Uber’s expanding coffers, King Tut’s extraterrestrial armament and why a little anger can go a long way

Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund is investing $3.5bn in Uber, marking the largest single investment ever made in a private company.

The deal solidifies Uber’s place as the most-funded start-up in the world and brings its war chest to more than $11bn, at a time when the company is aggressively expanding in nearly 70 countries worldwide.

Lex writes that the investment is part of Saudi Arabia’s concerted push to diversify away from oil. On the other hand, it allows Uber to delay the date when it would have to go public. “Its war chest is now sizeable enough to sit out the inevitable reckoning of the lesser unicorns.” (FT)

In the news

N Korea a ‘prime money launderer’ The US Treasury named North Korea a “prime money laundering concern”, a move designed to make it even harder for Pyongyang to access the international banking system. The new measure, which follows a series of North Korean missile and nuclear tests, would mean any bank with links to the US financial system could face sanctions if they do business with North Korea. (FT)

The pull of Premier League profits A number of top-flight UK football clubs could be bought out by the end of the year as their increasing profitability attracts investors, according to analysts. (FT)

We need more Marx Or so says a group of Chinese scholars who have urged Beijing to stop its university students from being “brainwashed by western theories”. The professors make no mention of Karl Marx’s German origins nor the fact he spent much of his life in the UK. (FT)

Has Brazil bottomed out? The economy shrank 5.4 per cent in the first quarter from a year earlier, highlighting the challenge facing interim president Michel Temer as he tries to end the worst recession in more than a century. But there may be a silver lining: the latest figures show that Latin America’s largest economy may be nearing the bottom. (FT)

Finding Londinium Britain’s largest and oldest collection of Roman waxed writing tablets was discovered under an office block in the City, containing the oldest-dated handwritten document in Britain and the earliest known reference to London itself. (FT)

20 years, $12bn, 35.5 miles Introducing Switzerland’s Gotthard rail link, the world’s longest and deepest rail tunnel, which the Swiss say will revolutionise Europe’s freight transport. (BBC)

It’s a big day for

Opec The cartel meets in Vienna as its wealthier Gulf members cheer the return of $50 oil. But for their more economically fragile peers — Venezuela, Nigeria, Libya, Iraq and Algeria — the current price is almost unbearable. (FT)

Food for thought

King Tut’s extraterrestrial armament A dagger entombed with King Tutankhamun was made with iron from a meteorite, scientists have discovered. (Guardian)

Forget your password Forget typing in a complex string of letters. Forget even using your fingerprint to access your devices and accounts. The next generation of start-ups are searching for alternative biometric technologies, identifying users from everything from their voices to the vibrations in their skull. (FT)

China debt: don’t panic just yet The rapid increase in corporate debt has given rise to fears the country may be unable to avoid a banking crisis, which would hurt growth on the national and global level. But Nicholas Lardy argues China is not as vulnerable as it may seem and now has an opportunity to slow the growth of credit toa sustainable level. (FT)

The lies and deception inside Trump University The for-profit school started by Mr Trump was an unscrupulous business that employed high-pressure sales tactics and deceptive promises to target poor, elderly and vulnerable students willing to pay tens of thousands of dollars for the former reality TV star’s insights, according to testimony in a court case that accuses him of fraud. Brian Buetler argues that it is a perfect metaphor for the Trump campaign. (NYT, New Republic)

Why a little anger can go a long way Anger is often seen as a trigger for staff quitting jobs. However, a study finds that anger can diminish — rather than boost — a person’s intention to leave a job if they identify strongly with their company. (FT)

The first thing sold on the internet … was, of course, drugs. Long before eBay, Amazon and the now shuttered Silk Road, Stanford University students engaged in a seminal act of e-commerce with their counterparts at MIT. The product: an undetermined amount of marijuana. (Motherboard)

Video of the day

Beware the Brexit brew Financial markets had virtually given up on the idea of a Leave vote in May, but as FT’s capital markets correspondent Elaine Moore explains, the narrowing polls have left even the most sober trader feeling lightheaded. (FT)