The daily business briefing: February 2, 2016

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1. Google's parent company overtakes Apple as world's most valuable corporation
2. BP posts biggest annual loss in 20 years
3. Yahoo to cut 1,600 jobs
4. Uber drivers protest rate reductions
5. WhatsApp reaches 1 billion users

published 3 February 2016

1. Google's parent company overtakes Apple as world's most valuable corporation

On Monday Google's parent company, Alphabet, reported profit and sales numbers that beat Wall Street expectations, thanks to strong sales of ads on mobile devices and YouTube. Alphabet's stock surged by as much as 9 percent in extended trading. That was enough to push its market capitalization above Apple's to $558 billion, making Alphabet the most valuable publicly traded company in the world. The last time Google was worth more than Apple was six years ago, before Apple launched the iPad.

BP on Tuesday reported its worst annual loss in 20 years. The British oil and gas company lost $6.5 billion in 2015 — more than it lost in 2010 during the massive Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Last year BP and other oil companies struggled to contend with plunging oil prices, which were down by 40 percent in the fourth quarter compared to a year earlier. BP said it would cut 7,000 jobs, or 9 percent of its workforce, by 2017. Its stock fell by about 7 percent after the report.

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On Tuesday Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer is expected to unveil a plan to cut costs by closing several business units and reducing the company's workforce by up to 15 percent, or about 1,600 jobs. This comes as the company announces its fourth quarter results. Yahoo hired Mayer in 2012 to turn around the struggling one-time internet powerhouse. The cost-cutting could buy Mayer time as activist hedge fund Starboard Value calls for new management and a sale of the business.

Hundreds of striking Uber drivers protested price cuts on Monday, chanting and waving signs saying "Uber is Wal-Mart on Wheels" outside the company's New York City offices. Uber, the country's leading ride-hailing service, last week cut rates on its basic service, uberX, by 15 percent. Uber said the cuts reduce down time and increase drivers' hourly earnings. Drivers said the new policy would make them work longer hours for the same money. Uber in January cut rates by up to 45 percent in 100 North American cities.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Monday that WhatsApp has reached 1 billion users, more than twice as many the messaging service had when Facebook bought it in February 2014. WhatsApp had just $10.2 million in revenue the year before the deal, but Zuckerberg said then its potential reach made it worth the $19 billion price tag. "There are only a few services that connect more than a billion people," Zuckerberg said in a Facebook post Monday. "This milestone is an important step towards connecting the entire world."

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Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.