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Google's new parent company Alphabet is off to an amazing start.

Alphabet posted a shockingly good profit and better-than-expected sales in the third quarter, sending the stock up 10% to an all-time high.

The company's sales rose 13% and profit grew a whopping 45% in the past quarter. Particularly encouraging for Alphabet is the fact that much of the growth is coming from mobile search. This was once a big question mark for Google as advertisers refused to pay the same rates for unproven mobile search ads as they did for tried-and-true desktop advertisements.

Google also called out YouTube for having an impressive past quarter.

"Our ... results show the strength of Google's business, particularly in mobile search," said Ruth Porat, Alphabet's chief financial officer, in a prepared statement. "With six products now having more than 1 billion users globally, we're excited about the opportunities ahead of Google, and across Alphabet."

Also helping Alphabet's stock: The Company announced it was buying back $5 billion worth of its own stock. Investors love when companies do that, because it raises the value of their own holdings.

Porat, a former Wall Street rock star, was brought in earlier this year to make the company more efficient and transparent. She helped lead the company's restructuring to become Alphabet, in which Google spun out its exotic projects like driverless cars and anti-aging research into separate companies. Alphabet (GOOGL, Tech30) is now the parent company of all of those smaller companies, one of which is Google.

Google officially took on its Alphabet structure on Oct. 2, the first day of Google's current fiscal quarter. That means we won't get a first glimpse at how well each of the various Alphabet entities is performing until Alphabet reports its fourth-quarter financial results in January.

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YouTube will begin selling $9.99-a-month subscriptions that will allow U.S. customers to watch almost everything without ads, to download videos for viewing offline and to keep content playing on a smartphone or tablet even when using a different app.

But those widely requested features aren't all that subscribers will get. The service, called YouTube Red, offers access to highly produced original shows and movies that can't be found anywhere else. Google Play streaming music will be included too.

YouTube Red is intended to turn the enormously popular Google-owned company into a profit maker, not a money loser.

Ad revenue isn't enough to meet the enormous expenses of serving billions of videos every day — even when most videos are supplied by users for free. YouTube could generate nearly $950 million annually in new revenue if just 5% of U.S. users signed up for the subscription, UBS analysts estimate.

Red marks the beginning of "a long journey," according to YouTube.

Matthew Glotzbach, the company's vice president of product management, said, "By no means would we expect to jump to tens or hundreds of millions of paying users overnight," but there should be "strong demand" from the start.

Financial analysts who follow Alphabet Inc., Google's parent company, say YouTube could become a major profit engine. But rivals, including Facebook, Snapchat and Vimeo, are threatening its potential by stealing away both video makers and viewing time.

Growth of YouTube's net ad revenue in the U.S. is expected to slow rapidly over the next three years, the market research company EMarketer said in August. According to EMarketer's calculations, worldwide net revenue will be $4.3 billion in 2015, up 41% from last year.

Yet to be determined is how the subscription model will affect an expanding generation of YouTube stars, many of whom began by filming videos in their bedrooms and elsewhere, cracking jokes, dancing and talking to the camera about everything from fashion to video games. They uploaded the videos to YouTube, attracting advertising sponsors, and, in a few cases, becoming millionaires in the process.

YouTube often places several ads on the same page as a video, and attracting millions of viewers has meant steady, growing income for video makers, who get 55% of ad revenue.

It's unclear how the commercial-free subscription will affect ad income, though YouTube Chief Business Officer Robert Kyncl said the "vast majority" of YouTube's subscription revenue will go to the YouTube Red content creators. Certainly, some creators will lose out on money from heavy viewers who might encounter lots of ads or be willing to pay more than $10 a month for a subscription.

With Red, YouTube also plans to create a new, subscriber-only slate of original shows and movies for its most popular video stars. The selected creators will be gambling that slicker content will broaden their viewership and fatten their paychecks.

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Ferrari opened at $60 per share at its trading debut on Wednesday, 15% above its IPO price of $52.  

The luxury sports car maker had priced its IPO at the higher end of expectations for between $48 to $52. It was indicated to open between $59 to $62 per share.

The stock is trading with the ticker RACE.

The company raised $893 million at its initial public offering, according to Bloomberg.

Ferrari is listed New York Stock Exchange, which currently has several sports cars parked outside its premises. Chairman Sergio Marchionne rang the NYSE's opening bell on Wednesday.

The company was spun off from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, which is expected to offer the public over 17 million shares, or about 10%. It will raise at least $4 billion from the Ferrari public offering.

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Ferrari NV (RACE.N) priced its initial public offering at the top of expectations on Tuesday, raising $893 million, as drivers enamored with the luxury sports car maker snapped up its shares alongside institutional investors, defying a choppy market.

Ferrari, controlled by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV (FCA) (FCHA.MI), pulled out all the stops to market itself to some of its cars' owners as well as Wall Street, and also limited the offering to a 9.1 percent stake in the company.

The strategy paid off, as the IPO was priced in New York on Tuesday at $52 per share, the top end of its indicated $48 to $52 per share range, according to people familiar with the matter. The IPO gives Ferrari a market capitalization of around $9.8 billion.

