Business News

Bite-sized business news from Australia and around the world

TikTok could be forced to sell in the US after the US Congress believes its addictive trends are a national security risk

The US Congress has passed a bill that could force TikTok to be sold in the US within a year or otherwise be banned altogether.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 26, 2024

David Beckham sues his Hollywood neighbour Mark Wahlberg for duping him into endorsing F45

David Beckham’s investment company, DB Ventures is suing Mark Wahlberg, who was one of the largest shareholders in F45.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 26, 2024

Australia's inflation rate slows to 3.6%, but it's still too expensive to eat breakfast cereal

RBA has just released the latest inflation results for the March quarter and inflation hit 3.6%, which was above the expected CPI of 3.5%.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 26, 2024

Channels 7, 9 and 10 get antenna anxiety as teens trade TV for TikTok

Free to air TV networks are worried for their futures as teenagers spend 83% less time in front of TVs and more on their phone.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 24, 2024

Amazon's new undercover strategy revealed: Add to Cart and Add to Intel

Amazon has created an alias, "Big River Services", to sell products on other e-commerce platforms such as eBay, Shopify, Walmart.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 24, 2024

ABC's radio stations lose their frequency as they hit record low listeners across Australia

ABC Radio in Sydney and Brisbane have seen their radio market share plummet to the lowest levels since 2004.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 24, 2024

Netflix announces 15% revenue growth but zips its lips on future subscriber growth

Netflix has announced that its first quarter revenue grew 15% to nearly $9.4 billion USD.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 22, 2024

LinkedIn launches premium company pages as it continues to expand beyond 'giving kudos' to a co-worker

LinkedIn has quietly rolled out its new premium Company Pages.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 22, 2024

RM Williams plows $8m into women's fashion, seemingly looking to diversify its customer base beyond male consultants

RM Williams has invested $8 million in a women's-only-production line to expand its sales to women.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 22, 2024

Crocs and Pringles announce a new collab that you never knew you needed - a snackable ankle holster

Crocs has teamed up with potato-chips brand Pringles for a set of limited-edition boots, some of which come with a mini Pringles can in an ankle holster.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 19, 2024

LVMH's fashion unit stumbles on 2% growth but investors had braced for a full-blown fall

LVMH’s fashion and leather goods unit saw revenue growth of just 2% in the first quarter of this year, which is down from 18% growth a year earlier.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 19, 2024

Bonza gets caught in turbulence after its majority owner struggles to fund its ongoing operations

Bonza’s investors and funders have brought in a restructuring firm, KordaMentha, to provide them with advice about Bonza's ongoing operations.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 19, 2024

Tesla cuts 10% of its workforce as electric vehicles aren't getting the love that Musky envisaged

Shortly after announcing its big robotaxi ambitions, Tesla is axing more than 14,000 jobs as demand for electric vehicles slows down.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 17, 2024

Apple has fallen back to second place in smartphone sales... and no one remembers who came in second

Apple has already lost its spot as the top phone maker in the world and has seen ~10% drop in smartphone sales in the first quarter of 2024.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 17, 2024

News Corp Australia in plans to make major restructure after Meta breaks their heart into pieces

News Corp Australia is making its biggest company restructure to offset the loss from this deal and look at ways to save $15 million per year.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 17, 2024

NextDC plugs $1.3 billion into its data centres as the AI rush keeps on giving

NextDC is preparing to spend more than $1 billion on new centres as demand for more data centres skyrockets amid the AI boom.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 15, 2024

Cettire delivers killer sales, but unimpressed investors say, "It's not you, it's your taxes"

Cettire has made a surprise announcement of its third-quarter earnings which is an 88% increase in sales, and a margin greater than 20%.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 15, 2024

Betting underdogs, BlueBet and Betr go all in to take on the top dogs in the betting world

These two up and coming Australian betting companies will merge to compete with the big players in the betting space.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 15, 2024

Ola says "adios" to its ride sharing services in Australia and other international markets

Ola has made a very sudden announcement that it will pull out of all international markets including Australia, New Zealand as well as the UK - from today.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 12, 2024

Uber Eats launches TikTok-style newsfeed for its food.. . and now there's officially no reason to leave my house for food

Uber Eats will launch a short-form TikTok style video feature to help boost the discovery of its restaurant partners.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 10, 2024

Woolworths stands on the shoulders of supermarket giants to build a $190 million investment fund

Woolworths will launch a $190 million corporate venture capital fund.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 10, 2024

Qantas is slingin' new Frequent Flyer seats like Oprah... but there's a big catch!

