Facebook-parent Meta dropped below Microsoft in terms of market value after the company was hammered in a record $251 billion wipeout. The embattled social media platform is now seen by some analysts as past its peak. Mark Zuckerberg may have seen this coming, given his big bet on the so-called metaverse, but whether that pivot works is anyone’s guess. Meanwhile, other mega-tech giants are firing on all cylinders, with Amazon’s Jeff Bezos banking on U.S. consumers happily paying an extra $20 for a Prime subscription. It’s certainly been a dramatic week for billionaires like him: Here’s our ranking of the world’s top 0.1%.

There’s excessive pay, and then there’s eye-popping compensation. A pay war is erupting at Sculptor Capital Management where the CEO could get an annual payout of almost $200 million. But it’s not so rosy elsewhere in the hedge fund universe—one of them is blaming Covid-19 for its losses. And flashy traders may no longer be in vogue with investors anyway—an army of faceless suits is taking over as old rockstars are left behind.

The toxic culture in the mining industry is no secret, but a report by Rio Tinto has illustrated its pervasiveness. There’s better news in urban mining though, where a U.K. developer is salvaging steel frames from old office blocks and a steel mill in Beijing is now a Winter Olympics paradise.

A mine worker walks through the processing plant at a mine operated by the Rio Tinto Group in the East Kimberly region of Australia in 2019. 

Photographer: Carla Gottgens/Bloomberg

There are huge sums sloshing around the crypto world. Take the example of Wormhole, where a hacker exploited a software bug and absconded with $320 million in digital currency. The project’s backers replaced their money in just a few hours. Naturally, bots are now increasingly common on crypto platforms, seeking whatever profits they can make. The problem? They’re wreaking havoc.

Putting artichoke on your face is part of the latest trend in wellness, one that uses items from the grocery store as key ingredients in beauty products. Also on the “clean” beauty list? Blueberries, kale and spinach. 

• Chinese markets reopen after the Lunar New Year.
• U.S. inflation data comes out as Fed prepares for rate hikes.
• Embattled European bank Credit Suisse reports in.
• Sweden to become the latest country to lift Covid restrictions.
• Ex-Goldman banker faces trial for fraud in the 1MDB scandal.

Beijing Weaponized State-Sponsored Bankruptcy

Some 500 state security personnel arrived at the offices of Apple Daily, Hong Kong’s most prominent pro-democracy newspaper, at 7:30 a.m. on June 17. Soon after, they detained the paper’s top editors and carted away files and hard drives. It was a scene that would have been hard to imagine in Hong Kong a few years earlier. But then Beijing, already deep into its campaign of rolling back civil liberties there, went even further.

Carrie Lam, Hong Kong's chief executive, second left, attended a flag-raising ceremony to mark National Day in Hong Kong on Oct. 1. 

Photographer: Paul Yeung/Bloomberg

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