Paramount has offloaded book publisher Simon & Schuster to KKR for $1.6 billion, which it says will allow it to focus on its streaming service Paramount Plus. I think we can all agree that Paramount Plus is pleb tier when it comes to streaming services. Of the major streaming services, only the king, Netflix turns a profit. Margins may be thin in book publishing but at least they exist.

The lowdown

• 🪫 Tesla CFO Zachary Kirkhorn steps down.

• 🪙 Payment giant PayPal launches US dollar stable coin.

• 📚 Paramount sells book publisher Simon & Schuster to PE firm KKR for $1.6 billion in cash.

Featured story

Paytm and Ant Group enter into a swap

The founder of Indian fintech Paytm Vijay Shekhar Sharma will acquire a 10.3% stake from China's Ant Group. Sharma will become the company's single largest shareholder without any cash changing hands. His stake will increase to 19.42%, and Ant's will drop to 13.5%.

The shares are being transferred via a swap in which Ant receives convertible securities that maintain an economic interest in return for its shares. These convertible securities give Ant the option to raise its holding back above 23% later. It appears to be a bit of a wash but may soothe geopolitical fears.

Paytm went public in 2021 at an offer price of 2,150 rupees ($25.99). Its shares suffered one of the worst performances for a significant IPO, closing at 796.6 rupees ($9.63). Things have improved very little since, but the good news here is that Ant have at least agreed to a swap rather than selling down their stake as feared ($).

The content we're consuming today

• The Information: Venture Firms Still Writing Small Checks Despite $271 Billion in ‘Dry Powder’ ($).

• Odd Lots podcast: What the UAW Wants From Its Fight With the Big Three.

• The Economist: A refresher on business air-travel etiquette ($).

Off-balance sheet items

• A Somali sprinter has run a 22-second 100m (not good) at a University Games competition. Yes, there was some favoritism in her selection but what’s more interesting is seeing how fast the other sprinters are compared to the average person.

The bottom line