Communications Services Up After Verizon Earnings -- Communications Services Roundup

Communications services companies rose after strong earnings from one of the two largest U.S. cell-phone carriers.

Verizon shares rallied after the carrier's fourth-quarter wireless subscriber growth surpassed investors' expectations.

Streaming service Netflix rallied in late trading after it posted subscriber growth ahead of analysts' predictions. Ahead of the earnings report, Netflix revealed that it struck a 10-year deal valued at more than $5 billion to become the new home of marquee wrestling show "WWE Raw," its biggest push yet into livestreaming.

Telecom-services concern Ericsson warned that it expects challenges in the mobile-network industry to continue this year as customers remain cautious about spending and as the investment pace normalizes in its key Indian market.

The L.A. Times will cut about one-fifth of its 500-strong newsroom staff, The Wall Street Journal reported, the latest cut to the once ubiquitous daily newspaper by owner billionaire biotechnology entrepreneur Patrick Soon-Shiong. Soon-Shiong had ambitious targets for digital subscribers when he took the paper over in 2018 but has been unable to revitalize growth.

Shares of Digital World Acquisition Corp., the special-purpose acquisition company that's committed to buying Donald Trump's social-media company, hit new record highs.

Write to Rob Curran at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

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