RETAIL

Christmas shopping season could be best in years

Americans displayed their buying bona fides in the final run-up to Christmas, turning out in force to produce what may be the best holiday shopping season in years. The season’s tally should reach $671 billion, a ‘‘stellar’’ 5.5 percent increase from last year, according to Craig Johnson, head of the research firm Customer Growth Partners. That would be the most since 2005, according to his calculations. The timing of Christmas didn’t hurt, either, with a full weekend for procrastinators to redeem themselves. But signs of success were present all along, including a yen for home goods and electronics. Johnson boosted his holiday forecast earlier this month, and he notes that retailers didn’t have to resort to last-minute markdowns to draw shoppers. They were already coming in via the digital or brick-and-mortar doors. Sales through Christmas Eve were about $598 billion, Johnson said in an interview with Bloomberg Radio. He said he expects another $73 billion to come this week. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

RIDE HAILING

Uber said to be selling its subprime car-loan business

Ending a turbulent year marked by heavy losses, Uber is said to be selling its subprime car-loan business, which may have cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars and has drawn criticism for exploiting drivers who have bad or nonexistent credit histories. The auto-lending unit, Xchange, is set to be purchased for an undisclosed amount by Fair, a car lending startup, according to The Wall Street Journal. Experts say the move signals a more disciplined, cost-cutting approach by newly installed chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi, who is aiming to take the ride-hailing company public within the next two years and is vying to repair Uber’s relationship with its drivers and the public. — WASHINGTON POST

ELECTRICITY

Pa. woman worries that Christmas lights were to blame for $284 billion light bill

What can you buy with $284 billion? You could own all of Netflix. Or purchase 747 Boeing 747s, with change to spare. Or erase the national debts of Venezuela, Nigeria, Peru, and Iceland, combined. Or, if you’re Mary Horomanski, you could pay for one month’s worth of electricity. Horomanski, from Erie, Pa., was shocked recently when she received an erroneous electric bill displaying an account balance of ‘‘$284,460,000,000,’’ with a first payment due of $28,176. In a brief moment of self-doubt, the stay-at-home mother of five boys also took stock of the electricity her household was using. ‘‘We had Christmas lights outside, but we don’t have the ‘[National Lampoon’s] Christmas Vacation’ lights,’’ Horomanski said. ‘‘And I’m looking at my Christmas tree, and I’m like, no, that wouldn’t have caused it . . .’’ The company quickly reassured her it was an error, Horomanski said. The correct amount was $284.46. — WASHINGTON POST

TECHNOLOGY

Google to continue changes dealing with advertising platform, third-party content

Alphabet Inc.’s Google said it will extend commitments made five years ago to US antitrust officials related to how developers use its advertising platform and the scraping of third-party content in search results. The Internet search giant said Tuesday in a blog post that it will continue the practices that were about to expire, saying they provide “additional flexibility’’ to developers and websites. The move comes as the biggest technology firms are facing criticism across the globe over their dominance of markets from online shopping to social media. Google is grappling with a an antitrust investigation in Europe that led to a 2.4 billion-euro ($2.85 billion) penalty in June, while German officials last week said Facebook may be taking advantage of its popularity to bully users into agreeing to terms and conditions they often don’t understand. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

TECHNOLOGY

Entrepreneurs convicted of manipulating shares

Two technology entrepreneurs who rose to prominence in the years before the financial crisis were found guilty of manipulating shares in a digital-video software startup at the center of a complex fraud that spanned from China to Dubai. Former KIT Digital Inc. chief executive Kaleil Isaza Tuzman, a Harvard graduate who spent more than four years at Goldman Sachs Group Inc., and Omar Amanat, a tech-industry socialite who helped produce some of the “Twilight’’ films, were found guilty Tuesday of their role in the scheme by a federal jury in Manhattan. The verdict following a six-week trial caps a remarkable change of fortunes for the pair. The onetime globetrotters avoided eye contact during the trial and blamed each other for the wrongdoing that sunk KIT. Neither man took the stand to testify in his own defense. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

ENERGY

Saudi Arabia expects oil revenue to soar by 2023

Saudi Arabia expects oil revenue to jump about 80 percent by 2023 to help the kingdom record its first budget surplus in a decade, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Under a six-year program to balance the budget, officials predict rising oil prices and output will push income from oil sales to 801.4 billion riyals ($214 billion) from 440 billion riyals this year, the people said on condition of anonymity because they aren’t authorized to share the data publicly. It assumes the price of oil will reach $75 a barrel. Non-oil revenue, excluding income from the Public Investment Fund, would increase 32 percent to 337 billion riyals ($89.9 billion), they said. While Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plan to transform the economy aims to reduce its reliance on oil in the long term, higher crude prices are central to efforts to support growth while introducing measures that would help boost revenue from other sources. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

INTERNATIONAL

Venezuelan recession hits holiday treat

Inflation in Venezuela is now so out of control that even one of the country’s most beloved holiday treats is beyond the reach of many this holiday season. Caracas research group Cenda estimates the cost of a hallaca, a tamale-like snack, at 35,498 bolivars (32 cents at the black market rate) this season. That’s a whopping 1,724 percent increase over last year. Just five of the meat-filled, cornmeal wraps cost the same as the minimum monthly wage. Over the past four years of recession, Venezuelans have suffered from soaring inflation and shortages of food and medicine. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

INTERNATIONAL

Russia to get biometric database for financial services

Russia will get a nationwide biometric database for financial services starting next summer, the central bank said. The system will expand access to banking by letting people open accounts without having to visit a branch and is a key milestone in digitizing financial services, the Bank of Russia said. The regulator said data would only be stored with individuals’ consent. Legal changes needed for the system passed this month. State-owned Rostelecom has been selected to run the database, which will collect personal data including images of faces, voice samples, and, eventually, irises and fingerprints. — BLOOMBERG NEWS

PHARMACEUTICALS

Mallinckrodt to buy Sucampo for about $1.2 billion

Mallinckrodt PLC agreed to buy Sucampo Pharmaceuticals Inc. for about $1.2 billion in cash to add a treatment for constipation and experimental medicines targeting rare diseases, helping diversify its business away from the controversial drug that makes up the largest part of its revenue. Mallinckrodt will begin a tender offer at $18 a share, the companies said in a statement Tuesday. Mallinckrodt has faced major setbacks in recent months, and is seeking to lessen its reliance on two products that together account for more than half of total sales: Acthar, a drug for autoimmune and rare diseases that has drawn controversy over its high price, and INOmax, an infant-respiratory treatment that lost a court ruling in September and could face generic versions. — BLOOMBERG NEWS