The daily business briefing: April 27, 2016

(Image credit: REUTERS/Kai Pfaffenbach)

Jump to category:

1. Apple reports first-ever quarterly drop in iPhone sales
2. Comcast reportedly discussing buying DreamWorks Animation for $3 billion
3. Oil hits 2016 high as investors await Fed statement on interest rates
4. Chipotle reports second quarterly sales drop since food-safety crisis
5. Prince's sister tells court he left no will

published 27 April 2016

1. Apple reports first-ever quarterly drop in iPhone sales

Apple on Tuesday announced its first-ever quarterly decline in iPhone sales, as well as its first decline in revenue in more than a decade. Apple sold 51.2 million iPhones, narrowly beating analysts' expectations, but far below the 61.2 million iPhones Apple sold in the same quarter last year. Analysts blamed the decline on the saturation of the market for smartphones. The company's shares dropped by about 8 percent on the news, falling below $100 per share for the first time since February.

Comcast is in talks to acquire DreamWorks Animation for more than $3 billion, sources familiar with the matter told The Wall Street Journal. Comcast is the parent of Universal Pictures. If a deal is reached, it could lead to the merging of Universal and DreamWorks Animation. Universal's animation business, Illumination Entertainment, makes the Despicable Me movies. DreamWorks Animation produces the popular Kung Fu Panda and Shrek franchises. Comcast on Wednesday extended a streak of better-than-expected quarterly financial reports.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Global markets were mixed early Wednesday, as oil hit a 2016 high due to falling output and a weaker dollar as investors awaited a statement by Federal Reserve policy makers after their two-day meeting. The Fed is expected to announce Wednesday that it is leaving interest rates unchanged, but possibly signal that it expects to be able to resume nudging rates higher later this year. The Fed lifted its near-zero benchmark rate in December for the first time in a decade, but has held rates firm since then over concerns of a global economic slowdown.

Chipotle Mexican Grill posted quarterly sales on Tuesday that fell short of analysts' estimates as it continued to deal with the fallout from several high-profile food-safety cases. Revenue fell 23 percent to $834.5 million, nearly $30 million less than analysts had forecast. Same-store sales took their second straight quarterly plunge since an E. coli outbreak linked to one of its outlets in November, falling by 29.7 percent, slightly more than projected. The company's shares fell 2.2 percent.

Tyka Nelson, one of Prince's sisters, filed court documents on Tuesday saying the music superstar left no will when he died last week at age 57. Nelson listed six siblings or half-siblings as heirs to Prince's fortune, which is estimated at around $300 million. Nelson asked the court to appoint a special administrator to handle Prince's remaining assets. The cause of death is still under investigation. An autopsy has been performed but it could be "several weeks" before the results, a Midwest Medical Examiner's office spokesman said.

Explore More

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.