Good morning. The song ‘I Don’t Like Mondays’ is probably being played at Spotify HQ today where employees are learning that layoffs will begin this week. While security will be present to usher laid off employees from the building with minimal fuss, there is little risk of vandalism given the soaring prices of both toilet paper and eggs.

The lowdown

• 🔇 Spotify becomes the latest tech company to plan layoffs.

• 💰 Activist investor Elliott Management takes stake in Salesforce, becoming the second activist firm to do so in 3 months.

• 📈 Japan’s inflation rate reaches a 41-year high of 4% putting pressure on the BoJ to allow interest rates to increase.

Flex your finance muscle

Pay resentment

Pay resentment refers to feelings of frustration or anger that an individual may experience when they feel that they are not being paid fairly or equally compared to others in their field or workplace. Pay resentment can lead to decreased job satisfaction, motivation and productivity, and may also contribute to high turnover rates in an organization.

Netflix was once a pioneer in the area of pay transparency, allowing employees to access each other’s pay data in a form of “radical candor”. Following a disclosure practice like this is perhaps easier at a company like Netflix though, as the company prides itself on paying employees top of the range of salaries for their field (including up to $385,000 for a private jet flight attendant). Even so, Netflix has since walked away from this practice.

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A common currency for South America

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Argentine leader Alberto Fernandez have announced their intention to investigate the development of a common currency which could be called the “Sur”. It would initially be a bilateral project, though may eventually invite the rest of the region to participate.

A common currency would clearly be very attractive to Argentina, where annual inflation is hovering around 100% (and you thought your groceries were expensive). It may also provide the country with a new pathway to international debt markets, from which it has been largely cut off since its default in 2020 ($). The benefits to Brazil are less clear.

The idea was first discussed in 2019 but faced pushback from Brazil’s central bank. It is not hard to see why.

The content we're consuming today

• WSJ on YouTube: Dara Khosrowshahi: Uber Is Designing Custom Ride-Sharing EVs with Auto Makers.

• Behind the Money podcast: A turning point for Tesla.

• Bloomberg: How McDonald’s won big in Russia and then lost it all ($).

Off-balance sheet items

• Accor has just announced the Orient Express Silenseas, which will be the world’s largest sailing vessel and will set sail in 2026. The first renderings look incredible.

The bottom line