Growth spurt

A Westlake Village semiconductor company this year is expecting to double its revenue and hire 30 more employees, mostly design engineers.

NATION

DVD sales and TV ratings raise Walt Disney earnings

The Walt Disney Co. blew past Wall Street expectations Wednesday, reporting strong first-quarter earnings on gains from the sale of its shares in US Weekly magazine and the E! Entertainment channel.

Even without the one-time gains, which boosted earnings by 29 cents per share, the media conglomerate beat analyst forecasts by 11 cents per share on strong performance from sales of DVDs, including "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest."

Results also were helped by a strong ratings performance at its ABC network and cable channels, including ESPN.

Net income for the quarter ended Dec. 31 more than doubled to $1.701 billion, or 79 cents per share, compared with $734 million, or 37 cents per share in the same period last year. Revenue grew 10 percent to $9.725 billion compared with $8.854 billion in the same period last year.

Excluding one-time items, earnings grew 43 percent to 50 cents per share. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial had expected earnings of 39 cents per share on revenue of $9.513 billion.

Trade group: Apple should open up its technology

Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Steve Jobs challenged major record labels to strip copying restrictions from music sold online, but their trade group fired back Wednesday, suggesting the company should open up its anti-piracy technology to rivals instead.

Doing so, argued Mitch Bainwol, chairman and chief executive of the Recording Industry Association of America, would eliminate technology hurdles that prevent music fans from buying songs at Apple's iTunes Music Store and playing them on devices other than the iPod.

In an essay posted on the Cupertino-based company's Web site Tuesday, Jobs called on record labels to abandon their requirement for online music to be wrapped in technology that prevents unauthorized copying.

Intuit completes purchase of provider Digital Insight

Financial software maker Intuit Inc. said Wednesday it completed the purchase of online banking technology provider Digital Insight Corp. for $1.33 billion, including assumed options.

The purchase price was financed in part with proceeds of a $1 billion bridge loan facility. On Tuesday, Digital Insight's stockholders approved the deal, which was initially announced in November.

Intuit said the combined company will develop new products to help small business and households manage their finances online.

Jeff Steifler, chief executive of Calabasas-based Digital Insight, will become president of Intuit's financial institutions division.

Shares of Intuit rose 36 cents to $31.67 on the Nasdaq Stock Market.