Comcast Replacing Cable Customers With Internet Customers

Especially in recent years, many people have been looking for clever ways to cut some of their higher utilities costs. For some, that means taking shorter showers or keeping the air conditioner off during the hotter months. Many others have found that cable is a pretty substantial monthly expense that they can go without relatively easily. "Cutting the cord," as it's commonly referred to, can save consumers well over $100 per month, depending on the package of channels they had. According to Gerry Smith's L.A. Times article, they opt instead to use their internet connections, paired with streaming services like Netflix or Hulu, to watch their favorite shows.

Comcast Inc. is just one of the many cable providers that have suffered losses to their bottom line due to the cord-cutting frenzy sweeping the nation. However, on the other hand, Comcast has also observed that as much as people are removing cable, they are getting more new customers for their internet plans. This quarter, the number of cable customers dropped yet again, but an additional 350,000 customers bought broadband internet service, which helped to balance out Comcast's profits.

People aren't only getting more into internet because of its ability to replace their cable entertainment. In the modern age, it is incredibly difficult to have a job, attend school, or do pretty much anything else without a reliable internet connection. Everything these days is online, so Comcast and companies like it are naturally going to keep getting new customers and are going to be getting demands from their customers for increased internet speeds. Some of their new features, including personalized home Wi-Fi networks, have led hundreds of thousands of new users to try out their internet connections.

Some cable giants are offering cheaper cable packages with fewer channels, which is attractive to some users. To many others, paying anything for any amount of cable is simply too much, because they can get access to anything they want to watch via the internet. Why pay more for something you can get elsewhere for less? Comcast's profits went up this year due to the influx of internet customers, and they expect to increase their shareholders' dividends by around 20% in 2018, while increasing stock value at the same time.

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Verizon's Acquisition of Yahoo Slows Down, Pending an Investigation into Data Breaches

A previous post discussed how Yahoo Inc.'s financial difficulties had led the company's management to get more and more creative in trying to turn everything around. The post also mentioned that a sell-off might be Yahoo's only choice and that, if they did sell, Verizon Communications Inc. would be the most likely buyer. In the several months since that post was written, Yahoo had indeed decided to sell to Verizon. Unfortunately, while the deal was meant to close relatively quickly, Yahoo's recent data breaches have slowed down the proceedings and may lead to a withdrawal of Verizon's offer. In the meantime, however, as the Associated Press of the L.A. Times discuss in their recent article, Yahoo's profit margin has been expanding, even as its net revenue slips.

Even while dealing with the huge repercussions of their data breaches, Yahoo succeeded in improving their financial performance during the fourth quarter. In the fourth quarter of last year, losses were high, so it's good for the company that they have been able to cut costs enough to get some stability back. Over the past few years, Yahoo has been rapidly losing the online advertising market to more powerful competitors like Google. More precisely, Yahoo's revenue from ad sales fell by around 4% in the one quarter. While that may seem like a lot, it's better than the double-digit losses seen over the previous four quarters. Because online advertising is a large portion of the company's income, it makes sense that financial considerations are forcing them to close up shop.

Yahoo announced this week that the $4.8 billion sale of its internet operations is expected to be delayed for at least 3 months while Verizon performs more due diligence and Yahoo faces an investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission regarding the security breaches. In not just one, but two attacks, hackers were able to gain access to Yahoo's servers containing email addresses, birthdates, and other personal information of more than a billion users. It wasn't just fact that the breach occurred that triggered federal interest; it was that the breaches happened years ago, in 2013 and 2014.

To investigators in the SEC, Yahoo's delay in releasing information about the breaches makes the company seem guilty. Although the SEC claims that Yahoo is complying with requests that the investigators and governmental agencies have made, there are still worries among customers that the company is hiding something. Because of those suspicions, Verizon seems to be slowing down the purchase, no longer sure whether they want to even buy the company anymore. If more negative information comes out after the sale, then Verizon will suffer the losses caused by people's uncertainty. They made the smart move in pushing off the sale by a few months, in the hopes that all of the bad publicity may die down by then.

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Find out more about us at www.sepulvedaescrow.net. Any Questions? Contact our Escrow Expert! Sepulveda Escrow Corporation (818) 838-1831. Follow our company on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.

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