Qantas has announced a major upgrade to its Frequent Flyer rewards program.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 10, 2024

Google's parent company, Alphabet will need to lawyer up if it wants to acquire Hubspot

Alphabet is apparently in talks to make an offer to acquire HubSpot.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 8, 2024

Canva channels Genie, turning some employees into overnight millionaires with its $3.6 billion share sale

Canva has rewarded many of its investors and early employees with a share sale worth $3.6 billion.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 8, 2024

Sydney Airport says it's 'healed and come back stronger' from its tough pandemic days

Sydney Airport announced that earnings for the year ended December 2023 have more than doubled to $1.2 billion.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 8, 2024

Tesla and India are moving in together with a $2bn - $3bn electric car plant

Tesla is sending a team to India to scout locations for a $2 bn - $3 bn electric car plant.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 5, 2024

The encore no one asked for: Spotify hikes its prices for the second time in a year

Spotify is planning to hike its prices for the second time in a year at the end of this month, in some of its biggest markets, including Australia.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 5, 2024

Sportsbet's dealt a tough hand as its earnings take a hit

Sportsbet has revealed that its local revenue of $2.2 billion dropped by over 7% for the year ending December 31.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 5, 2024

The WeWork saga continues as ex-CEO slides back into the company's DMs for a buy-back

WeWork's founder Adam Neumann and his real estate firm, Flow, have put together a finance package to buy WeWork out of bankruptcy.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 3, 2024

Google begins its 'incognito mode' cleanup after lawsuit settlement

Google has settled the lawsuit and agreed to destroy billions of data points collected via incognito mode.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 3, 2024

Treasury Wine raises a glass as China finally loosens tariffs on Aussie wine

Treasury Wine Estates is expected to lift prices of its top-tier Penfolds products as Beijing lifts restrictions on wine from Australia.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
April 3, 2024

Spotify is in its school era with its new educational video courses

Spotify is entering a new era and dabbling in the world of video courses.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 27, 2024

Peter Alexander and Smiggle fly the coop amid Premier Investments retail split

Premier Investments has announced that it's looking to spin off its stationary brand Smiggle and sleepwear brand Peter Alexander.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 27, 2024

Armaguard's rescue mission keeps the cash vans rolling

An emergency funding package was offered to Armaguard by the big banks and major Aussie retailers.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 27, 2024

Baraja's self-driving dreams hit a dead end as investors write down their valuation to zero

Blackbird has now marked its valuation of Baraja down to zero.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 25, 2024

Unilever is melting away its cone-cerns, as it looks to sell off its ice cream division

Unilever is looking to sell off its ice cream brands in a deal that could be valued between £10 billion to £15 billion.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 25, 2024

Reddit's share price jumps 48% on NYSE debut as it's snoopin' for profits

Reddit has IPO'ed on the New York Stock Exchange and ended its trading day up 48% late last week, valuing the company at almost $13.7 billion.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 25, 2024

Hermes is hit with a class action suit for allegedly gatekeeping the Birkin bag

Hermes has been hit with a class action lawsuit by shoppers who claim that the brand is violating antitrust laws when it comes to the Birkin bag.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 22, 2024

Gucci goes from fab to drab with a 20% sales drop thanks to China's shrinking demand for luxury goods

Kering's shares dropped 12% after it reported that sales at Gucci have fallen about 20 per cent in the first quarter.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 22, 2024

