"Eating your own dog food" is an expression that describes a company using its own products. The gist is that if a dog food really is of the high quality advertised to consumers, then it should be good enough for a person to eat as well. Meta asking workers to return to office in person rather than working remotely or within the metaverse is not eating your own dog food. By failing to use the product, Meta is at least acknowledging that its metaverse is a dog’s breakfast.

The lowdown

• 📥 Facebook owner Meta calls its workers back to the office, despite advocating for the effectiveness of metaverse product Horizon Workrooms.

• 🧊 Euro zone inflation cools from 7.0% in April to 6.3% in May.

• ✍️ Senate passes the debt ceiling bill; it now heads to the President to become law.

Featured stories

Some good news for SoftBank shareholders

Apparently SoftBank is an AI stock now. The company’s shares rose by 5% in early trading due to the increase in demand for semiconductor and AI-related stocks. SoftBank’s link to AI relates to the impending IPO of chip designer Arm, in which it owns a significant stake.

Despite the AI link, SoftBank's shares have increased only 6.4% year-to-date, underperforming other AI stocks. Chipmaker Nvidia’s shares have soared 172% and the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index has risen by 39%.

SoftBank shareholders will just be happy that they finally have some good news. Last month, the company announced a record annual investment loss of $39 billion ($) after taking big risks on tech. If you make enough bets, one of them is sure to pay off.

The content we're consuming today

• The Economist: Nvidia is not the only firm cashing in on the AI gold rush ($).

• Newcomer: Guest Essay: VC Contagion.

• NBER: Measuring the Productivity Impact of Generative AI.

Off-balance sheet items

• If you’ve had a shitty week at work, it might be because you are following an opportunist path (most people are) rather than following your vocation. This article from the FT Magazine ($) discusses the pros and cons of each approach to work.

The bottom line

Comforting an HBO intern that sent a blank, mass email to thousands of subscribers: