Fans of the world’s
most popular video
game, Fortnite, were
left stunned last week
after the entire eco-
system was sucked
into a virtual black
hole, said Gene Park in
The Washington Post.
Players were anticipat-
ing the culmination
of the current chapter,
Season 10, and have
grown accustomed to
“spectacular one-time
live events within the
game.” Fortnite, which
reportedly took in an
estimated $2.4 billion
last year, has been
trying to retain kids’
loyalty amid fierce
competition. But the
game’s creators went
beyond their norm
last Sunday when a
game-world meteor
strike “caused play-
ers to fly up into the
air to witness a black
hole suck the entirety
of the game inside.”
Instead of amping up
the graphics, Fortnite
overturned video game
conventions and left
players with nothing
but the black hole to
stare at for two days
while a new map was
generated.The world’s biggest
game goes darkBUSINESS
The country’s three biggest drug
distributors this week offered to
pay $18 billion to settle thou-
sands of opioid lawsuits, said
Sara Randazzo in The Wall Street
Journal, just ahead of a landmark
federal trial set to begin next week.
McKesson, AmerisourceBergen,
and Cardinal Health would collec-
tively pay the sum over 18 years for
what plaintiffs allege was a failure
“to implement adequate systems to
halt suspicious drug orders as the opioid epidemic
came into focus.” The companies are under pres-
sure to make a deal capping their liability in the
litigation; such an agreement would make them
the first companies “to achieve a broad resolution
of the opioid lawsuits outside of bankruptcy.”Six defendants remain in
what’s been “described as
the most complex litigation
ever,” said Lenny Bernstein
in The Washington Post.
The case opening next week
involves two Ohio counties
hit hard by the opioid crisis,
and its resolution may well
set the template for the thou-
sands of other opioid suits.
The litigation has already
taken down Purdue Pharma, “the company most
widely blamed for fueling the epidemic” of pain-
killer addiction; Purdue has filed for bankruptcy.
Judge Dan Polster has pushed hard for a compre-
hensive mass settlement, which “would speed aid
to the people and communities in need.”Pharma: Opioid deal could hit $18 billion
GM: Unions get closer to an agreement
The United Auto Workers reached a preliminary deal with General
Motors this week to end its monthlong strike, said Michael Wayland in
CNBC.com. Details of the agreement were not immediately released,
but the union, representing 48,000 picketing GM employees, said it
had “achieved major wins.” Workers “are expected to receive raises
and bonuses as part of the accord,” as well as assurances that GM will
invest in domestic manufacturing operations and retain the same “gold
standard” health insurance the company had threatened to amend. The
stoppage has already cost the automaker more than $2 billion.
Boeing: Chairman loses title over 737 Max
Boeing stripped CEO Dennis Muilenburg of his title as chairman of
the board this week as the company struggles to get the 737 Max jet
back off the ground, said Natalie Kitroeff and David Gelles in The
New York Times. The decision was “the culmination of a months-
long debate within the company over whether to hold top executives
accountable.” The board made its move before Muilenberg’s sched-
uled testimony in front of Congress, “to avoid the perception that
scrutiny from lawmakers prompted a change.” Muilenburg will be
replaced by David Calhoun, an executive with experience in corporate
crises at General Electric and Caterpillar.
Banks: JPMorgan results point to consumer strength
JPMorgan Chase beat Wall Street expectations, announcing a profit
this week of $9.1 billion for the quarter, said Hugh Son in CNBC
.com. The firm also hit record revenue on the strength of its consumer
banking unit. CEO Jamie Dimon said that the bank’s results indicated
strength in the economy, noting that “the consumer remains healthy
with growth in wages and spending” even as some measures of busi-
ness sentiment have dropped.
WeWork: Urgently searching for cash
WeWork is laying off 2,000 workers and scrambling to secure new
financing before its funds run out by the end of November, said
Gillian Tan in Bloomberg.com. The troubled co-working giant was
mulling a financial package from SoftBank, already its largest share-
holder, this week that would hand SoftBank control of the company.
Unable to sell shares in a public offering, WeWork is also considering
an offering of $5 billion in bonds, which might pay a yield of as much
as 15 percent—comparable to taking a loan on a consumer credit
card—to compensate investors for the risk.36
The news at a glance
Reuters,
G
ett
yTreating an overdoseQA massive survey of con-
sumer preferences showed
that typical Google users
would ask for $17,530 to
stop using Google and other
search engines for a full
year. Facebook, by contrast,
was valued at only $576 for
the year.
CNBC.com
QiPhone sales are ex-
pected to drop 14.8 percent
from 2018 to 177.9 million
worldwide, but the num-
bers haven’t dragged down
Apple’s stock price, which is
up over 50 percent since the
beginning of the year.
Axios.com
QThe average price of a
10-year-old car is $8,657,
nearly 75 percent higher
than in 2010. By contrast, the
average price of a new car
has risen only 25 percent in
the decade.
Reuters.comQThe average annual per-
cent age rate, or APR, on
a credit card is 16.97 per-
cent, nearly the highest in
two decades and up from
13.53 percent in 2015. Lend-
ers are tacking on an average
margin of 11.72 per cent age
points to the rates banks
themselves pay, the highest
on record.
The Wall Street Journal
QThe state of Michigan
pulled $600 million of its
pension fund from wealth
management firm money
manager Ken Fisher, after
he made crude and sexu-
ally explicit comments at a
conference.
The Washington Post
QThe number of female truck
drivers increased by 68 per-
cent since 2010 to 234,234 in
2018, though it’s still rare to
find one behind the wheel of
a big rig. Women account for
just 6.6 per cent of the truck-
ing workforce.
The Wall Street JournalThe bottom line