Comcast loses 65,000 video customers in 3d quarter
Comcast Corp. disclosed it had lost 65,000 video customers in its third-quarter earnings report, as it faces new competition from phone companies rolling out video services at discounted prices.
Comcast Corp. disclosed it had lost 65,000 video customers in its third-quarter earnings report, as it faces new competition from phone companies rolling out video services at discounted prices. Comcast shares dropped 11 percent Thursday on the news. But the Philadelphia cable company's broadest financial measures grew in the quarter ended Sept. 30: revenue by 21 percent and operating cash flow by 20 percent. Even with the erosion of video, Comcast added about 1.6 million digital-cable, phone, and high-speed-data subscribers. Comcast will tinker with the marketing and packaging of its "triple play," the bundle of video, phone and Internet services the company sells for $100 a month, chief operating officer Stephen Burke said. Verizon Communications Inc. and AT&T Inc. are bundling services like Comcast and selling them to customers in their own versions of a multiservice play. See:
GlaxoSmithKline to cut jobs, trim expenses
GlaxoSmithKline P.L.C. announced that its third-quarter profit fell nearly 6 percent and that it would cut an unspecified number of jobs to save $1.4 billion over three years. Executives said they would close a manufacturing plant in Puerto Rico, but declined to say how cuts would affect the Philadelphia area, where GlaxoSmithKline employs about 6,000 people, including 1,700 in Center City. Philadelphia is one of the British company's two U.S. headquarters. The company's leaders blamed the profit drop on increased competition from generic drugs and on the stunning decline of its second-best seller, the diabetes drug Avandia. Its global sales fell 38 percent in the third quarter from last year after it was linked in May to increased heart attacks. Executives now await a revised warning label by the Food and Drug Administration that could spur or dampen sales. See:
Vaccine sales lead Merck to blowout quarter
Drugmaker Merck & Co. Inc., which has major operations in the Philadelphia area, reported a 62 percent increase in earnings for the third quarter, fueled by a doubling of vaccine sales. Merck made more money in part because it cut marketing and administrative costs 18 percent and increased revenue 12 percent. Driving sales were Merck's heavily marketed drugs, including its top seller, the asthma and allergy medication Singulair, and more recent additions, including the human papillomavirus vaccine Gardasil. The profit increase was a major turnaround from a few years ago, when it withdrew its pain reliever Vioxx, and faced the impending loss of one of its most profitable drugs. See:
Pa.'s 6th casino opens without a racetrack
Pennsylvania's newest casino - the $412 million Mount Airy Resort & Casino - debuted in the Poconos. It is the state's sixth slots parlor. The gambling hall, owned by Scranton businessman Louis DeNaples, is the state's first freestanding casino with a hotel to debut. The five already open, including Philadelphia Park Casino in Bensalem and Harrah's Chester Casino & Racetrack, operate in conjunction with racetracks. Mount Airy casino also features four restaurants and retail shops. Its 188 hotel rooms will open next month. The casino, which has a faux waterfall and is dressed up like an old mountain lodge, employs about 800. A spa, salon and nightclub are projected to open by the end of the year. See:
Coming tomorrow
An eight-year-old Philadelphia company serves as the Match.com for meeting planners.