6 Most Important Things in Business Today

By Douglas A. McIntyre Updated Mar 13, 3:51PM EDT · Published Nov 20, 5:22AM EST

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6 Most Important Things in Business Today — © Thinkstock

Chancellor Angela Merkel may not remain in office as a coalition among several parties has fallen apart. Merkel is considered the most powerful political figure in Europe

Time Warner’s (NYSE: TWX) Warner Bros. and DC Comics’ “Justice League” had a weak open over the weekend. According to Box Office Mojo:

Warner Bros. and DC Comics’ “Justice League” struggled compared to expectations as it failed to top $100 million over the course of its three-day weekend. Meanwhile, it was Lionsgate’s “Wonder” that captured audience attention, debuting with an excellent $27 million, topping “Thor: Ragnarok” for a second place finish, positioning itself well for the holiday weeks ahead

China’s Alibaba (NASDAQ: BABA) bought into the bricks-and-mortar retail business. According to Bloomberg:

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd.’s $2.9 billion deal to buy a slice of China’s largest hypermart chain pits it against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. in the world’s largest retail arena.

China’s biggest e-commerce company agreed to acquire 36 percent of Sun Art Retail Group Ltd., which operates about 400 hypermarkets under the Auchan and RT-Mart banners. As part of the deal, France’s Auchan Retail SA will raise its stake in the Hong Kong-listed company to a similar level, and form an alliance with the internet giant to tackle the same Chinese food retail sector Wal-Mart’s targeting.

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The cost of the opioid epidemic has soared, according to the Council of Economic Advisers. The Hill reports:

The economic cost of the opioid epidemic was about $504 billion in 2015, which is more than six times higher than other studies from previous years, according to a newly released analysis from the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA).

This figure accounts for roughly 2.8 percent of gross domestic product. The opioid crisis has garnered the national spotlight, as it has led to a significant uptick in overdose deaths since 1999 and, most recently, was declared a national public health emergency by President Trump.

The value of Bitcoin topped $8,000. According to CNBC:

Bitcoin hit a fresh all-time high Sunday above the $8,000 mark after a wild week for the cryptocurrency.

On Sunday around 8:00 p.m. London time, it hit a record high of $8,101.91, according to data from industry website CoinDesk. Bitcoin held above $8,000 in early trade on Monday.

The rally comes on the back of a huge sell-off on Sunday, November 12, where the price of bitcoin fell to around $5,500. That low, to the record high on Sunday, marks a more than 47 percent increase in the cryptocurrency’s price.

Toshiba’s stock was hit as it plans to sell new shares. According to CNNMoney:

Toshiba’s stock plummeted Monday, after the company announced plans to raise $5 billion to avoid being booted off the Tokyo Stock Exchange.

Shares in the Japanese firm fell more than 6% in Tokyo, before paring some of those losses to close down 5.8%.

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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.