🚨 𝗕𝗥𝗘𝗔𝗞𝗜𝗡𝗚: An investigation has been launched into alleged MATCH-FIXING during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. 😳🌍
A Council of Europe report identified multiple suspicious incidents, including Themba Zwane's red card against Mexico, while more than $4.5M in suspicious betting activity has also been flagged.
Authorities are now examining whether any World Cup matches may have been manipulated.
(Source: @RMCsport)
Here’s something that feels illegal but isn’t.
Company (A) wants to buy another company (B) but does not have the money for it, so it goes to a group of banks to ask for a loan for this, using B’s assets, its low debt levels and promises of future profits as security.
However, the banks themselves do not have the money, but they have a banking licence to legally create money. So, they create a few hundred million and give it to Company A to purchase B with the promise that A will bring fresh strategies to get Company B to make enough money to pay back the banks.
Now, the reason Company A targeted B in the first place was that the latter has little to no debt and very strong cash flows. This is called being “underleveraged” in the high finance circles and is seen as a kind of character flaw that must be remedied. So, Company A uses B’s lack of debt to take on as much debt as possible to pay back the banks.
To make this entire process as smooth as possible, A starts simultaneously cutting costs at B:
The first stop is the staff, through retrenchments and requiring that the employees reapply for their jobs, after which most don’t get rehired.
This is often inconvenient for people who need to buy food and pay school fees. But this is the price of market efficiency.
The second part of this streamlining is selling off as many of B’s assets as possible—buildings, machinery, intellectual property—everything must go. This financial wizardry boosts revenues and short term profits handsomely.
Now, you might be wondering what the good people putting in all this work gets in return for their hard work. Each time Company A takes on debt, the managers get millions in bonuses for their hard work in securing the funds or “successful capital raising”.
After a few rounds of this value creation, Company B has reached unsustainable debt levels that it has to retrench all remaining staff, sell off whatever is left and shut its doors.
Now, if Company B cannot close down, for instance, because it was previously a state-owned company providing a critical service like water, electricity or healthcare, the now-stripped down, debt-laden company is sold back to its original owner, the state, at a higher price than it was bought for, since the option of shutting it down would be catastrophic for the country.
For the public, this is like being charged to watch someone dismantle your car, then having to buy it back as scrap metal at twice the original price.
Of course, selling the stripped-down zombie company back to the state takes a lot of hard work and the managers involved must be compensated in the tune of millions for “clinching the deal” and ensuring the public continues to receive essential services.
What I just described above is called a “leveraged buyout” and Company A is a called a private equity firm.
Follow me for more financial engineering tips.
@IranObserver0 Honestly a whole Hollywood production showing the enemy your military capability, seems more like a detergent. Sounds Like those poems Zulu men say before a fight. Why unga mshaye nje?
A group of South African lawyers, working with international lawyers, is seeking to try to hold the UK and USA accountable for atrocities committed against Palestinians by Israel, using US and UK arms. We registered an IG acct. It was suspended almost immediately.
Stationary plug: I usually spend between R3k on stationary; today for grade 4, I spent about R1.3k, and it’s more stuff from last year.
I went to Packaging and stationary distributors in Joburg near China Mall in Amalgam. 👇🏾
Dear South African Post Office.
I’m just a customer standing in front of @PostofficeSa asking for my parcel. It's been a month, and the anticipation is real.
Will I get it this year? 🥹🥹