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

Today's big stories: 

🎰 Gambling company Aristocrat Leisure wants to go digital

🛍 Saks Fifth Avenue is launching an IPO - but just for its e-comm business

⏹️ Square is getting into bitcoin mining

Oh and get this...

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Aussie gambling giant Aristocrat Leisure wants to go digital

Background: Aristocrat Leisure is a $29 billion gambling machine manufacturer. And it's one of the world's largest in the world. 

What happened: Outside of the classic pokies machine, Aristocrat is into computerised card game simulations (online Blackjack) and electronic table games. So making a £2.1 billion (AU$3.9 billion) bid for UK online gambling software company Playtech makes sense.

What else: Playtech's been around since 1999, and it provides the software for online casinos, poker rooms, and more. If they agree to the takeover, Aristocrat will be able to scale up its online gaming offerings.

So what's the key learning?

💡The online gambling market is worth around $40 billion every year. And it ain't stopping any time soon -  it’s expected to hit $74 billion by 2023.

💡Historically, the manufacturers of gambling machines haven’t really jumped on the online bandwagon...But with COVID accelerating the trend to online - even manufacturers want to have a digital presence.

💡Aristocrat’s trying to go digital, and using Playtech to do it. Playtech’s got a platform and an integrated system, so Aristocrat can scale up its online gaming offerings fast.

If you love something set it free cos it could be valued at US$6 billion like Saks' e-comm site

Background: Saks Fifth Avenue is a US luxury department store chain, which first opened up in Washington D.C. all the way back in 1867. Yah, it's that old. But it didn't launch its online store until 2000.

What happened: And Saks' online store took off. We're talkin' US$1 billion in annual sales. Fast-forward to March 2021, and Saks decided to split its e-comm biz into a whole separate entity (aka a carve out) to let it flourish on its own (naw, isn't that sweet).

What else: Now, Saks' online store is going public, seeking a valuation of...*checks notes*...US$6 billion. Talk about cashing in.

So what's the key learning?

💡A carve-out is when a company cuts out a business unit (ie saks.com) and sells a stake of it to outside investors. Businesses need to split off profitable business units in order to maximise their value.

💡Businesses will carve out a business unit because:

• the unit is performing really well (relative to the rest of the business)
• the unit is performing really poorly (and needs some love)
  

💡 We know online shopping is booming, and investors are drooling over e-commerce sites. But when saks.com is attached to not-as-profitable department stores (i.e. Saks Fifth Avenue), they're not as enticing. And if this works out, we could see something similar happen with Myer and DJs.

Square - aka Afterpay's new step-daddy - wants to get into bitcoin mining

Background: Jack Dorsey is the CEO of Twitter and Square. And he's Afterpay's step-dad, after Square bought the Aussie BNPL in a $39 billion deal earlier this year. 

What happened: Dorsey is a massive fan of bitcoin. He even reckons it could solve world peace. Back in 2020, Square bought US$50 million worth of bitcoin...and they backed it up with a further US$170 million in 2021.

What else: Now, Dorsey's announced Square is looking at getting into bitcoin mining. He wants to build an open source mining system - aka, one that's available to the public - to make mining accessible to everyone.

So what's the key learning?

💡There are over 250,000 bitcoin transactions per day. That means there's a whooole lotta transactions that need to be verified. Bitcoin miners verify bitcoin transactions to ensure each transaction is legitimate. 

💡 Once the transaction is verified, the miners get a bit of bitcoin as a thankyou-for-your-brains-and-computing-power. There are around 2.5 million bitcoins left to be "mined". 

💡 But here's the thing: Miners use high-powered computers - not your average Apple mac. And not everyone can afford the kind of tech that's required to mine. But Square reckons by making mining accessible...bitcoin can become an even stronger currency.