Oil Rollercoaster | New Square On The Block | 23andMe’s Downward Spiral

Plus: California Scheming

Good morning.

The oil rollercoaster ride continues as an OPEC meeting this week confronts the possible impact of the omicron coronavirus variant on fuel demand. We’re also covering Square’s name change, and how falling shares of 23andMe have impacted their cofounder and CEO Anne Wojcicki’s net worth. Fresh off the pages of our latest magazine issue, don’t miss this story on how America’s most notorious junk municipal bond peddlers are feasting on California’s affordability crisis. 

In The News Today

Meghan Markle won a privacy lawsuit against U.K. publication Mail on Sunday over the publication of a letter she wrote to her father, hailing the verdict as a victory against the tabloid industry.

British pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline said its Covid-19 antibody treatment, approved in the U.K. today, appears to be effective against the omicron variant of coronavirus.

Top Take-Aways

23andMe cofounder and CEO Anne Wojcicki was the first woman to become a billionaire following a SPAC deal to take the genomics and biotech company public, but shares are down 35% since the merger, leaving a big dent in her fortune.

It’s a week full of change for Jack Dorsey. After stepping down as Twitter CEO, he turned his attention to his digital payments company Square, rebaptized as Block, to reference the blockchain technology that powers cryptocurrencies like bitcoin.

As OPEC meets to discuss whether to increase supplies, the rollercoaster ride in oil markets continued, with U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude oil up 3% to $68 per barrel on Wednesday amid broad strength in equities.

A week ahead of its IPO, Brazilian digital bank Nubank amended its Form-1 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to reduce the price range of its shares, cutting their valuation down from an expected $55 billion to about $42 billion.

Nickolas Sharp, who worked as a cloud engineer at billionaire Robert Pera’s company Ubiquiti for three years, was arrested in Oregon accused of stealing gigabytes of confidential data, extorting $1.9 million and posing as a whistleblower.

The new omicron coronavirus variant is prompting the U.S. to review its testing requirements for travelers arriving by plane from other countries, while a mask mandate extension for domestic travel is reportedly expected to be announced today.

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