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

Today's big stories:

🥗Marley Spoon makes a delicious acquisition of Chefgood

💊Chemist Warehouse gets accused of inflating prices

📢Meta's shareholders call for action over public safety concerns

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Marley Spoon woofs down a Chefgood-size sanga for $21 million

Background: Marley Spoon is the global meal kit giant from Berlin. They were founded back in 2014 and things were going well...until they weren't. 

What happened: In Q3 2021, Marley Spoon told investors they'd experienced staffing challenges and food cost inflation. And then...for the RKO...their big name investor (Woolies) sold its 10% stake in the company. 

What else: Now, they're buying ready-to-heat meal company Chefgood for $21 million to extend their product offering beyond dinners...to lunches. They reckon this'll help them grow organically and inorganically.

So what's the key learning?

💡When it comes to company growth, there are two ways you can do it: organically and inorganically.

💡Generally speaking, organic growth is when a company grows by increasing its sales and introducing new product offerings. It's essentially any growth that can be achieved with the company's own organic resources.

💡Inorganic growth is generally growth that's achieved by buying other businesses (i.e. through a merger or acquisition). So, Marley Spoon are keen to ramp up their current business activity and achieve new growth by buying other companies like Chefgood.

Chemist Warehouse gets accused of cooking up inflated price-tags ahead of big sales

Background: Chemist Warehouse is Australia's largest pharmacy with around 350 stores. It's estimated that they bring in around $5 billion in sales each year.

What happened: But they're on the naughty list this Christmas. Consumer advocacy group, Choice, reckon that Chemist Warehouse inflated prices on some of their products by up to 38% before the Black Friday sales. 

What else: So while customers thought they were getting a bargain...it actually wasn't a promotion at all. In fact, it kinda looked like price-gouging.

So what's the key learning? 

💡Price gouging happens when retailers take advantage of increased demand for a product or service...and put their prices up accordingly.

💡Technically, price gouging isn't illegal (at least not in Australia) but it is considered unethical - and nasty. Usually it happens during times of distress (i.e. a global pandemic).

💡In this case, the big C.W. crew may have taken advantage of the increased demand around sales periods. But the lesson is...sometimes big sales don't necessarily mean items are less expensive than they were before.

Meta's shareholders want action but The Zuck's pulled out his draw four: dual-class shares

Background: Meta has been under the pump lately...they've faced pressures from regulations and governments over privacy concerns, not to mention those reports that came out around the mental health impacts of their platforms.

What happened: Now, a group of Meta shareholders have submitted a letter asking for an independent assessment of Meta's capacity to oversee the risks with regard to public safety.

What else: Because of Meta's dual-class share structure...the wheels haven't been put into motion yet. 

So what's the key learning? 

💡Dual-class share structures are when companies issue two kinds of shares in the same company...and one kind is more powerful than the other. 

💡These structures allow holders of the more powerful shares to have more voting control over the company...which is often disproportionate to the amount of shares they own. 

💡For example, 1 shareholder might have 1 share worth 1 vote...and another might have 1 share worth 10 or 100 votes. Often, it means that founding shareholders can retain more control of the company.