HBO’s prequel to Game of Thrones, a Targaryen-led epic called House of the Dragon, debuts tomorrow and there’s a ton of pressure for it to perform.

It’s a precarious time for HBO to drop a show that cost a reported $20 million per episode, not including an expensive marketing blitz. Following HBO’s merger with Discovery earlier this year, David Zaslav took over the corporate Iron Throne as CEO and has been slashing costs like they’re Starks at the Red Wedding. Key acts of budgetary violence under his leadership:

1. Yesterday, HBO culled 36 underperforming shows and movies from its streamer, HBO Max, including 20 original series. The move ends ongoing payouts to cast, crew, and writers and will save the company “tens of millions of dollars,” per CNBC.

2. Earlier this week, 14% of the company’s staff (about 70 employees) were laid off, Deadline reported. Most were working on HBO Max, and sources told Vox that layoffs will continue through the fall.

3. At the beginning of this month, HBO axed Batgirl and, more tragically, Scoob! 2 (oh cruel fate!) for the tax write-downs, according to Variety.

Before Zaslav took the helm, a former WarnerMedia (HBO’s parent) exec told Vox, “We got to be a little crazy.” So when Discovery stepped in, it took on a pile of IOUs that now accounts for the majority of the company’s $53 billion debt load. Zaslav has promised investors—who have been reining in their streaming investments across the board—that he’ll scrape together $3 billion in cost savings from the merger.

HBO shouldn’t count its dragon eggs before they hatch, but House of the Dragon’s chance of pulling its weight both in dollars and Emmys seems good: For one thing, the reviews are in and they are encouraging. For another, it seems viewers are willing to forgive HBO for blowing it in the final season of Game of Thrones. Several analytics companies and HBO itself report that viewers have been pouring in to rewatch old GoT episodes ahead of its prequel’s premiere, a promising sign they’ll tune in for House of the Dragon.

If you want to spend a lot more time in Westeros, you will be able to: HBO is fiddling around with at least seven other projects as it attempts to hold the door open for this franchise as long as it can.—JW

Zuck responds to online trolls. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg was made fun of mercilessly online this week (even more than usual). The reason? He posted a virtual selfie to announce the launch of VR platform Horizon Worlds in France and Spain that made its graphics seem on par with an N64. Yesterday, Zuck posted an update: He knows his selfie was “pretty basic” and promises “the graphics in Horizon are capable of much more.” He included a selfie that’s more Pixar than Minecraft to prove it.

Cineworld preps for bankruptcy. Cineworld, the world’s No. 2 movie theater chain, shows what happens when you’re a struggling theater company but don’t have Nicole Kidman as a promoter—you make plans to file for bankruptcy, the WSJ reported. The company, which owns Regal Cinemas, said its business has been hit by lagging attendance, which was compounded by a weak film slate this summer. Rival AMC has managed to stay afloat thanks in part to its fundraising efforts from a rabid group of individual traders.

Finland’s leader is not sorry for party rocking. Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin said she took a drug test after videos leaked this week of her partying, which drew criticism from her opponents. She said she wanted to rebuff any accusations that she used narcotics by agreeing to “unreasonable” demands to take a drug test. In general, Marin’s response to the controversy has been, look—I’m 36, I work hard, and also like to have fun when I’m not working. “I personally hope that in 2022 it will be acceptable for people in such a decisive position to spend the evening singing and dancing,” she said.

Social media-famous CEO Dan Price resigned this week amid accusations that he assaulted multiple women.

Price became the poster child for ethical corporate leadership in 2015 when he announced he was raising the minimum salary at his credit card processing company, Gravity Payments, to $70,000—and that he would cut his own $1 million salary down to that level to do it. He then made sure his social media accounts made that news pop up in everyone’s feeds about 10x per week.

But even back then, reports surfaced that Price’s ex-wife accused him of domestic violence, and he was embroiled in a lawsuit from his brother over his management of the company. Now, new allegations against Price have come out in a damning report from the New York Times.

So, what are they?