Chemist Warehouse cashes in on "eau-de-profits", which surged 30% thanks to 'front-of-house' sales

Chemist Warehouse has announced a nearly 30% increase in profit for its half-year results.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 22, 2024

BHP sends workers packing as nickel market goes from boom to gloom

BHP reportedly stood down almost 100 workers, that were working on its West Musgrave nickel and copper project.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 20, 2024

Google's AI, Gemini courts Apple for an alliance that has got Silicon Valley's 'who's who' gasping

Google is reportedly in talks with Apple to build Gemini into the iPhone.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 20, 2024

Taxi drivers claim their victory lap as Uber pays up a $272m settlement

Uber has settled that suit and agreed to pay $272 million to the taxi and hire car drivers in Australia.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 20, 2024

Liquid Death doubles its valuation and becomes a unicorn by selling... *checks notes*... water?

Liquid Death has raised another $67 million USD and continues to grow rapidly in a market that is largely undifferentiated.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 18, 2024

Amazon Australia plans to take on Australia Post's delivery-dominance with a new special move

Amazon is bringing in contractors to launch its delivery service program to challenge Australia Post's last mile deliveries.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 18, 2024

TikTok's doomsday clock ticks as the US inches closer to banning the app

The US House of Representatives has passed a bill ordering ByteDance to separate itself from TikTok in 180 days, or risk being banned in the US.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 15, 2024

Myer's serving face after a profit glow up, and bringing in new leadership to maintain its growth

Myer had a major glow-up with its share price jump, and even brought in a new executive chairwoman and CEO.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 15, 2024

'It's not us, It's Optus.' Optus owner, Singtel looks to offload the Aussie telecom

After a nightmarish period for Optus, its Singapore-based owner Singtel looks to offload its ownership in Optus in part or even in full.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 15, 2024

Pfizer pivots from COVID to cancer as it plans to release "blockbuster" drugs to rebuild its business

After a rocky year and major decline in sales, Pfizer is looking to push into cancer treatment for its next big break.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 13, 2024

Elon Musk is spreading the AI-chatbot-love one line of code at a time

Musk has announced that he will open source the code for the chatbot Grok so that everyone can see the code and contribute towards it.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 13, 2024

After being dumped by Meta, Google is trying to woo Aussie media with roses and algorithms with a new media deal

After Meta had warned that it won't be renewing their deals with media outlets, Google announced it has started to negotiate a new deal.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 13, 2024

Tigerlily catches another wave of administration and this time it won't learn to float again

Tigerlily rebranded and came back to life, only to now fall into voluntary administration once again.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 8, 2024

Apple's walled-house is crumbling into 2 billion pieces... and investors are kinda getting worried

The App Store is in hot water again after European regulators ordered Apple to pay a 2 billion euro fine.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 8, 2024

Amazon Australia has stolen the show and $3 billion in market share from e-commerce companies

Amazon has just hit over $3 billion in sales in Australia and it now accounts for approximately 10% of all money spent on online shopping in the country.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 8, 2024

Bitcoin cracked the $100k milestone for a hot minute... but now its come back down to earth

Since 2023, Bitcoin's price has been rebuilding and it's cracked through $100,000 Australian dollars.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 6, 2024

Reddit will list on the NYSE later this month - but will its community give its share price the Upvote it desperately needs?

Reddit will IPO on the New York Stock Exchange later this month at a more modest valuation of $5 billion USD.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 6, 2024

Insurance premiums will see their largest increases since 2019 on April 1st... and no, this ain't an April Fool's joke

The Health Minister has warned that there will be an increase of more than 3 per cent on average to the premiums of private health insurers.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 6, 2024

Bumble reports a $32 million USD loss as the dating app loses its charm with Gen Z

Bumble is laying off 350 staff after reporting a $32 million net loss, mainly due to its struggle to keep Gen Zs within the app.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 4, 2024

Life360 invites ads to the family gathering, and sends its share price up 37%

Life360 has seen the users of its app grow, and now it wants to launch an advertising business to rival its existing subscription revenue.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 4, 2024

