PwC Australia have managed what Deloitte could not – they have split off part of their advisory business from the rest of the firm. There is no use telling everyone that a split will reduce conflicts of interest; you need to leak confidential government tax secrets to your tax clients and show the conflicts of interest. The only issue I see in this approach is the $1 valuation given for PwC’s government advisory business which had been earning $300 million in annual revenue…

The lowdown

• 🇦🇺 PwC Australia to sell its government consulting business for $1 after tax leaks scandal.

• 🛢️ Oil prices are likely to increase following the conflict in Russia.

• 🥊 Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg appear to be serious about fighting after Twitter beef.

Flex your finance muscle

The TSwift Lift

Analysis from CreditSights suggests that hotel revenues per available room can more than quadruple when Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour visits a city. They have dubbed this effect the ‘TSwift Lift.’ For instance, this year in Nashville, revenue per room doubled during the three nights of the tour compared to the same period last year when there was no tour.

Fans reportedly spend an average of over $1,300 to attend a show, inclusive of tickets, clothing, and travel expenses so it is no wonder that the shows have some effect on inflation.

A similar phenomenon was reported earlier this month when stubbornly high Swedish inflation was blamed on Beyonce touring the country.

Featured story

Ardian raises $20 billion for secondary fund

French PE firm Ardian has raised more than $20 billion to buy stakes in PE funds in situations where investors in those funds need to sell their stakes prematurely. The aim is to raise $25 billion for this secondary fund.

And why would investors need to sell prematurely? Liquidity. As this article points out ($), markets may be in for a liquidity crunch due to two changes: the Fed is selling bonds on a net basis and the US Treasury is also taking money out of the system by refilling its Treasury General Account.

Basically, if this fund does really well, it could mean that a lot of other assets are doing very badly.

The content we're consuming today

• The Messenger: David Solomon’s Future as Goldman CEO Is Increasingly in Doubt.

• ACQ2 podcast: Comparing the Dotcom Crash to Today (with Tom Cowan from TDM).

• FT Weekend podcast: Don’t run away and buy a vineyard.

Off-balance sheet items

• The Economist’s liveability survey was designed to allow companies to calculate hardship allowances for staff moving to a new city. The 2023 results are in ($), with Vienna topping the list and Douala receiving the wooden spoon.

The bottom line