The Week in Numbers: crypto casualty, bio billions
STORY: From another casualty of the crypto winter, to a big deal in biotech, this is the Week in Numbers. First up…
Between $1 to $10 billion - the exact number doesn’t seem clear - were the liabilities listed by Voyager Digital as it filed for bankruptcy. The crypto lender is just the latest victim of the slump in bitcoin and the like.
Around $40 billion is how much Merck & Co could pay for biotech firm Seagen. That’s according to the Wall Street Journal. Analysts say Merck needs new products to drive revenues.
$60 billion or more could be the value of a new Russian mining and metals giant. That’s if Rusal and Nornickel go ahead with a proposed merger. Sanctions on Nornickel boss Vladimir Potanin could complicate the plans though.
54.6% was the record rate of inflation in Sri Lanka in June. The island nation faces a severe shortage of dollars that's left it struggling to import food, fuel and medicine. The central bank hiked rates in response. Governor Nandalal Weerasinghe said he had no choice:
“If you look at the impact of inflation on segments of people, and the hardest hit of high inflation will be the poor and the vulnerable.”
And 15% was the jump in shares for GameStop on Thursday, after it announced a 4-for-1 stock split to make the shares more affordable for small investors. But the meme stock then plunged in after-hours trade following news it had fired its CFO.