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The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is examining whether Apple Inc. and Google Inc. are breaking antitrust law by sharing board members, according to a person familiar with the investigation. Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt and Arthur Levinson, chairman of Genentech Inc., serve as directors at Apple and Google.

Facebook Inc. reported fourth-quarter financial results that beat Wall Street expectations, but its shares are falling anyway. Revenue rose 40% to nearly $1.6 billion in the fourth quarter, above analyst estimates. That marked the first growth acceleration since Facebook started selling shares to the public in May. Facebook said it earned $64 million, or 3 cents a share, compared with $302 million, or 14 cents a share, a year earlier. "In 2012, we connected over a billion people and became a mobile company," Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a written statement that accompanied the fourth-quarter financial results.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Google's stock crossed $800 for the first time Monday -- a feat never before achieved by a technology company. The $800 club that Google just joined is a pretty exclusive one . And though the all-time high for Google is largely symbolic, analysts are crediting Larry Page, its co-founder and chief executive, for the search giant's dramatic resurgence since he took back the helm nearly two years ago. Under his leadership, the...

SAN FRANCISCO -- Is mobile clicking for Facebook Inc.? Facebook's initial public stock offering in May was dashed after the social network said it wasn't making "any significant revenue" from mobile even though more than half of its users checked the service on mobile devices. With its stock price plunging, Facebook Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged in September: "We've had a bunch of missteps" in mobile. But in the background, Facebook has already powered up the turbo boosters.

Google Chief Executive Larry Page has reassured employees that he does not have a serious medical condition and that he will continue to run the search giant. Page delivered the news in an email to employees Thursday after skipping the company's annual shareholder meeting that day, the Wall Street Journal reported . In the email, Page said: "There is nothing seriously wrong with me. " Page has been having trouble with his voice, said Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, who filled in for him Thursday.

A partial jury verdict in its copyright infringement case against Google has handed Oracle a major setback, limiting damages against the search giant. The jury on Monday found that Google did improperly borrow the structure of Oracle's software code but did not violate Oracle's other copyrights. Oracle, which accused Google of stealing a key piece of its technology to build the popular Android mobile software, sought up to $1 billion in damages on copyright claims in San Francisco federal court.

MENLO PARK, Calif. -- Anticipation has been making Silicon Valley wait just like a Carly Simon song in a 1970s Heinz ketchup commercial. But that wait will come to an end Tuesday morning when Facebook holds a news conference at its Menlo Park, Calif., headquarters. We're live tweeting from the event. Tweets by @jguynn Facebook last week invited the media to "come and see what we're building. " It provided no details. There has been no shortage of speculation on what Facebook might announce as investors pushed shares above $30. Shares closed at $30.95 on Monday, though analysts say the stock gains may have more to do with investors' anticipation of the company's fourth-quarter financial results due out Jan. 30 than anticipation of a major announcement at the mysterious news conference.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Oracle and Google were facing off in the second day of a high-stakes intellectual property showdown in a San Francisco federal courtroom Tuesday when Twitter made a surprise announcement: It pledged that employees who created its technology would exercise control over the patents so they could not be used as a legal battering ram against other companies. The “Innovator's Patent Agreement,” or IPA, would give legal rights to inventors and ensure that patents are not used to “impede the innovation of others,” the San Francisco company said in a post   on its official blog.

SAN FRANCISCO -- Google's senior ranks continue to shuffle with Jeff Huber stepping down as head of mapping and commerce. Huber will move to Google X, the lab run by Google co-founder Sergey Brin that is working on experimental projects such as the wearable computer Google Glass and self-driving cars, a person familiar with the situation said. The move was first reported by the Wall Street Journal. With Huber's departure, the mapping division will join the Google search team led by Alan Eustace and the commerce division will move under the advertising group led by Susan Wojcicki.

"Gangbusters. " That's how Google's chief executive, Larry Page, summed up his company's third quarter. The nation's economy may be stalled. Concerns over a global recession may be in overdrive. But Google's digital advertising engine delivered another NASCAR-worthy performance, even with the economic head winds, sending its shares sharply higher. In after-hours trading, Google shares rose $36, to $595, up more than 6%. The company released its results after the close of regular trading.