Mark Zuckerberg is doing his best to make investors forget about the Metaverse. He recently launched the Twitter clone Threads which has shown some early promise and yesterday, Meta beat profit expectations indicating that its ‘year of efficiency’ may be paying off. Well, I just wanted to remind you that he also spent $13 billion building a discount version of the Matrix where no one has legs. People don’t forget, Mark.

The lowdown

• 🫡 Meta results beat expectation as its ‘year of efficiency’ begins to pay off.

• 💸 Fed raises rates 0.25 percent to highest level in 22 years, hinting at another rise.

• 🔋 Volkswagen announces $700 million tie up with Chinese EV maker XPeng to boost poor sales in the country.

Flex your finance muscle 💪

Syndicated loans

A syndicated loan is a loan offered by a group of lenders working together to provide funds to a single borrower. The syndicate is typically organized by a bank, known as the lead underwriter, and usually takes a greater share of the loan, while performing administrative tasks, including due diligence.

The advantages are that the borrower can secure a larger amount of capital, often at a lower cost and with fewer restrictions than if they borrowed from an individual lender. The lenders, on the other hand, can spread their risk, gain access to a larger borrower base, and possibly negotiate better terms, due to their collective bargaining power.

These types of loans are topical at the moment as a group of institutional investors are suing JP Morgan, Citi and others arguing that these loans should be considered securities($) and therefore should offer greater protection to investors. The investment banks disagree.

Featured story

Plan B owners explore a sale of the company

Foundation Consumer Healthcare, the PE owners of emergency contraception pill Plan B, is in the early stages of exploring a sale. According to reports, Plan B could be valued at more than $4 billion.

Foundation Consumer Healthcare is privately held and specializes in over-the-counter healthcare products. Aside from Plan B, it also owns brands such as Breathe Right nasal strips and Dimetapp.

Foundation purchased Plan B and other brands of emergency contraception from Israel-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries in 2017 for $675 million in cash. If a sale cannot be achieved, the company has hired advisers to explore other options – a Plan B if you will.

The content we're consuming today

• The Information: How the Partnership Between Apple and Goldman Sachs Soured ($).

• McKinsey Quarterly: Sending it forward: Successfully transitioning out of the CEO role.

• FT: Out of office: the rise of the ‘workcation’($).

Off-balance sheet items

• Check out this Lex Fridman interview with cofounder of VC firm Andreessen Horowitz Mark Andreessen. The guy is really smart and hearing him talk about the future of tech is super interesting (and terrifying).

The bottom line