The sources asked not to be identified because the pricing details of the IPO were not yet public. Ferrari did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The proceeds will be used to help fund FCA's ambitious growth plan centered around the revamp of its Alfa Romeo, Jeep and Maserati brands. A successful listing will bolster FCA's finances at a time when its calls for a merger partner have fallen on deaf ears.

The company's listing comes a week after several big IPOs were discounted or delayed. Payment processor First Data Corp (FDC.N) priced this year's biggest public offering below its indicated range, while supermarket operator Albertsons Companies Inc (ABS.N) had to postpone its IPO the night before its shares were expected to start trading. Luxury fashion retailer Neiman Marcus Group Inc has also delayed its IPO to 2016.

Unlike Neiman Marcus, First Data and Albertsons, however, Ferrari is not a big leveraged buyout looking to pay down debt. Fiat Chrysler is taking Ferrari public to sell a tenth of its 90 percent stake in the company. All proceeds from the IPO will go to FCA, according to a regulatory filing.

The luxury car company also approached a different investor mix, attempting to capitalize on the emotional resonance of its brand. It targeted more retail investors than a typical IPO, honing in on high net-worth individuals and Ferrari owners, some of whom said they got letters this summer inviting them to buy company shares once it listed.

"A classic Ferrari is a better investment than the stock, but I still plan on buying shares," David Radeloff, who has owned a number of the cars, said in New York ahead of the offering.

The strategy demonstrates an understanding of what drives many investment decisions, said Meir Statman, professor of finance at Santa Clara University and author of "What Investors Really Want."

"The utilitarian benefits of a Ferrari are no different from those of a Toyota," he said. "Both will take you from home to work and back. But Ferraris yield expressive and emotional benefits that Toyotas cannot match."

"A 70-year old in a Toyota is old, but a 70-year old in a Ferrari is young," he added.

The overall windfall for FCA, including proceeds from the IPO and 2.8 billion euros ($3.2 billion) to be transferred to the parent as part of Ferrari's spin-off, is seen at around $4.2 billion.

Shares in Maranello, Italy-based Ferrari are expected to start trading on Wednesday and list on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "RACE."

UBS AG (UBSG.VX) and Bank of America Corp (BAC.N) are lead underwriters of Ferrari's IPO.

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Apple Inc's new music streaming service has netted more than 6.5 million paid users, the tech giant's Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook said on Monday.

Speaking at a technology conference organized by The Wall Street Journal in Laguna Beach, Calif., Cook said that an additional 8.5 million people are participating in a free trial of the Apple Music service. That gives it more than 15 million users in total, which Cook described as a successful debut.

"I'm really happy about it, and I think the runway here is really good," Cook said.

Released in June, Apple Music is the company's attempt to carry its dominance of digital music through its iTunes store into the era of music streaming pioneered by Spotify and others. Apple is allowing users to test its service with a 90-day free trial, which elapsed for the first users earlier this month.

Analysts have predicted that Apple's service will find a strong following due to the vast installed base of iTunes users, but few think the iPhone maker will eclipse other music streaming companies. Spotify, the industry leader, has more than 20 million paid subscribers worldwide, the company has told Reuters.

In a wide-ranging conversation with Gerard Baker, editor in chief of The Wall Street Journal, Cook also touched on Apple TV, which recently received a long-awaited update. A new version of the set-top box featuring apps and expanded search features will be released later this month, but the product does not include a streaming TV service, which industry executives say the company is exploring.

Although television has been slow to change, Cook expressed optimism that the industry will eventually embrace his vision of apps for TV.

"There are very few content owners that believe that the existing model will last forever," Cook said. "I think the most forward-thinking ones are looking and saying, 'I'd rather have the first-mover advantage.'"

Cook did not publicly acknowledge efforts by Apple to build an electric vehicle, which sources tell Reuters are under way. But he sketched out his future vision of what cars will look like, with a greater infusion of technology.

"What I see is that software becomes an increasingly important component of the car of the future," he said. "You see that autonomous driving becomes much more important."

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Canada's Liberal leader Justin Trudeau rode a late surge to a stunning majority election victory on Monday, toppling Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives with a promise of change and returning a touch of glamor, youth and charisma to Ottawa.

Harper conceded defeat and the Conservative party announced his resignation, ending a nine-year run in power and the 56-year-old's brand of fiscal and cultural conservatism that voters appeared to sour on.

The Liberals seized a Parliamentary majority, a turn in political fortunes that smashed the record for the number of seats gained from one election to the next. The center-left Liberals had been a distant third place party before this election.

"My friends, we beat fear with hope. We beat cynicism with hard work. We beat negative, divisive politics with a positive vision that brings Canadians together," Trudeau, 43, told a crowd of cheering supporters in Montreal.

"This is what positive politics can do."

The photogenic son of former Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau pledged to run a C$10 billion annual budget deficit for three years to invest in infrastructure and help stimulate Canada's anemic economic growth.

This rattled financial markets ahead of the vote and the Canadian dollar weakened on news of his victory.

