EY has hit pause on its plan to split its audit business from the rest of the firm, which is known internally as Project Everest. Edmund Hilary and Tenzing Norgay also ran into their fair share of obstacles on their ascent of the mountain, though none as dull as the fate of the tax experts – reportedly what the dispute between partners relates to. At this stage, EY boss Carmine Di Sibio seems likely to end up a frozen corpse.

The lowdown

• 💔 EY pauses its plan to split its audit business from the rest of the firm.

• 🫠 Crypto bank Silvergate will wind up operations and voluntarily liquidate.

• 🎶 Spotify reaches half a billion mark in monthly active listeners.

Flex your finance muscle

Pay to play

'Pay to play' is a term used in venture funding to describe a situation in which an existing investor is required to invest more money in a subsequent funding round to maintain their ownership stake or other privileges.

This provision is often included in venture capital deals to incentivize existing investors to continue supporting the company's growth and to ensure that all investors are aligned in their goals for the company. Without this provision, existing investors could be diluted in subsequent funding rounds if they choose not to participate, which could reduce their ownership stake and influence in the company.

This ties into Monday’s discussion of a ‘cram down’, which is the consequence of not participating in a ‘pay to play’ round – something that Sequoia has just done in its decision to walk away from portfolio company Citizen ($).

Featured stories

Novo Nordisk – The weight loss drug business part 1

Last year, Tesla founder Elon Musk attributed his weight loss to “fasting” and “Wegovy”. Wegovy is one of three brand names for semaglutide – an antidiabetic drug that is tapping into a much larger market through its off-label use as an anti-obesity medication.

The drug is made by the world’s biggest producer of diabetes drugs Danish multinational Novo Nordisk. The company had sales of $177 billion Danish Krone ($25 billion) in 2022, up 26% from 2021, thanks in part to the drug.

Obesity is a disease that affects about 650 million people worldwide and analysts forecast the anti-obesity market could be worth $50 billion a year by 2030 ($).

The drug currently has a list price of $1,349 per month in the US, which currently puts it out of reach for many of those who could most benefit. A gym membership suddenly looks like good value.

The content we're consuming today

• Behind the Money podcast: Tracking the mysterious rise of a UAE company.

• WSJ: Big Companies Seeing Tax Benefits From Law Change Some of Them Fought.

• FT: Nickel IPOs test Indonesia’s vision of global role in electric vehicles ($).

Off-balance sheet items

• The Oscars will be held this Sunday and the favorite for best picture is Everything Everywhere All at Once, which you can now stream. It will also be interesting to see whether anyone is assaulted this year.

The bottom line