“Even in these economically challenging times, we are incredibly pleased to report our best quarterly revenue and earnings in Apple history.”
— Apple CEO Steve Jobs in a statement Wednesday. Despite a tough environment for tech, Apple reported first-quarter sales of $10.17 billion, up 6% from a year ago. Analysts were expecting sales of $9.74 billion. The stock jumped 6% on the news and surged another 9% in after-hours trading to $90.73.
Meanwhile, a few miles east in Silicon Valley, Intel announced it’s laying off between 5,000 and 6,000 people due to production cuts.
Disney, where Steve Jobs is the largest individual shareholder, also announced today that it’s offering buyouts to 600 Parks and Resorts executives. Layoffs may follow. But as my colleague Richard Siklos notes in the last issue of Coins2Day, Disney is still thriving, relatively. Among the media titans it has the bigggest stock market capitalization: $39.36 billion. — Jessica Shambora