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Shares of online data storage provider Box Inc rose as much as 77 percent in their market debut as investors bet on the company's ability to turn profitable in a highly competitive market, boding well for another big year for IPOs. Box's shares, which priced at $14, hit a high of $24.72 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday, valuing the company at nearly $3 billion. The stock's enthusiastic reception also underscored healthy investor appetite for technology stocks after the blockbuster debut of Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding Ltd in September. Box was founded in 2005 by University of Southern California dropout Aaron Levie, the chief executive, and his friend Dylan Smith, the chief financial officer.

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Verizon Communications Inc's quarterly revenue rose 6.8 percent due to an increase in subscribers who pay for services after use, and a rise in average revenue per account as users added more devices to shared data plans. Shares in Verizon dipped slightly to $47.95 in premarket trading after closing at $48.25 on Wednesday. Excluding items, Verizon earned 71 cents per share, matching Wall street estimates, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S. Revenue rose to $33.19 billion from $31.07 billion, slightly higher than analysts' expectations of $32.69 billion. Verizon's retail postpaid average revenue per account rose to $158.82 from $157.21, but was below $161.64 estimated by analysts polled by research firm StreetAccount.

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Chinese internet heavyweight Tencent Holdings Ltd apologized on Monday for rewarding WeChat app users who sent a message with the English phrase “civil rights” with a screen full of fluttering U.S. flags. The animation was intended to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the United States, and was only meant to be available to WeChat users in that country, wrote Tencent's WeChat team on their official microblog. A technical error allowed users elsewhere to see the U.S. flags on their screen, including in China

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Britain and the United States will increase cooperation on cyber security, Prime Minister David Cameron said, setting up “cyber cells” to share intelligence and conduct simulated attacks to test the defences of organisations such as banks. Cameron is on a two-day visit to Washington focused on the economy and security, and is due to have a second meeting with President Barack Obama on Friday at the White House. The cooperation between Britain's GCHQ eavesdropping agency and the U.S. National Security Agency will include joint war games, with the first exercise later this year to involve the Bank of England and commercial banks in both the City of London and Wall Street, the BBC reported.

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By Edwin Chan, Paul Carsten and John Ruwitch SAN FRANCISCO/BEIJING/SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China's Alibaba Group Holding Ltd plans a major move to win U.S. business this year, by offering American retailers new ways to sell to China's vast and growing middle class. Anchored by Alipay, the dominant Chinese electronic payments system that works closely with Alibaba and is controlled by its executives, the world's largest Internet retailer is using the calling card of China's consumers to attract U.S. partners, two sources close to the company told Reuters. Long seen as the most potent threat to Amazon.com Inc with $300 billion in global sales, the moves add up to a conservative approach to expanding in the United States, contrary to industry speculation that the company may be plotting a direct assault on U.S. soil.

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By Jennifer Ablan and Liana B. Baker NEW YORK (Reuters) – Samsung Electronics recently offered to buy BlackBerry Ltd for as much as $7.5 billion, seeking its valuable patents as it battles Apple in the corporate market, according to a person familiar with the matter and documents seen by Reuters. South Korea's Samsung proposed an initial price range of $13.35 to $15.49 per share, representing a premium of 38 percent to 60 percent over BlackBerry's current trading price, the source said on Wednesday. …

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By Roberta Rampton WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday will announce a renewed push for cybersecurity legislation after recent headline-grabbing hacks against companies like Sony Pictures and Home Depot. Obama will throw his support behind efforts to give liability protection to companies that quickly share information about attacks, but will require strict protections for personal information, the White House said in a statement. The White House first proposed cyber legislation in 2011. …