Just as it does every quarter, coal-mining firm Alcoa began the fourth-quarter earnings season after the market closed on Thursday, serving up its financial performance from the last three months of 2013 to the public. After long periods of shrinkage and lost significance, Alcoa was actually kicked out of the elite Dow Jones Industrial Average in September, but its tradition of starting earnings season lives on. So how did Alcoa do? Well the bribery scandal it settled earlier in the day didn't help. The U.S. will stop investigating Alcoa for corrupt bribery charges involving a member of Bahrain's royal family, if it pays $384 million. Alcoa CEO Klaus Kleinfeld asked TV viewers to put the bribery behind them and focus on their earnings that would be released later that evening. As for its earnings, Alcoa's revenues and earnings both dropped last quarter.