6 Most Important Things in Business Today

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Mar 13, 4:00PM EDT · Published Sep 20, 5:13AM EDT

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Facebook Inc. (NASDAQ: FB) may have legal problems in Europe. According to Reuters:

Europe’s justice chief gave U.S. social media giant Facebook until the end of the year to comply with EU consumer rules or face sanctions.

The head of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. (NYSE: BABA) said he no longer plans to create one million jobs in the United States. According to The Wall Street Journal:

Chinese technology tycoon Jack Ma is recanting his promise to create one million jobs in the U.S., citing the trade spat between the world’s two biggest economies.

The executive chairman of Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. made the pledge when he met with then-President-elect Trump in January 2017, saying the jobs would be created by supporting more sales by U.S. small businesses on Alibaba’s e-commerce platforms.

In an interview with China’s state news agency Xinhua published Wednesday, Mr. Ma said his commitment was contingent on good relations between the two nations.

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The European Union began an examination of Amazon.com Inc.’s (NASDAQ: AMZN) business practices. According to The Wall Street Journal:

European Union antitrust authorities have begun a preliminary investigation into Amazon.com Inc.’s treatment of other merchants that sell products using its platform, opening a new regulatory front against an American tech giant.

EU Competition Commissioner Margrethe Vestager said Wednesday that investigators recently sent out questionnaires to merchants that sell through Amazon. The probe focuses on whether Amazon is gaining a competitive advantage from data it gathers on every transaction and from every merchant on its platform, Ms. Vestager said.

Amazon is expected to become the number three marketer of digital ads. According to The Wall Street Journal:

Amazon is expected to move up the rankings of the top U.S. digital ad sellers in 2018 to take the No. 3 slot, thanks to an acceleration in ad revenue growth and accounting changes by the company, according to the latest forecast from research firm eMarketer.

The tech giant is expected to generate $4.6 billion in U.S. ad revenue, surpassing Verizon Communications Inc.’s Oath and Microsoft Corp. in eMarketer’s ranking, while still significantly trailing the industry heavyweights, Alphabet Inc.’s Google and Facebook Inc., according to eMarketer.

The head of JPMorgan Chase & Co. (NYSE JPM) is worried about cyberattacks on the financial system. According to CNBC:

Banks may be in sound condition post-Lehman Brothers, but the financial system could crack again if hit with a devastating cyber attack, J.P. Morgan Chief Executive Jamie Dimon warned on Thursday.

“I think the biggest vulnerability is cyber, just for about everybody” he told CNBC’s Indian affiliate CNBC TV-18 on Thursday. “I think we have to focus on it, the United States government has to focus on it.”

Walmart Inc. (NYSE: WMT) could be hurt by the trade war with China, According to CNNMoney:

Two weeks ago, Walmart asked the Trump administration to walk back its plan to put tariffs on Christmas lights, shampoo, dog food, luggage, mattresses, handbags, backpacks, vacuum cleaners, bicycles, cooking grills, cable cords and air conditioners.

In a letter to US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, the company said expanded tariffs on Chinese imports would hurt its customers, its suppliers and the US economy.

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About the Author Douglas A. McIntyre →

Douglas A. McIntyre is the co-founder, chief executive officer and editor in chief of 24/7 Wall St. and 24/7 Tempo. He has held these jobs since 2006.

McIntyre has written thousands of articles for 24/7 Wall St. He is an expert on corporate finance, the automotive industry, media companies and international finance. He has edited articles on national demographics, sports, personal income and travel.

His work has been quoted or mentioned in The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, NBC News, Time, The New Yorker, HuffPost USA Today, Business Insider, Yahoo, AOL, MarketWatch, The Atlantic, Bloomberg, New York Post, Chicago Tribune, Forbes, The Guardian and many other major publications. McIntyre has been a guest on CNBC, the BBC and television and radio stations across the country.

A magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College, McIntyre also was president of The Harvard Advocate. Founded in 1866, the Advocate is the oldest college publication in the United States.

TheStreet.com, Comps.com and Edgar Online are some of the public companies for which McIntyre served on the board of directors. He was a Vicinity Corporation board member when the company was sold to Microsoft in 2002. He served on the audit committees of some of these companies.

McIntyre has been the CEO of FutureSource, a provider of trading terminals and news to commodities and futures traders. He was president of Switchboard, the online phone directory company. He served as chairman and CEO of On2 Technologies, the video compression company that provided video compression software for Adobe’s Flash. Google bought On2 in 2009.