amazon.com Inc.

EBAY INC., $54.44, Nasdaq symbol EBAY, plans to spin off its PayPal subsidiary as a separate company. This business processes online transactions, including purchases made through eBay’s auction websites. In the past few years, PayPal has expanded into retail stores and payments through smartphones. It accounts for about 40% of eBay’s revenue. eBay plans to hand out PayPal shares as a special dividend in the second half of 2015. Investors are not liable for capital gains taxes until they sell their new shares....

ATLANTIC TELE-NETWORK, $55.15, symbol ATNI on Nasdaq, is raising its quarterly dividend by 7.4%, to $0.29 a share from $0.27, with the October 10, 2014, payment. The stock now yields 2.1%. Atlantic closed the sale of its Alltel wireless business to AT&T (symbol T on New York) late last year. It now holds cash of $407.6 million, or $24.64 a share, and has paid off its $271.1 million of debt. The company could use its high cash balance to make acquisitions or expand its remaining operations. It could also make further dividend increases or pay special dividends. Meanwhile, the stock trades at a high 26.3 times the $2.10 a share that Atlantic is forecast to earn this year....

Exchange traded funds (ETFs) are set up to mirror the performance of a stock market index or sub-index. They hold a more or less fixed selection of securities that represent the holdings that go into the calculation of the index or sub-index. ETFs trade on stock exchanges, just like stocks. That’s different from mutual funds, which you can only buy at the end of the day, at a price that reflects the fund’s value at the close of trading. Prices of ETFs are quoted in newspaper stock tables and online. You pay brokerage commissions to buy and sell them, but their low management fees give them a cost advantage over most mutual funds....

More consumers are shopping online instead of in stores. That trend has forced some book and music stores to close and is putting pressure on electronics chains, like Best Buy, and sellers of office and computer equipment, like Staples. Even so, most consumers still prefer to shop for clothes in stores, where they can try them on before buying. That’s a plus for the three retailers below. Moreover, all three continue to invest heavily in e-commerce and make it easier for shoppers to pick up their online orders in stores. That helps them compete with big Internet sellers like Amazon.com....

Tableau Software Inc., $70.50, symbol DATA on New York (Shares outstanding: 68.7 million; Market cap: $4.8 billion; www.tableausoftware.com), makes software that analyzes data from a variety of sources and translates it into what the company believes are easy-to-understand graphs and charts. That helps its clients make better decisions. The company has four main software products: Tableau Desktop (for individuals); Tableau Server (for large organizations); Tableau Online (a cloud-based version); and Tableau Public (a free version that analyzes public data, such as employment statistics). Tableau first sold shares to the public on May 22, 2013, at $31.00 each....

AMAZON.COM $324.00 (Nasdaq symbol AMZN; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (206- 266-1000; www.amazon.com; Shares outstanding: 462.0 million; Market cap: $149.7 billion; No dividends paid) has acquired gaming network Twitch Interactive for about $970 million in cash. The company reportedly outbid Google. Twitch, which was founded in 2011, is a popular Internet video channel for broadcasting and watching people playing video games. The website is estimated to be the fourth-largest source of U.S. Internet traffic, behind Netflix, Google and Apple. Gaming—especially mobile gaming—is a new area of focus for Amazon. Twitch is a leader, with more than 55 million users. It generates revenue from both subscriptions and advertising....

ALIMENTATION COUCHE-TARD, $36.65, symbol ATD.B on Toronto, jumped over 18% this week to new all-time highs after reporting higher sales and record earnings in the latest quarter, as well as a dividend increase. In the three months ended July 20, 2014, Couche-Tard’s sales rose 3.2%, to $9.2 billion from $8.9 billion a year earlier. Excluding one-time items, per-share earnings gained 23.1%, to $0.48 from $0.39 (all figures adjusted for Couche-Tard’s 3-for-1 stock split on April 14, 2014). The company is raising its quarterly dividend by 12.5% with the September 2014 payment, to $0.045 a share from $0.04. The shares now yield 0.5%....

AMAZON.COM $324.00 (Nasdaq symbol AMZN; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (206- 266-1000; www.amazon.com; Shares outstanding: 462.0 million; Market cap: $149.7 billion; No dividends paid) has acquired gaming network Twitch Interactive for about $970 million in cash. The company reportedly outbid Google.

Twitch, which was founded in 2011, is a popular Internet video channel for broadcasting and watching people playing video games. The website is estimated to be the fourth-largest source of U.S. Internet traffic, behind Netflix, Google and Apple.

Gaming—especially mobile gaming—is a new area of focus for Amazon. Twitch is a leader, with more than 55 million users. It generates revenue from both subscriptions and advertising.

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TIM HORTONS INC., $87.40, symbol THI on Toronto, jumped 27% this week after agreeing to a friendly takeover offer from Miami-based Burger King Worldwide (New York symbol BKW). The combined firm would be the world’s third-largest fast-food operator, after McDonald’s and Yum Brands, with annual sales of $23 billion U.S. and 18,000 restaurants in over 100 countries. Canada will supply 67% of the merged company’s revenue, followed by the U.S. (20%) and other countries (13%). The Tim Hortons and Burger King chains will operate independently but will probably share some back office and distribution networks. Tim Hortons can also use Burger King’s expertise to expand in the U.S. and other countries....

GOODYEAR TIRE & RUBBER CO. $25.46 (Nasdaq symbol GT; TSINetwork Rating: Extra Risk) (330-796-2122; www.goodyear.com; Shares outstanding: 275.3 million; Market cap: $7.1 billion; Dividend yield: 0.9%) is the world’s largest tire maker, with 52 plants in 22 countries.

In the quarter ended June 30, 2014, Goodyear’s revenue fell 4.9%, to $4.66 billion from $4.89 billion a year earlier....