'No news is good news' for Meta's Facebook feed, as it pulls the plug on its Australian media deals

While media companies are looking to renew the News Media Bargaining Code, Meta has decided to discontinue its investment in Australian news.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 4, 2024

Disney lands the Lion King of deals as it signs an $8.5 billion USD deal with India's largest company

Disney has announced a joint venture with India's biggest conglomerate, Reliance Industries.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 1, 2024

Apple goes from iCar to iQuit as it parks its electric-vehicle dreams to the side

Apple has reportedly pulled out of the autonomous vehicle race.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 1, 2024

Harvey Norman suffers a 45% profit slump... and it seems like their annoying jingle is starting to face the music

Harvey Norman's total sales across franchisees and company-owned stores fell nearly 7% in the first half of this year.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
March 1, 2024

Formula 1 looks to brings a touch of glam to the Grand Prix after signing up with a major cosmetics brand

Formula 1 has signed up Charlotte Tilbury Beauty as the official partner of F1 Academy, which is F1's female-only championship.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 28, 2024

Adore Beauty sees its revenue spike by showing love to its customers.. and it seems like the feeling is kinda mutual

Adore Beauty's revenue has jumped to over $100 million for the half.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 28, 2024

Kogan.com has shifted from smart TV's to subscriptions and its profit has done a full 180

Despite Kogan.com's first-half revenue dropping nearly 10%, its net profit jumped 206% to nearly $9 million.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 28, 2024

Nintendo faces Bowser-sized problem after it warms of a delay in the release of its latest Switch

Nintendo has announced a delay in releasing its next console until March 2025 and this news has sent their shares sinking almost 9%.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 26, 2024

Vice goes from investigating snake venom to no-more-venom-to-at-all as it shuts down its website

Vice's CEO said that Vice will be shutting down its digital operations, including its website, and will be laying off "several hundred positions."

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 26, 2024

Medibank suffers from profit pains and no physio can help with this recovery

Medibank missed its net profit guidance by $3 million because its new members, aka 'policy holders', grew by just 0.2%.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 26, 2024

Nvidia smashes its lofty revenue expectations because the nerds are nerding... and willing to pay the big bucks for it

Analysts expected a 240% increase in Nvidia's revenue, but it smashed these targets by pumping up revenue by 265% from just a year ago.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 26, 2024

Nine's first-half ad revenue has crashed harder than Leah and Ash's place on The Block

While Nine's subscriber numbers for its publications and streaming grew by around 8%, its ad revenue got slammed harder than its cancelled TV show, Rush.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 23, 2024

Qantas' new CEO reveals feel-good story about its customer service investment... ohh and by the way.. our profits have dropped.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 23, 2024

ChatGPT's got a memory upgrade - because who needs privacy when you have convenience?

ChatGPT is exploring new ways to remember information about its users, intending to become smarter and more personalised.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024

Kmart is out-duping the competition and laughing all the way to the bank

Kmart has announced a jump in sales of nearly 5% over the past 6 months.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024

Aussies struggle with a Blank Space in their wallet after spending their earnings on a ticket to Taytay

Taylor Swift has performed her first three shows in Melbourne to enormous fanfare.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024

BYD charges ahead in the Australian EV market after some government tailwinds

BYD wants to boost its Australian sales from 12,400 in 2023 to more than 20,000 this year.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024

Breville's sales are more jittery than me after a triple-shot-latte-on-an-empty-stomach and investors are looking for a new brew

Over the past 6 months, Breville shifted its strategy to less discounting—which caused its sales for the last 6 months to be lifted by just 2%.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024

Temple & Webster make bank selling sofa dupes to fancy millennials looking for one step above Kmart

Temple & Webster just hit one million active customers and sales were up 23% for the half.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024

Seek's share price falls faster than a candidate lying about their skills on a resume

Seek released its half-year results and saw paid ads on the platform drop by 20% over the last 6 months.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024

CSL suffers a cholesterol catastrophe after its $1 billion heart attack trial fails to get regulatory approval

