Thank Flux it's Friday!

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

Today's big stories

🚫Playtech shareholders block Arisotcrat's takeover

📉Meta's share price tumbled 27% after some real poor results

🛢Exxon Mobil's profits explode on oil boom

Oh and get this...

Bid farewell to the RAT race 🐀. The Vic Gov have partnered with a local manufacturer to produce 1 million RAT tests on home soil from April. That'll ramp up to 50 million each year from October onwards.

Playtech shareholders tell Aristocrat 'it's gonna be a no from me, dawgs'

Background: Aristocrat Leisure is an Aussie gambling machine manufacturer - and it's one of the largest manufacturers of slot machines in the world. 

What happened: Last year, Aristocrat revealed plans to buy gaming software company, Playtech. This crew provide the software for online casinos (amongst other things). 

What else: Turns out that pipe dream is dead. Playtech shareholders formed a bloc and rejected the deal, and Aristocrat shares tanked on the news.‍

So what's the key learning?

💡When you become a shareholder in a company, you not only gain access to potential dividends - and potential capital appreciation - but you also gain access to voting rights.

💡These voting rights can be used to vote for or against company actions. Now, as one singular shareholder, you may not have the power to influence decisions. But a collective of shareholders certainly can.

💡This collective is called a bloc, and it can bring about huge company changes, like firing a board member...or blocking a merger or acquisition like this. 

Meta shareholders sink after a shocker quarter and I can hear Mark saying 'Zuck me' in the distance

Background: Meta had an alright quarter. The company's revenue was above expectations...but it missed its active user targets. And now, it thinks things are looking even worse for the upcoming quarter. 

What happened: The company said inflation and supply shortages would take a toll on their advertisers' budgets (aka, Meta's bread and butter/cash cow). 

What else: On top of that, Meta had to bid farewell to its cryptocurrency project, Diem...Yikes. And investors weren't happy about all this: they sent shares down 22%.

So what's the key learning?

💡When investors lose confidence in a company's future, it tends to send that company's share price tumbling. In this case, the drop was the worst-ever sharemarket hit by value in the US.

💡When Facebook changed its name to Meta, it wanted to prove to investors that it had ambitions beyond social media. And investors liked that. 

💡Fast-forward a few months, and Meta hasn't really delivered on its promises. Its user numbers are down and its crypto project is dead on arrival. All this tells investors that maybe Meta can't pull everything off. 

Exxon Mobil's profits soar on rising oil prices and good for them, but my fuel tank can stay on empty

Background: Exxon Mobil are a multinational oil and gas company. And when the world came to a standstill in 2020, oil companies like Exxon Mobil were at a loss. Literally.

What happened: The price of oil tanked to below $0 in April 2020, and Exxon had to slash 1/10th of its workforce. But as the world opened up, oil became a hot commodity once again.

What else: Now, oil prices are near a seven-year high. And now, Exxon Mobil's annual profits hit US$23 billion - the highest level since 2014. It's all part of the cycle of the industry. 

So what's the key learning?

💡A cyclical stock is a stock that's price is affected by economic changes. In other words, they follow the cycle of the economy. When the economy's up, these stocks boom. When the economy is down...ya get the picture.

💡Because of their cyclical nature, these stocks can be pretty volatile. And generally, the oil market is cyclical because oil demand correlates with economic growth.

💡When the economy is good, people can afford to buy petrol...even when it's exxy. So, as the economy opened up, so did the potential for profits at companies like Exxon Mobil.