Eyes on the Fed. Today the Fed will announce its decision on rates. Most commentators are expecting an increase of 75 or 100 basis points. But perhaps we are in for the most memorable pivot since Ross moved that couch on Friends? If rates do go up, expect to see a lot more people moving couches. Unlike Ross, they will probably be abandoning their homes as outstanding loan amounts eclipse property values. Pivot!

The lowdown

• 🚨 Wall Street lower ahead of today’s Fed rate decision.

• 🚗 Chip crunch continues to bite car manufacturers as Toyota profit tumbles 23%.

• 🍗 More Twitter execs on the way out.

Featured stories

Twitter may begin charging for its blue tick

Netflix will show ads as of tomorrow, and now Twitter wants to charge users $8 per month for a blue tick. Before you know it, Deliveroo will be asking you to pump up the tires on your delivery rider’s bike before he heads off.

In the case of Twitter at least, something does need to change for the company to stay out of the hands of its creditors, given the amount of debt on its balance sheet. Elon Musk has a few levers that he can pull.

Musk has already stated the company needs to rely less on digital advertising dollars. He is, therefore, considering subscription options, including the monthly charge for some users.

In terms of Average Revenue Per User (ARPU), Twitter sits at $9.39. This is well above Snapchat ($1.73) and Reddit ($0.49) but well below Facebook ($30.75) and TikTok ($46.86).

Musk ally Jason Calacanis tweeted a poll over the weekend that asked users how much they would be prepared to pay for the service. More than 80% of respondents indicated that they would not pay anything.

The other lever he is pulling is the ‘fire everyone’ lever, which you know by now he is pulling harder than a fighter pilot trying to avoid hitting the ground.

The content we're consuming today

• Should consumers be annoyed with pricing changes, or did the era of cheap(er) money mean that our lives had actually been subsidised? From the FT.

Off-balance sheet items

• If you want to go deeper on pricing, specifically in early stage, check this out: Pricing: everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask with ProfitWell CEO Patrick Campbell.

The bottom line