Canada is already known for its abundance of white powder, but that reputation has been boosted with two Canadian companies granted a license to manufacture and sell cocaine. Not surprisingly, the announcement led to a surge in the share price of one of the companies, which is publicly listed. But before you email HR requesting a secondment, it's important to note that the product can only be used for scientific and medical purposes.

The lowdown

• 🌨️ Two Canadian companies receive licenses to make and sell cocaine leading to share price surge.

• 🇨🇳 China announces modest growth target of 5% for 2023.

• 🏦 Former top Credit Suisse shareholder sells full stake after previously expressing losing patience with the bank’s strategy.

Flex your finance muscle

Cram down

People everywhere are about to be crammed down, so you better know what is before it happens to you!

Within insolvency law, a cram down is the involuntary imposition by a court of a reorganization plan over the objection of some creditors. It has a different meaning within the context of capital raisings. Here, the term is used to describe a situation in which a company needs to raise additional capital but is struggling to find investors who are willing to invest at the same valuation as previous funding rounds. To secure the funding, the company accepts a lower valuation, which dilutes or ‘crams down’ the ownership percentage of existing shareholders.

Sequoia Capital recently declined to participate in the latest capital raising for crime app Citizen ($), which will see the VC firm go from leading the series A to a much smaller position on the cap table.

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Subway on the market

Subway announced last month that it was exploring the possibility of a sale. Goldman Sachs' asset management arm has now emerged as a bidder with other potential buyers including Bain Capital, TPG, and TDR Capital.

The sandwich chain comes with an estimated price tag of $10 billion. The sale has been motivated by increased costs and competition from rivals including Popeyes and Chick-fil-A.

Inflation has been good for fast food restaurants. Subway reported a 9.2% increase in same-store sales for 2022. The figure is similar to the 9.5% increase in comparable store sales reported by McDonalds ($). Cardi B summed up consumer attitudes earlier this year – “Naaaaaa grocery shopping prices are ridiculous right now 😑 You might as well eat outside !!”

The content we're consuming today

• FT: Who to fire? How the biggest companies plan mass lay-offs ($).

• WSJ on YouTube: Why Barnes & Noble Is Copying Local Bookstores It Once Threatened.

Off-balance sheet items

• Someone has used ChatGPT’s playground API to train an AI on countless hours of Pauly Shore movies, all seven Police Academies, Ralph Wiggum quotes and bodybuilding forums. Here is the result.

The bottom line