CSL has announced that the investment in its heart attack drug wasn't successful because it didn't get the results it needed.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024

JB Hi-Fi's profit drops faster than the latest CD sales, but investors still groove with a 5% share boogie

JB Hi-Fi has announced that its sales declined by just 2% over the past 6 months - which was actually a good result compared to expectations.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024

Uber announces its first annual profit and now investors want a slice of the spoils

Uber just announced its first annual profit, which showed it generated more than $1 billion USD in earnings last year.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024

News Corp Australia withdraws from battle against its AI overlords.. because if you can't beat them, join them?

While the CEO of News Corp has been critical of AI companies in the past for not compensating news publishers, he seems to have changed tack.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024

Myer rings the bell after a record-breaking year.. but now they're walking on a tightrope

Myer achieved record sales of $3.36 billion in the 2023 financial year, and also a net profit after tax of $71 million.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024

It's time for The Avengers to assemble after Disney drops a $1.5 billion investment into Fortnite's owner

Disney has invested $1.5 billion USD into Epic Games, the creators of Fortnite.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024

Cettire is turning the grey market into gold... one unofficial Fendi coat at a time

Cettire announced that its first-half sales jumped 89% to over $354 million, and that it's planning to take on the Chinese market.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024

AGL turns up the heat after quadrupling its profit... so it looks like its customers are the ones feeling the burn

AGL announced their core net profit has quadrupled over the past 6 months.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024

Fishbowl is taking on the US with new stores and a new name... because they're more than just the fish

Fishbowl is taking on the US market with its first store in New York.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024

Move over Swatch - LVMH is targeting your Gen Z and millennial customers with luxury watches

LVMH has just formed a new watch division to lean further into the luxury watch market.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024

PwC are rolling out the chatbots... so get ready for AI to boil the ocean and target the low-hanging fruit

PwC announced its brand new virtual assistant called Chat PwC.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024

Ferrari pulls a high-speed hijack as it poaches Lewis Hamilton from Mercedes...and talk about gaining pole position!

After driving with Mercedes for the past 11 years, Hamilton has announced he will be joining its arch-rival Ferrari in 2025

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024

The owner of Tinder and Hinge has seen its revenue spike because users are willing to pay big bucks for love

People are willing to pay the big bucks to find love because Match's quarterly revenue grew 10% from a year ago.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024

Atlassian loses $10 billion USD in market value despite major milestones.. because the devil is in the detail

Atlassian announced its revenue for the second quarter, which topped $1 billion USD for the first time.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024

Elon Musk sees $51 billion of his fortune disappear into thin air and now he can't even afford interplanetary travel

A Delaware court has canceled Tesla's compensation, which meant Elon Musk lost rights to USD 51 billion worth of shares.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024

TikTok and Universal Music Group are at loggerheads.. so no more miming to 'Cruel Summer' for you

Universal Music Group (UMG) will reportedly pull all of its artists' music from TikTok.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024

Block's acquisition of Afterpay has taken a turn after laying off 10% of its workforce - so its more like "buy now, fire later"

Block is reportedly laying off more than 1,000 employees around the world, including many of the Afterpay staff in Australia.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024

Godfrey's has vacuumed its last floors after 93 years.. so it's time to commence campaign Put-your-vacuums-out

93 years after cleaning their very first floors, Godfrey's has gone into voluntary administration.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024

Big pharma face a $180 billion USD hole after looking over an El Capitan-sized cliff

The top 20 pharmaceutical companies may reportedly lose $180 billion USD in sales due to major drugs hitting the patent cliff.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024

Sara Lee has been saved from the brink of collapse.. so bring on those French Vanilla Cheesecakes!

Sara Lee has been rescued by the former owners of Darrell Lea.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024

Netflix jumps off the top rope into WWE with a $5 billion USD deal

Endeavour has sold the live-sports rights to WWE's weekly show 'Raw' to Netflix.

Flux team
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1
min read
· Posted on
February 21, 2024