Just when you thought Meta’s janky VR headset would be the company’s least purchased product, Meta has launched ‘Meta Verified'. For only $14.99 per month, you can link your government ID to your Facebook account and receive a blue tick. Yes, Meta wants you to pay for the privilege of having your data sold. Perhaps I will also pay someone to steal my bike.

The lowdown

• 💸 Meta will launch a paid verification service akin to Twitter’s blue tick.

• 🏚️ Online real estate agent Purplebricks puts itself up for sale after forecasting loss.

• 🚧 KPMG reaches confidential settlement with liquidator of collapsed builder Carillion.

Flex your finance muscle

Single stock future

When Hindenburg Research released its short report on Adani Group, many wondered how it managed to build a short position, given the difficulty in short selling on the National Stock Exchange of India. It could have been achieved using a single stock future (SSF).

An SSF is a financial contract between two parties. To short a stock using SSFs, the shorter would enter a contract to sell the stock at a predetermined price on a specific date in the future. If the price of the stock declines before the futures contract expires, the shorter can purchase the stock at a lower price in the open market and sell it at the higher predetermined price agreed upon in the futures contract, realizing a profit.

The problem with this approach is finding counterparties that will offer the required liquidity. Read more on SSFs here and more on how Hindenburg could have built a short position here ($).

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Featured stories

Revolut to release delayed accounts

UK-based fintech company Revolut is expected to finalize its financial accounts for 2021 next week ($). Yes, 2021.

The delays have been caused by Revolut’s auditor BDO pushing the company to improve its internal controls. This comes after UK accounting regulator the Financial Reporting Council found there was an “unacceptably high” risk of “material misstatement” in its 2020 accounts.

Revolut has been seeking a UK banking license since early 2021. Revolut CEO Nikolay Storonsky had advised that it was hoping to secure a license by early 2022 ($). This has not yet occurred, but the filing of its accounts will clear another obstacle in that process.

Revolut has presumably been named to evoke the word revolution in its quest to upend traditional banking. So far, rather than the suffix ‘ion’, it is doing a better job of conjuring ‘IOU’.

The content we're consuming today

• AFR: Why this Sydney banker is fighting one of Indonesia’s richest families ($).

• FT: Video games: developers need to level up ($).

• WSJ on YouTube: Meta vs. ByteDance: VR as the Next Social Media Battleground.

Off-balance sheet items

• Nothing is going to surpass Cocaine Bear as the most bizarre movie premise this year, but Tetris has to come in second. The trailer is out now.

The bottom line