In brief: Home building rises in March, but permits decrease

WASHINGTON – U.S home construction rose moderately in March as builders resumed work at the end of a frigid winter. But applications for building permits slid, clouding the outlook for future construction.

Builders started work on 946,000 homes at a seasonally adjusted annual rate in March, up 2.8 percent from 920,000 in February, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. Construction of single-family homes rose 6 percent, more than offsetting a 3.1 percent drop in the construction of apartments, condominiums and town houses.

As the weather moderated, construction rose 30.7 percent in the Northeast and jumped 65.5 percent in the Midwest. But it fell 9.1 percent in the South and 4.5 percent in the West.

Applications for permits, a gauge of future activity, fell 2.4 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 990,000.

Economists had expected housing starts to hit 970,000 last month.

Fired Yahoo executive received $58 million

SAN FRANCISCO – Yahoo’s recently fired chief operating officer, Henrique de Castro, left the Internet company with a severance package of $58 million even though he lasted just 15 months on the job.

The disclosure in a regulatory filing may lead to more second-guessing of Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer’s decision to hire de Castro as her second-in-command in October 2012.

Mayer dumped de Castro in January after concluding he wasn’t executing on her plan for reviving Yahoo’s lackluster ad growth. De Castro had been in charge of ad sales.

Yahoo Inc. previously disclosed de Castro would be getting a severance package but didn’t reveal the amount until Wednesday.

The company’s board said most of the severance stemmed from the costs of luring de Castro from his previous job at Google Inc.

Google earnings don’t meet projections

SAN FRANCISCO – Google’s first-quarter earnings growth faltered as the Internet company dealt with a persistent downturn in advertising prices while spending more money to hire more employees and invest in daring ideas.

The results announced Wednesday fell below analyst projections.

Although it remains highly successful, Google Inc. has been trying to adjust to a shift away from personal computers to smartphones and tablets. The upheaval has been lowering Google’s ad rates because marketers aren’t as willing to pay as much to pitch consumers who are squinting at smaller mobile device screens.

Google earned $3.45 billion, or $5.04 per share, in the quarter. That was up 3 percent from $3.3 billion, or $4.97 per share, last year.

Revenue rose 19 percent to $15.4 billion.

Reynolds American renames Cameron CEO

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Reynolds American has elected board member and former leader Susan Cameron as president and CEO of the tobacco company.

Cameron previously served as president and chief executive officer of the company from 2004 to 2011 before she retired. She rejoined the company’s board in December. The 55-year-old Cameron will take on the CEO job again starting May 1.

She replaces Daniel Delen, who is retiring and resigning from the board. The 48-year-old Delen will stay on as a consultant for two years to help with the transition.