$17.7 billion

That’s how much Altice, a European juggernaut in telecommunications, will pay for U.S. cable company Cablevision. It’s part of an effort by the European company to expand into the American markets. As the New York Times reports, this latest move will put it just behind several major U.S. companies like Comcast and Time Warner Cable.

45,072

That’s how many foreclosures there were in the month of August. That’s down 19 percent year over year to its lowest level since November 2005. Tighter standards for who a bank will and won’t lend to is partly credited for the sharp downturn. On the flip side, one figure is on the upswing in the housing market: bank repossessions.

$900 million

That’s the size of the settlement reached between GM and the U.S. government over faulty ignition switches that have been the cause of 124 deaths. As far as size of payment from an auto company over major vehicle flaws, the amount falls just shy of the $1.2 billion paid by Toyota in March. As Fortune writes, shares in GM rose sharply after the news of the settlement.

8.3

That’s the magnitude of an earthquake that struck Chile’s capital, Santiago, on Wednesday. Coastal towns were evacuated, and tsunami warnings were issued for Hawaii and Southern California. As Quartz reports, waves over 4 meters high were reported on the coast of Chile around 1:00 a.m. but had subsided by late morning.