Elon Musk has done the thinkable: He’s announced his intent to back out of his deal to purchase Twitter for $44 billion.

Musk had been (very publicly) expressing doubts about buying Twitter since just weeks after he signed on the dotted line in April, The Verge notes. But Musk made it official yesterday, filing a statement with the SEC claiming that Twitter is in “material breach” of its contract with him, and therefore he’s seeking to terminate the deal.

It’s about the bots, innit?

Correct. Musk has repeatedly claimed that Twitter is underestimating the number of bots on its platform, thereby breaching their agreement. In the SEC filing, Musk’s team wrote that the company has “failed or refused to provide” information on fake or spam accounts for two months.

Twitter gives 280 characters but not a single F about Musk’s argument. The company has supported its calculations in a number of ways, such as explaining in painstaking detail how it estimates the number of bot accounts on its platform, and giving Musk a “firehose” of data to crunch the numbers himself.

Analysts have long speculated that Musk is using the bot problem as cover for trying to renegotiate or abandon the deal after a chunk of his fortune was wiped out due to plunging Tesla stock.

Unfortunately for everyone who’s tired of this story, this is just the beginning

In response to Musk’s statement, Twitter’s board told him something no one’s ever uttered before in human history: “Let’s go to Delaware.” Twitter Chairman Bret Taylor tweeted that the board is committed to closing the transaction on the terms and price Elon Musk agreed to, and it will pursue legal action in the Delaware Court of Chancery to enforce the deal.

So now we’ve got a nasty court fight on our hands, pitting the world’s richest person against the company that he’s tried so very hard not to buy but may be forced to buy anyway. See y’all in Wilmington…—NF

President Biden moves on abortion. Biden signed an executive order that aims to ensure access to abortion medication or out-of-state procedures and boost the number of pro bono lawyers who can help abortion seekers confront the maze of new state laws, among a flurry of other initiatives. But Biden also acknowledged that there’s not much he can do to prevent states from restricting abortion access. “The fastest way to restore Roe is to pass a national law,” he said, urging Americans to vote in November’s elections.

Update on the assassination of Shinzo Abe. World leaders offered their condolences after the shocking shooting death of Japan’s longest-serving prime minister. President Biden ordered US flags to fly at half-staff this weekend and Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro declared three days of mourning in his country. Meanwhile, the investigation into the motives behind the assassination continued. Police said the suspect, 41-year-old Tetsuya Yamagami, told them he killed Abe because he believed the ex-prime minister had ties to a “certain group” he held a grudge against (the Mainichi newspaper suggested that the group may be religious in nature).

It seems the US hasn’t learned much from the Covid experience. Scientists told the NYT that the country is faltering in its quest to defeat the monkeypox outbreak, which has ballooned to at least 700 cases. Testing has been slow to ramp up, vaccines are in short supply, and a tangled web of bureaucracy is stymying a unified public health response.

On the road to a recession, it’s quite natural to ask repeatedly, “Are we there yet?” The June jobs report showed that, no, we are not there yet.

Here are the main takeaways from the big data drop:

1. The jobs picture remains bright. US employers added 372,000 jobs, topping expectations of 250,000. And the labor market is barely even slowing down: Consider that 368,000 jobs were added in April, and 384,000 in May.

2. Private > public. The private sector has recovered all of its losses from the pandemic. The public sector, meanwhile, is still 664,000 jobs short of where it was pre-Covid.

3. Everyone wants to BYOB (Be Your Own Boss). The proportion of the US workforce that is self-employed has hit its highest level since the 2008 financial crisis, a Bloomberg analysis showed. The gain in the number of self-employed people has accounted for more than 33% of the total increase in the labor force in the last two years.

