Groupon Narrows Its Loss After String of Disappointing Results

The company also reported that its net loss in the first quarter narrowed from a year earlier.

Shares of Groupon jumped 10.6 percent, or 59 cents, to $6.18 in after-hours trading.

Groupon said its first-quarter revenue rose 7.5 percent, to $601.4 million, from $559.3 million a year earlier. Groupon was expected to generate revenue of $590 million, according to analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

The company posted a net loss of $4 million, or 1 cent a share, in the latest quarter, compared with a net loss of $11.7 million, or 2 cents a share, a year earlier.

Consolidated segment operating income, a closely watched measure of Groupon’s profitability, came in at $51.2 million in the latest period. Mark Mahaney, an analyst at RBC Capital Markets, was expecting this figure to be about $26 million.

Groupon’s North American revenue jumped 42 percent, while international revenue fell 18 percent.

“Revenues were slightly better than expected, with North America growth a lot better, while international is definitely still slower,” said Aaron Kessler, an analyst at Raymond James.

The company, one of the most celebrated Internet market debutantes of 2011, fired Andrew Mason, its co-founder and chief executive, in February after a string of disappointing results wiped out three-quarters of its market value. Groupon, which has lost several other key executives, is seeking a new permanent chief executive.

Ted Leonsis, the company’s interim co-chief executive, said on Wednesday that Groupon’s board had formed a special committee that had begun a search for a new chief.

Groupon’s current leadership team is “gelling very very nicely,” giving the search committee more time to find “the ideal long-term C.E.O.,” Mr. Leonsis said in a conference call with analysts and investors.

Groupon shares hit a record low late last year, but have rallied strongly since then, partly because Tiger Global, a top technology-focused hedge fund firm, took a stake of about 10 percent in the company.

Under Mr. Leonsis, and his counterpart, Eric Lefkofsky, Groupon is trying to turn around its struggling European business, while continuing to expand in the United States. Analysts expect a slimmed-down company under the new leadership.

Sprint Narrows Loss but Loses Subscribers

While Sprint, the No. 3 U.S. mobile service provider, recorded higher-than-expected revenue, it said the Nextel network shutdown was also stunting growth in its remaining network because large business customers were leaving.

Sprint added 12,000 customers to its network, compared with the average estimate of almost 198,000 from five analysts contacted by Reuters. Their expectations ranged from 110,000 to 275,000 net additions.

The company's top priority was to convince Nextel customers to move to the Sprint network ahead of the final shutdown at the end of this quarter. Some Nextel business clients also canceled subscriptions to Sprint's remaining network, Chief Executive Officer Dan Hesse told analysts on a conference call.

Including the Nextel network defections, Sprint lost 560,000 subscribers, compared with the analysts' average estimate of a loss of almost 525,000.

By contrast, top U.S. mobile provider Verizon Wireless, a joint venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc, added 677,000 subscribers in the quarter, and second-ranked AT&T Inc added 296,000.

Macquarie analyst Kevin Smithen said Sprint was also facing tough competition from a new marketing push by smaller rival T-Mobile USA, a Deutsche Telekom unit.

"The AT&T and Sprint results confirm that T-Mobile USA has been taking share in the last few months," Smithen said.

However, he said he was impressed that Sprint's first-quarter loss narrowed to $643 million, or 21 cents per share, from $863 million, or 29 cents per share, a year earlier. Analysts expected a loss of 33 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Smithen said Sprint was reducing costs faster than expected from the wind-down of the Nextel network, which is based on an older technology called iDen.

Sprint's revenue rose to $8.79 billion from $8.73 billion. Analysts had expected $8.71 billion.

The company now expects 2013 adjusted operating income before depreciation and amortization to reach the high end of its previously announced target of between $5.2 billion and $5.5 billion, excluding costs of closing strategic transactions.

Sprint's board is evaluating a $25.5 billion acquisition offer from No. 2 U.S. satellite TV service Dish, which has challenged the company's October agreement to sell 70 percent of itself to SoftBank for $20.1 billion.

During a conference call with analysts, Sprint did not comment on the Dish offer but said the SoftBank deal could close as soon as July 1.

Sprint shares were up 0.3 percent at $7.12 in early trading. At Tuesday's close, the stock had risen 14 percent since Dish announced its unsolicited bid on April 12 as investors bet that SoftBank might sweeten its offer.

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe, Gerald E. McCormick and Lisa Von Ahn)

Best Buy Narrows Loss

Best Buy, the world’s largest consumer electronics chain, said on Friday it lost $409 million, or $1.21 per share, in the fourth quarter that ended Feb. 2, compared with a loss of $1.82 billion, or $5.17 per share, a year earlier.

On an adjusted basis, earnings from continuing operations fell to $1.64 per share, from $2.18 a year earlier.

Revenue rose just 0.2 percent to $16.71 billion.

Separately, Richard Schulze’s efforts to take over Best Buy, which he founded nearly 47 years ago, have ended.

Talks between Best Buy and a group comprising Mr. Schulze and three private equity firms have ended, people briefed on the matter told The New York Times on Thursday.

Mr. Schulze, who had made an informal proposal to buy Best Buy for $24 to $26 a share last August, failed to line up necessary debt and equity financing, the sources said.