merchants with annual payments volume of more than $125,000 represented 39 percent of all transactions in the quarter, an increase from 33 percent of volume a year earlier.
The Republican governor said the measure ends the confusion over whether the companies are welcome in New Mexico.
Martinez said the companies will help reduce drunken driving in the state and allow tourists to roam.
The companies had argued that the state’s Motor Carrier Act did not apply to them because they do not operate as commercial taxi businesses.
The dispute forced Lyft to pull out of New Mexico after state regulators couldn’t come up with a solution.
Volkswagen’s top U.S. executive is stepping down amid the emissions cheating scandal, the company announced Wednesday.
Horn’s sudden departure comes as Volkswagen continues to grapple with the fallout from its admission last year that nearly 600,000 cars were sold in the U.S. with software that regulators say was designed to cheat on required emissions tests.
SunEdison CEO Ahmad Chatila had doubts about buying Vivint Solar Inc. soon after striking the deal, according to a lawsuit filed by Vivint.
“Almost immediately after the deal was inked, however, with its stock price starting to fall, SunEdison began exhibiting classic signs of buyer’s remorse,” Vivint said in the suit, filed Tuesday in Delaware.
SunEdison, which has its solar headquarters in Belmont, has seen its shares slump more than 90 percent since the day the deal was announced, July 20.
The world’s biggest renewable energy developer called the acquisition an important part of its growth strategy, and repeatedly said last year that it intended to close the transaction.
SunEdison didn’t respond to calls and email seeking comment on the suit.
The Bangladesh central bank says it is working to recover some $100 million allegedly stolen by Chinese hackers from an account at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.
[...] Finance Minister A.M.A. Muhith says authorities are considering suing the U.S. bank over the money’s apparent transfer to accounts in the Philippines.
“The payment instructions in question were fully authenticated ... in accordance with standard authentication protocols,” it said.