4. There is a slight cause for concern. Because the labor market isn’t cooling down as fast as expected, it could force the Fed to continue unleashing its Super Soaker on the economy. Even President Biden, in an opinion piece back in May, suggested that a monthly jobs number of around 150k would be a sign that the country is successfully shifting to a more normal place—but the US way overshot that last month. That’s likely a signal to Fed Chair Jerome Powell that the meaty rate hikes must continue to tame inflation.—NF

You might be OK with swapping a name-brand soda for Shasta Cola to save money, but penguins at a Japanese aquarium have more elevated palettes. The Hakone-en Aquarium in Kanagawa, southwest of Tokyo, tried to swap out the fish it feeds its penguins for a cheaper alternative, but the penguins essentially went on a hunger strike and refused to eat the bargain bin fish.

The aquarium is trying to mitigate its operating costs, which have risen ~20% this year. And in addition to turning off lights and cleaning filtration tanks less frequently, zookeepers started substituting 10% of the penguins’ bougie Japanese horse mackerel with a lower quality fish in May and gradually upped that share to 30–40% to cut costs.

And the penguins definitely noticed. One zookeeper said that even if the staff can get a bird to put the budget fish in its mouth, it ends up spitting the fish out.

Zoom out: The penguins’ plight shows that inflation is not just a US phenomenon—Japan’s consumer prices jumped 2.5% in May compared to the previous year, and 10,000+ food items are expected to rise an average of 13% this year, according to the Teikoku databank.—MM

Stat: Are the runners getting faster or are the bulls getting slower? Zero people have been gored so far in the San Fermín bull running festival’s return to Pamplona, Spain, this weekend. Eight people were gored in 2019, the last year people ran with the bulls before the pandemic shut down the event, and 16 people have died from bull-related injuries since 1910. Earlier in the week, animal rights activists who were dressed up as matadors chased other activists in dinosaur costumes to protest the gruesome execution of the bulls after the runs are over.

Quote: “doordash glitching i just got hella free food & liquor off of there THANKKKKK YOUUU.”

Twitter user @only1briaaa was stoked Thursday night when the DoorDash app glitched, giving her and an unknown number of other customers thousands of dollars’ worth of free food, liquor, TVs, crab legs, and Plan B for free. At least…it was free upon checkout: The app’s terms of service dictate DoorDash can make up for undercharging a customer after the transaction. DoorDash said it’s “actively canceling fraudulent orders” and that it’s “in touch with merchants” to make sure they get paid.

Read: The world needs uncles, too. (Esquire)

CE-oh-no: Read our exclusive interview with the author who makes the case that former GE CEO Jack Welch broke capitalism.

Weekend conversation starters:

• How to talk to your Gen Z co-worker
• What is the likelihood that Catherine the Great ever ate a banana?
• How do dolphins choose their name?
• What’s the deal with those wrong-number texts?

Brew Crossword: Featuring wine bottles, Babybel cheese, and a certain pie nut, today’s crossword pairs well with a Saturday charcuterie board. Play the puzzle here.

Open House

Welcome to Open House, the only newsletter section that was, is, and will always be, a horse girl. We’ll give you a few facts about a listing and you try to guess the price.

Today’s home is Llangollen Estate, an 18th-century manor that sits on 1,105 lush acres in Upperville, Virginia. This 12,500 square-foot mansion also has the setup for training your own racehorse or polo champion with seven barns, a ⅝ mile track, and three polo fields. Plus, George Washington has roamed these halls. Amenities include:

• 9 beds, 8 baths (+3 half-baths)
• 17 fireplaces
• Plenty of banisters to slide down
• A lot of mowing to do

How much for this quaint Blue Ridge Mountain home?

On a special episode of Business Casual, Nora chats with singer/songwriter, actor, and entrepreneur Christina Milian, who talks about her pivot to entrepreneurship, future business goals, and how she deals with burnout. Listen now.

Check out more from the Brew:

‍ Excel Dictionary’s Shortcut Guide Mouse Pad is the spreadsheet savior you can always count on. Shop now for desktop functionality that will take the edge (and the workload) off.

🛍 “Loyalty is everything.” Julie Bornstein turned that motto into millions with Sephora’s Beauty Insider program. Here’s how she did it.