We have all made mistakes at work, but most of us don’t cost our employer billions of dollars when we do. Saudi National Bank Chair Anmar Al Khudairy, who has just resigned citing ‘personal reasons’, is an exception to this. A couple of weeks ago, Al Khudairy was asked on Bloomberg TV whether, as Credit Suisse’s largest shareholder, the SNB would put more money into the Swiss bank. He replied “absolutely not” – we know what happened next. But to put this in perspective, in terms of punishments in Saudi Arabia, this is actually a pretty good outcome.

The lowdown

• 💬 Saudi National Bank Chair Anmar Al Khudairy resigns after Credit Suisse comments.

• 🚕 Lyft names new CEO as founders step away from the business.

• 🛢️ Berkshire Hathaway stake in Occidental Petroleum rises to 23.6% fueling buyout speculation.

Featured stories

Embracer’s problematic accounting

Swedish gaming company Embracer’s market capitalization of $5.6 billion has been built through a four-year acquisition spree. Sales have increased from $17 million in 2014 to $1.6 billion in 2022.

It sounds good, but some investors are concerned about the gulf between Embracer's actual and adjusted profits, and the company’s accounting practices around newly purchased businesses that may obscure the group's underlying performance ($).

Embracer lost money over the past seven quarters, with a cumulative operating loss of $81 million. Adjustments, however, turned this loss into an operating profit of $950 million.

CEO Lars Wingefors has said that adjusted earnings before interest and tax is its preferred metric to judge profitability, which excludes acquisition-related costs, because they have "nothing to do with the underlying performance of the company". Just following the accounting standards, or is the company gaming the system?

The content we're consuming today

• Odd Lots podcast: Betsy Cohen on tech investing and how SVB failed banking 101.

• Australian Financial Review: Block CFO Amrita Ahuja on keeping Jack Dorsey in check ($).

• Reuters: Analysis: The $15 billion scramble for Japan's Toshiba went from bang to whimper.

Off-balance sheet items

• The Paris Marathon is this weekend. It’s probably a bit late to start training, so take a virtual tour of the course instead. The current records are held by Kenyans Elisha Rotich (2:04:21) and Judith Korir (2:19:48).

The bottom line