Trudeau thanked his two closest friends and advisers for shaping his campaign to show "that you can appeal to the better angels of our nature. And you can win doing it."

Trudeau has said he will repair Canada's cool relations with the Obama administration, withdraw Canada from the combat mission against Islamic State militants in favor of humanitarian aid and training, and tackle climate change.

Trudeau vaulted from third place to lead the polls in the final days of the campaign, and will now return to the Prime Minister's residence in Ottawa where he grew up as a child.

"When the time for change strikes, it's lethal," former Conservative Prime Minister Brian Mulroney said in a television interview. "I ran and was successful because I wasn't Pierre Trudeau. Justin is successful because he isn't Stephen Harper."

Liberal supporters at the party's campaign headquarters broke into cheers and whistles when television projected that Trudeau would be the next prime minister.

The Conservatives become the official opposition in Parliament, with the left-leaning New Democratic Party in third.

The NDP's fall was highlighted in Quebec, where it had the majority of its seats, while the separatist Bloc Quebecois won 10 seats, up from just two previously. BQ leader Gilles Duceppe, however, failed to win a seat.

The Liberals' win marks a swing toward a more multilateral approach in global politics by the Canadian government, which has distanced itself from the United Nations in recent years.

The former teacher took charge of the party just two years ago and guided it out of the political wilderness with a pledge of economic stimulus and stirring appeals for a return to social liberalism.

Born to a sitting prime minister who came to power in 1968 on a wave of popular support dubbed "Trudeaumania," Trudeau will become the second-youngest prime minister in Canadian history and brings an appeal more common in movie stars than statesmen.

Pierre once jumped from a trampoline into the crowd. With boyish good looks, Justin thrusts himself into throngs and puts his hand to his heart when listening to someone.

Selfie requests are so common he happily takes the camera and snaps the photo himself, often cheek to cheek. He is the married father of three young children.

Criticized for being more style than substance, Trudeau has used attacks on his good looks and privileged upbringing to win over voters, who recalled his father's rock-star presence and an era when Canada had some sizzle on the world stage.

Pierre Trudeau, who died in 2000, was in power for 15 years - with a brief interruption - and remains one of the few Canadian leaders to be known abroad.

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Love is finally going to be available on the public market.

The Match Group filed for an IPO Friday, applying to be listed on the Nasdaq under the ticker "MTCH."

The S-1 filing says there are over 45 sites in Match's portfolio, including Match itself, OkCupid and Tinder, along with less well-known sites like Our-Time and BlackPeopleMeet. All, of course, are geared toward fulfilling a mission to "increase romantic connectivity worldwide."

The Match Group has been a part of IAC/Interactive (IACI), the conglomerate run by media mogul Barry Diller. The Match Group had 4.7 million paying subscribers worldwide at the end of the third quarter. It reported revenue of nearly $900 million in 2014 and net earnings of $148 million.

In its filing, Match Group said it would consolidate the roles of CEO and chairman by the end of 2015, which are currently held by Greg Blatt and Sam Yagan. Blatt will take over both roles and Yagan, who cofounded OkCupid which was later acquired by Match, "is expected to continue to serve in a senior leadership position."

IAC also owns many other popular websites and apps -- including Vimeo, The Daily Beast, About.com and search engine Ask -- which many still remember as the old Ask Jeeves. IAC has sold off pieces of other units to the public before, including Expedia (EXPE), TripAdvisor (TRIP), HSN (HSNI) and Live Nation (LYV).

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China's economy has posted its slowest growth since the financial crisis, erasing hopes of a quick recovery for the world's second-largest economy.

Gross domestic product expanded by 6.9% in the third quarter, compared to the same period last year, according to data released Monday by China's National Bureau of Statistics.

Analysts have known for a long time that China's growth would slow. It had to weaken, in fact, as Beijing made reforms designed to shift the country away from relying on building roads, railways and housing to generate growth, to an economy powered by consumer spending.

That's happening now. Beijing's growth target for the year is 7% -- a goal that was met in the first six months. Seven percent is a far cry from the heady days when China was pumping out GDP growth of 10% on a regular basis. But it's also strong enough to maintain employment levels.

Louis Kuijs, an economist at Oxford Economics, said the GDP data indicate China has avoided a sharp slowdown. However, incremental stimulus measures will be required if Beijing is to keep its growth target within range.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has acknowledged worries over the slowdown, which has hit global commodity prices and slammed countries that depend on exports to China.

"As an economy closely linked to international markets, China cannot stay immune to the lackluster performance of the global economy," Xi told Reuters in a rare interview released over the weekend. "We do have concerns about the Chinese economy, and we are working hard to address them."

This month's annual meeting of the Communist Party will be watched closely for signs that Beijing may be ready to intervene more aggressively to boost growth.

The government is expected to unveil its five-year social and economic plan for 2016 to 2020 at the meeting. Experts say the government will likely continue with piecemeal stimulus to support the economy and keep risks at bay.

The central bank has already cut interest rates a handful of times this year, and told banks they could lend more.

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