Recode Daily: Amazon crushes it in the ‘World Series of tech,’ and Twitter had a good Thursday, too

Amazon’s financial results crushed third-quarter expectations yesterday, sending its stock price up more than 7 percent in after-hours trading. Net income has been positive for 10 straight quarters, and Amazon's top line grew 29 percent, including revenue from its new subsidiary, Whole Foods. [Jason Del Rey / Recode]

Twitter stock surged up to 18 percent yesterday after posting a strong Q3; the company thinks it may achieve profitability by the end of the year. But growth is still an issue: Twitter added four million new users last quarter, but it lost almost as many existing users. Meanwhile, Twitter has banned advertising from two Russia-backed media organizations, Russia Today and Sputnik. But they can keep tweeting. [Kurt Wagner / Recode]

Alphabet, Microsoft and Intel had a good Thursday, too.

CVS is in talks to buy Aetna for more than $66 billion, as it scrambles to fortify itself against looming competition from Amazon, which has been exploring ways to expand into the pharmaceutical industry. The deal would be the largest ever in health-insurance history. [The Wall Street Journal]

Heidi Roizen, a longtime partner at Draper Fisher Jurvetson, pushed back against claims of a “predatory” culture at the VC firm, as it continues to investigate allegations of sexual harassment by co-founder Steve Jurvetson. “I would not work for DFJ if I felt the culture was not one of high integrity and opportunity for all — including women. Including me,” Roizen wrote on her personal website. [Theodore Schleifer / Recode]

Top stories from Recode

BuzzFeed wants to sell your gadget, and keep a cut of the sales

You make the ShamWow, they’ll make the ad.

YouTube is taking on TV on its home turf, and it’s starting to win.

YouTube viewing on actual TV sets is up 70 percent in the last year.

SpaceX, Google and Tesla are among the top companies techies want to work for.

Uber didn’t make the cut.

“Stranger Things 2” is here and it could be the most important show on Netflix.

Otherworldly battles + ’80s nostalgia + cool kids = gold for Netflix.

What will Facebook, Twitter and Google do about Russia?

On the latest episode of Too Embarrassed to Ask, Tony Romm previews next week’s congressional hearings on social media and the 2017 election.

This is cool

Microsoft founder-turned-philanthropist Bill Gates turns 62 tomorrow. Since stepping down as CEO 17 years ago, the world’s richest man — Gates has a net worth of $87.9 billion — has been sharing his wealth through the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has given away $41.3 billion in grants. Our chart will show you where that money goes. [Rani Molla / Recode]

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple of big issues with relying on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on:

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. And we can’t do that if we have a paywall.

So even though advertising is still our biggest source of revenue, we also seek grants and reader support. (And no matter how our work is funded, we have strict guidelines on editorial independence.)

If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today? Any amount helps.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via