• The Times spoke to more than a dozen women who say Price mistreated them, including an ex-girlfriend who told police he raped her (the case has been referred to prosecutors).
• Some former employees also told the NYT that he wasn’t actually a good boss, and that Price himself dreamed up a viral stunt where employees gave him a Tesla as a sign of their thanks.
• Most of Price’s social media posts were written by a ghostwriter—an ex-reporter who had faced his own claims of inappropriate sexual behavior.

Price denies the misconduct claims. On Wednesday, he tweeted a screenshot of a company email in which he said he was resigning because his presence had become a “distraction” and plans to “focus full time on fighting false accusations against me.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” Price told his 775k Twitter followers.—AR

Russia had a simple plan to fill the deserted Starbucks stores across the country: Create what isn’t, but certainly looks like, a parody coffee shop. Stars Coffee opened in Moscow Thursday after the Seattle-based coffee chain pulled out of Russia in May in response to its invasion of Ukraine.

Starbucks knockoffs will open throughout Russia over the next couple months as the country continues filling the void that departing Western companies left.

Before it joined the exodus of over 1,000 other companies, Starbucks had a presence in Russia for 15 years. Now that it’s gone, Timati, a pro-Putin rapper, partnered with restaurateur Anton Pinksy in July to buy the 130 empty locations and track down new suppliers. They also created the…kind of new logo.

• Another Russian reboot: Former McDonald’s locations reopened in June as “Vkusno — i Tochka,” which roughly translates to: “It’s Tasty—Period.”

Big picture: Russia is the Wild West for intellectual property right now. The Russian government said businesses can use patents held by owners from countries deemed “unfriendly” (i.e., the US) without paying. And savvy Russian entrepreneurs have also started applying for trademarks like Coca-Cola, Mercedes Benz, and Pampers to produce their own versions.—MM

Stat: Earlier this week our “Stat” revealed that single young adults were much worse off financially than their lovebird friends. But here is the other side of the coin—it costs more than $300,000 (or $18,271 a year) to raise a child through high school, according to the Brookings Institution. That’s a 9% increase from a calculation based on the inflation rate two years ago. And you wonder why we have a global population crisis…

Quote: “In the popular television series Stranger Things, the ‘upside-down’ describes a parallel dimension containing a distorted version of our world […] Recently, Florida has seemed like a First Amendment upside down.”

Yes, US District Judge Mark Walker actually tossed a Stranger Things reference in his decision to block a crucial part of the “Stop WOKE Act,” a Florida law that limits discussion of race, nationality, and gender in the workplace and in schools. Walker, who was appointed by former President Obama, said that the law was unconstitutional because it violates free speech protections. The bill’s champion, Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, will appeal the decision.

Read: The man who bought Pine Bluff, Arkansas. (Read Max)

Weekend conversation starters:

• Seriously, what if you selected C for every answer?
• Why is every Cornell dude on TV like that?
• What is hummus?
• Which kid has the best mullet?

Thank you, Mongols: This map shows the spread of dumplings, from pierogies to gyoza, due to the influence of the Mongol Empire.

Brew Crossword: Grab sunscreen, swimming trunks, and a towel to beat the heat with today’s crossword. Play it here.

Open House

Welcome to Open House, the only newsletter section that remembers when you actually had to print out treasure maps. We’ll give you a few facts about a listing, and you try to guess the price.

Today’s home, located in the lower Potomac River in Virginia, is a pirate ship originally built in the 1900s. And while it’s a little banged up from years of pillaging, it’s still got great bones. Because there are skeletons. Get it.

Anyway, amenities include:

• 1 bed, 1 poop deck (bath)
• Outdated upholstery
• No recent outbreaks of scurvy
• Plenty of sails and ropes to trip over

How much for this pirate’s booty?

Want to work faster, smoother, and more efficiently? Excel Dictionary’s Mouse Pads will help you do just that. Shop now for the life hack your coworkers dream of.

Check out more from the Brew:

On her latest album, Beyoncé sings about her Birkin bag, which can go for up to $500,000. Why are Birkin bags ingrained in pop culture and why are they SO expensive? Watch here to find out.

Stuck on how to navigate your career? The Brew’s Leadership Accelerator sets you up with exec coaching and more so you can plan your next step.