Bite-sized business news from Australia and around the world
Football Australia’s push to raise betting fees sparks backlash from bookies, with some pulling soccer bets amid tense profit-sharing talks.
Myer revamps its loyalty program and launches a new beauty box to win back younger shoppers after a tough year of falling profits.
Zip’s US arm is now the company’s powerhouse, driving 70% of transactions and marking a major revival for the Aussie BNPL pioneer.
Kering sold its beauty arm to L’Oréal for €4B to cut debt and refocus on fashion, marking a major pivot under its new CEO.
After 15 months in administration, US firm Air T is buying Rex Airlines, but most creditors—including the government—won’t be repaid.
CommSec’s profits soared 36% to $156M as market volatility sent Aussies trading in droves, boosting its user base to 3 million.
Nestlé’s new CEO plans to cut 16,000 jobs after sales dip, aiming to save billions and reset strategy as part of a global “new year, new me.”
EssilorLuxottica’s revenue hits record highs as AI-powered Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses soar in demand, turning novelty into necessity.
Mayne Pharma wins court battle after Cosette tried to ditch its $672M takeover. Shares jump 14%, but FIRB approval still looms.
Elon Musk’s xAI launches flirtatious AI companions Ani and Valentine, igniting debates on emotional AI, ethics, and user wellbeing.
Macquarie sells Aligned Data Centres for $61B to Nvidia, Microsoft, and others... proof that AI’s growth is driving huge infrastructure bets.
As Australia moves to ban social media for under-16s, Meta and Google roll out new teen safety tools to stay ahead of regulators.
Paramount Skydance makes a $42B offer for Warner Bros. Discovery, chasing streaming scale, but the deal’s debt risk keeps Hollywood cautious.
Pop Mart’s viral Labubu toys are booming, with shares up 350% as Australia becomes a key market, fueled by strong demand and spending power.
Treasury Wine Estates faces a brutal double hit from weaker China demand and US distribution woes, sending shares to a decade-low.
DAZN bought Foxtel for $2.2B but still posted a $936M loss in 2024 despite $3.2B revenue, banking on 2026 to finally reach profitability.
Netflix expands beyond streaming, letting users play games like Tetris and Pictionary on smart TVs using phones as controllers.
CommBank moves its core systems to the cloud with AWS, aiming to modernise banking, cut costs, and outpace slower rivals like ANZ.
Hackers claim to have breached Salesforce, stealing data from 39 major companies, including Qantas, and threatening to leak it online.
Aldi and Costco hit $17.5B in Aussie sales, pushing Coles and Woolies to sharpen prices as competition heats up in the supermarket showdown.
Guzman y Gomez bounces back with an 18.6% sales rise and launches a $100M share buyback to boost confidence after a rocky earnings slump.
Paramount Skydance is buying Bari Weiss’ The Free Press for $150M, proving creator-led media can rival legacy outlets in reach and influence.
Cboe Australia just got ASIC’s nod to list companies, ending ASX’s monopoly and setting the stage for real competition in Aussie markets.
Eagers Automotive is betting $1B on CanadaOne, taking its booming Easyauto123 model global... but Aussie success doesn’t always travel well.
Peloton’s spinning back with AI-powered fitness tech to regain momentum, but investors can’t tell if it’s real innovation or just hype.
General Pants shuts a quarter of its stores as fast-fashion rivals like Shein and Temu outpace the once “cool kid” of Aussie retail.
Armaguard secures a lifeline deal with banks and supermarkets, keeping Australia’s cash system alive under a new utility-style model.
Amazon hit with $2.5B in fines and refunds as FTC cracks down on Prime’s “subscription traps,” forcing changes to sign-up and cancellation.
Trump threatens 100% tariffs on foreign-made films as Hollywood loses productions to countries like Australia offering big tax breaks.
Seven West Media and Southern Cross are merging into a $415m content giant, as broadcasters consolidate to survive the shifting media landscape.
Accenture will cut 11,000 jobs in a $865M restructure, urging staff to reskill for AI as new bookings soar to $5.1B despite IT contract losses.
Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund and partners will acquire EA for $55B, in a record buyout that underscores gaming’s growing private equity appeal.
The RBA held the cash rate at 3.60% as inflation hit 3%, signalling a wait-and-see approach to balance growth, stability, and economic volatility.
Alibaba deepened its AI push with a new Nvidia deal and model launch, pledging billions more in Capex that lifted its shares 8%.
Premier Investments’ profit surged 31% on a one-off brand sale, but underlying earnings fell as Smiggle weakened and Peter Alexander carried the load.
Optus has been hit with a record $100 million fine after knowingly selling phone plans to customers outside its own network coverage.
Lego will acquire 29 Legoland Discovery Centres in a £200m cash deal.
ABS has announced that annual inflation hit 3% in August.
KMD has reported a full-year loss for the 12 months to July 31 of more than $93m NZD.
Porsche has issued its fourth profit warning this year and warned that operating profits were expected to cop a €1.8 billion hit.
Meta has unveiled an AI “dating assistant” that supposedly helps users find matches.
Myer warned that its net profit has fallen 30% compared to last year.
