In this Oct. 14, 2014 file photo, John Oliver arrives at The 20th Annual Fulfillment Fund Stars Benefit Gala in Beverly Hills, Calif. (Photo by Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP, File)
NEW YORK (AP) --
HBO says it has picked up two more seasons of John Oliver's "Last Week Tonight," which puts to rest any thought that Oliver would return to Comedy Central to replace Jon Stewart on "The Daily Show."
Oliver just began the second season at HBO of his critically acclaimed comedy show. HBO said it has agreed to air 35 new episodes each in 2016 and 2017.
Michael Lombardo, president of HBO programming, said Tuesday that Oliver's "unique ability to deliver socially significant commentary week after week, along with his innate comedic brilliance, puts John in a class by himself."
Oliver came to HBO's attention when he subbed for Stewart at "The Daily Show" during the summer of 2013. Stewart announced last week he was leaving "The Daily Show."
This is a display of iPhone 16s in an Apple Store in Pittsburgh on Jan. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar, File)
Apple on Thursday disclosed its iPhone sales dipped slightly during the holiday-season quarter, signaling a sluggish start to the trendsetting company's effort to catch up to the rest of Big Tech in the race to bring artificial intelligence to the masses.
The iPhone's roughly 1% drop in revenue from the previous year's October-December period wasn't entirely unexpected, given the first software update enabling the device's AI features didn't arrive until just before Halloween, and the technology still isn't available in many markets outside the U.S.
The countries still awaiting Apple's AI suite include China, a key market where the company continued to lose ground. Although he didn't mention China, Apple CEO Tim Cook told investors on a conference call that a software upgrade enabling the AI features in more European markets, as well as Japan and Korea will be rolling out in April.
But in the past quarter Apple also was only able to eke out a modest revenue gain across its entire business, although the results came in ahead of the analyst projections that guide investors. The Cupertino, California, company earned $36.3 billion, or $2.40 per share, a 7% increase from the previous year. Revenue edged up from the previous year by 4% to $124.3 billion.
Those numbers included iPhone revenue of $69.1 billion. In China, Apple's total revenue registered $18.5 billion, an 11% decrease from the previous year.
Part of that erosion in China reflected the iPhone's shrinking market share in that country, where homegrown companies have been making more headway. Apple's iPhone year-over-year shipments in China declined nearly 10% in the most recent quarter, while native companies Huawei and Xiaomi posted year-over-year increases of more than... Read More
