Happy Monday Flux fam! 🎉

Here's everything you need to know today - in under 3 minutes.

Today's big stories:

🍻 Coke's Aussie biz is saying goodbye to beers and ciders

🤯 Facebook rebrands its corporate entity to Meta

⚡️ Shell misses its earnings expectations amid a mass shift to EV

Oh and get this...

Amazon's holiday sales forecast ain't showing a pretty picture. In fact, Amazon reckons things are mellowing out, and the spending boom could be over.

Hold the cheers cos Coke is saying goodbye to beers and ciders in Oz

Background: Coca-Cola Amatil was the Aussie bottler of coke - all the way from 1904. In April this year, the Aussie Coke business merged with Coca-Cola European Partners...to form Coca-Cola Europacific Partners Australia (a major mouthful).

What happened: The new owners don't love what they see here. Previously, Coca-Cola Amatil dabbled in both non-alcoholic beverages (i.e. Fanta, Sprite, Mount Franklin water) and non-alcoholic beverages (i.e. beers, ciders, whiskeys).

What else: Now, the new owner says it's going to exit beer and apple cider products in Australia. This could mark the first of a few cuts as Coke in Australia focuses on its core.

So what's the key learning?

💡When a certain business unit or product isn't fitting within the company's overall strategy anymore, a company will often look to wind it down.

💡They do this because:

1. An acquisition just didn't work out (i.e. the acquired company isn't meeting expectations)
2. There's been a change in the company's strategy (i.e. the company is switching up its long term goals).

💡Coke needs to refocus its energy towards what's most important. And in this case, it's bye-bye to beer and cider.

Facebook rebrands to 'Meta' and coincidence? We think not

Background: Facebook has been Facebook since, well, forever. But after 17 years, founder Mark Zuckerberg has revealed the company is changing the name of its corporate entity to 'Meta'. Okaaay then 🤔.

What happened: At the company's virtual reality event Connect, The Zuck said the new name would align the company with its new mission: to be metaverse-first not Facebook-first.

What else: We can't deny this has come at a pretty convenient time for FB - because it's been facing some serious backlash lately.

So what's the key learning?

💡Welcome to PR 101, Flux fam. Facebook's name change appears to be a way to change the subject. Distract the public from the Facebook Papers and focus on Facebook's future.

💡The Facebook Papers were internal documents leaked by a former employee turned whistleblower. The papers showed how Facebook knew its products were creating real-world violence and aggravating mental health problems, but refused to change them.

💡The company rebranding to Meta could be interpreted as an attempt to divert away from the issues and show off its virtual and augmented reality vision for the future.

Thoughts & prayers for Shell, who missed its numbers for the last 3 months

Background: Shell is the global oil company that's worth a huge US$183 billion. It's been mainly focused on oil, fuel and petroleum products (aka the stuff that ain't great for earth).

What happened: The tide is seemingly turning on ol' Shell. The company just revealed it missed its third-quarter earnings expectations by around US$2 billion.

What else: Shell also set itself bigger carbon reduction targets. In fact, it committed to becoming a net-zero carbon emissions company by 2050. Phewww.

So what's the key learning?

💡Governments around the world have been setting emissions targets, and incentives for people to take up electric vehicles.

💡This is scary for Shell, who make a big chunk of their revenue from petrol. Thankfully, it has also been investing in its renewable energy business.

💡The problem is that the oil & gas and the renewable energy businesses are so different that having them together could actually be bring down the value of both companies down. Confusing times for Shell.