Cocoa prices have officially hit their peak and have now slid to below $7,400 per tonne.
Nvidia will invest $5 billion USD into Intel by buying common stock and this will give Nvidia just below a 5% stake in its frenemy.
Atlassian is acquiring DX, a five-year-old US startup that helps companies measure developer productivity and satisfaction.
StubHub listed on the New York Stock Exchange earlier this week but struggled to get momentum, so its share price fell 6% on debut.
Meta Connect conference, Zuck showed off the new Ray-Ban Display glasses on stage.
Just two days before the deadline, ADNOC’s consortium backed out from the Santos deal.
Kering has asked for the Valentino purchase offer to be pushed out to 2029.
Apple unveiled a bunch of its latest upgrades, including a new operating system called iOS 26.
ANZ is being slapped with a record $240 million fine for ‘unconscionable conduct’ from ASIC.
Adobe has announced its Q3 adjusted earnings of $5.99 billion in revenue, which was ahead of analyst forecasts.
The Federal Court has fined The Good Guys $13.5 million for misleading customers.
Nine Entertainment’s shares plummeted 36% in a single day.
Cashrewards has announced it will shut down immediately as ANZ, its owner, does a clean-up of its business.
The Federal Court has ruled that Coles and Woolworths wee found to be using the “set-off” approach for employee entitlements.
ANZ has announced 3,500 redundancies of ANZ staff by next September.
American Eagle’s sales have boomed and their share price surged by 25% following the ad controversy.
Macquarie landed nearly 40% of all new lending in the month of July, which means their mortgage book grew 6.4 times faster than the Big 4 banks.
Atlassian has announced plans to acquire The Browser Company for $936 million.
BYD has reported a 30% drop in net profit in the second quarter - down to 6.4 billion yuan (or $895 million USD).
ASIC is chasing up Mecca for being tardy and non-transparent with its use of company funds.
Rugby Australia has repaid its $63 million debt to Pacific Equity Partners - years ahead of schedule.
The ACCC is investigating three of ALDI's vegetable suppliers for alleged price fixing.
Thanks to its 40% revenue jump, Rokt is eyeing that US IPO once again.
Dollarama has announced plans for a full-scale transformation of The Reject Shop.
Lovisa is dialling up their global expansion after a major jewellery competitor ‘Claires’ filed for bankruptcy this August.
Open AI announced plans to open a local operation in Sydney.
Domino's share price has dropped to around $15, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get better any time soon.
Lego reported 12% growth in revenue for the first half of 2025 to nearly $5.4 billion USD.
Qantas announced an underlying profit before tax rose 15% to $2.39 billion over the last financial year.
Woolworths has warned that its underlying profits fell 17% to $1.38 billion for the last financial year.
The Labor government has brought First Home Buyer Guarantee scheme forward to October this year.
Reece CEO Peter Wilson has warned that Reece’s earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) fell 20% in the last financial year.
Coles Group’s sales as it lifted 1.7% to $44.5 billion — thanks to its home brands.
Inghams warned of a revenue fall of 1.5% for FY25, while its net profit was down 10%.
Fonterra has sold off its Mainland Group consumer brands to the French dairy behemoth Lactalis for $3.8 billion NZD.
Investors have got the chilli sweats after GYG revealed that sales in the first seven weeks of FY26 grew just 3.7%.
Breville has just announced that their FY25 revenue jumped 10.9% in FY25 to $1.7 billion.
James Hardie’s revenue of $900 million USD fell well short of the $953 million USD expected for FY25.
Universal’s total sales jumped 15.5% to $333 million for the last financial year.
Soho House is going private again to arrest the declining share price.
CSL is making some big cuts across the company including a demerging, job cuts and other expense reductions.
Federal Court judge has hit Qantas with a record $90 million penalty, the biggest penalty ever under the Fair Work Act.
Gildan agreed to buy the US apparel brand, Hanesbrands, in a $2.2 billion USD cash and stock deal.
Ampol has announced plans to acquire EG Group’s 500-strong Australian service station portfolio for $1.1 billion.
Temple & Webster's revenue rose 21% to $601 million for the year to June 30.
Perplexity has lobbed a $34.5 billion USD bid for one of Google’s most valuable products, Google Chrome.
Westpac’s share price jumped 6% but its home loans were on a decline at 3%.
Telstra’s investors reported a $2.34 billion annual net profit.
In the latest financial year, JB announced some BIG results - their group sales were up by 10%, and their overall net profit increased by 5.4%.
NBN Co has announced that it has cut its annual loss by 10% in the last financial year to $963m.
This month, the RBA has cut the cash rate by 0.25%, which means the cash rate is now sitting at 3.60%.
Spotify will pull the price lever to recover some of those losses and announced plans to raise subscription prices across various locations globally.
McDonald's reported its quarterly revenue hit $6.84 billion USD, which beat analyst expectations of $6.70 billion USD.
News Corp's saw its full-year revenue jump 2% and its EBITDA jumped 14%.
Duolingo has reported revenue of more than $252 million USD for the quarter.
ASX mistakenly announced that TPG Telecom was buying an Australian software provider called Infomedia for over $500 million — instead of TPG Capitol Asia.
