Chemicals manufacturer 3M has agreed to pay $10.3 billion to settle a lawsuit related to PFAS. These ‘forever chemicals’ were known by the company to be toxic and were found to have contaminated public drinking water supplies in the US. And, speaking of drinking poison, have fun at Friday drinks!

The lowdown

• 🚰 3M agrees to pay $10.3 billion to settle lawsuits related to PFAS contamination of public water.

• 📈 BoE raises interest rates half a percentage point to 5%, the highest rate in 15 years.

• 🐴 Former unicorn Vice Media to be acquired out of bankruptcy by its creditors for $350 million.

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Deloitte quits as auditor of Byju’s

It is especially inexcusable for an education company to fail to hand in homework, but this is precisely what Byju’s has done. Deloitte announced it will no longer act as auditor for the edtech company after Byju’s failed to provide it with its 2021-22 results.

Byju’s announced that BDO would take over the audit duties stating that this would help “uphold the highest standards of financial scrutiny and accountability.” In related news, three board members from Sequoia Capital India, the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative and Naspers Ventures have also cut ties with the company.

Byju’s gained popularity during the pandemic, reaching a valuation of $22 billion in 2022. The valuation was drastically cut to $8.4 billion earlier this year by investor Blackrock. These latest governance issues are not going to help.

The content we're consuming today

• The Economist: Inflation is as corrosive to investing as it is to the real economy ($).

• FT: Should private equity own Simon & Schuster? ($).

• Odd Lots podcast: This is how finance and banking worked before computers.

Off-balance sheet items

• The Institute of Human Anatomy is my new favorite YouTube channel. It teaches different concepts using real human cadavers. I’m still working through them, but I like this episode on how your lungs ‘change’ with exercise.

The bottom line