SEATTLE — Apple Inc. co-founder and CEO Steve Jobs is back at his office a few days a week after taking a 5 1/2-month medical leave and getting a new liver.

Jobs, 54, will work from home on days he doesn't work from Apple's Cupertino, Calif., headquarters, company spokesman Steve Dowling said.

Dowling did not say exactly when Jobs returned to the office.

The state of Jobs' health and the timing of his return have been watched closely by investors and the media, as Jobs is seen as the visionary behind Apple's popular iPod music players and the iPhone, which left far more experienced mobile phone makers scrambling to catch up with similar touchscreen devices.

Shares of Apple slipped 47 cents to $141.97 yesterday.

H&R BLOCK PROFIT UP FROM YEAR AGO

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — H&R Block Inc., the nation's largest tax preparer, reported better-than-expected profit for its fiscal fourth quarter yesterday as higher fees and more consumer financial services income offset a decline in the number of tax returns it prepared.

The Kansas City, Mo.-based company said it earned $706.9 million, or $2.09 per share, during the three months ended April 30. That's up from a year-ago profit of $543.6 million, or $1.66 per share, and above the $2.05 per share expected by analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters.

Revenue for the quarter sank 3 percent to $2.47 billion, coming in shy of Wall Street's $2.52 billion estimate.

HIGH COURT RULING VICTORY FOR CABLE

PHILADELPHIA — Cable TV operators won a key legal battle against Hollywood studios and television networks yesterday as the Supreme Court declined to block a new digital video recording system that could make it even easier for viewers to bypass commercials.

The justices declined to hear arguments on whether Cablevision Systems Corp.'s remote-storage DVR system would violate copyright laws.

That allows the company to proceed with plans to start deploying the technology this summer.

With remote storage, TV shows are kept on the cable operator's servers instead of the DVR inside the customer's home, as systems offered by TiVo Inc. and cable operators currently do.