King Henry VIII ordered a portrait of Anne of Cleves before deciding to marry her. The portrait was more flattering than she was in person and so, when she arrived in England, Henry was dissatisfied – but was politically compelled to marry her anyway. The marriage was annulled six months later. UBS knew Credit Suisse was ugly, but was similarly forced into the marriage. UBS is now also cleaning house, making heavy cuts to Credit Suisse’s workforce.

The lowdown

• 🔪 UBS to cut more than half of Credit Suisse’s workforce beginning next month.

• ⚖️ Judge denies FTX Founder SBF’s motion to have some of his criminal charges dismissed.

• 🛁 Court approves Overstock.com’s purchase of Bed Bath & Beyond’s brand and IP for $21.5 million.

Featured story

Wise triples profits thanks to rising interest rates

Online money transfer firm Wise saw its shares rise by 16% yesterday, thanks to a significant increase in profits, mainly derived from rising interest income. The company's profit before tax tripled to £146.5 million and its EPS more than tripled to 11.53 pence.

Interest rate hikes have benefited Wise along with other similar fintechs by providing greater income from interest on funds held in customer accounts. Although Wise earns interest on customer balances, for the most part, it does not pay any interest to customers on these balances.

In other Wise news, CEO Kristo Käärmann is planning a three-month sabbatical ($) towards the end of this year. He plans to spend time with his family, but will likely spend some time dealing with an investigation by HMRC for failing to pay a tax bill on time. Not my idea of relaxation.

The content we're consuming today

• Acquired podcast: Porsche (with Doug DeMuro).

• The Memo podcast: This Time Might Be Different with Howard Marks and David Rosenberg.

• WSJ: Will Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras Tour’ Become the First $1 Billion Tour? ($).

Off-balance sheet items

• Litquidity is one of my go to sources for memes for ‘the bottom line’ section of this newsletter so I really enjoyed reading this interview ($) with the anonymous finance meme lord and the FT.

The bottom line