BHP could lose its A credit rating after its merger with Woodside Petroleum

Background: Broken Hill's claim to fame, oil and mining giant BHP, is worth around $145 billion. But the company has been facing backlash from shareholders who want it to move towards cleaner forms of energy, 'cos fossil fuels are bad for the environment. 

What happened: There was some speculation BHP would sell its $20 billion oil and gas portfolio. But instead, it's going to merge with Perth-based oil and gas company Woodside Petroleum in a deal worth a UGE $41 billion.

What else: The S&P - aka the Standard & Poor's (the folks that create financial market benchmarks like the S&P/ASX 200) reckons this would reduce BHP's diversification, which means its credit rating could go from A down to a BBB+ - the lowest is ever been. 

So what's the key learning?

💡 The S&P credit ratings are their forward-looking opinions about a company’s credit-worthiness. In other words, it's the S&P's opinion on whether a company can meet its financial commitments.

💡 S&P read company reports, news articles and learn about the company's management to determine what its credit rating will be. Then, investors look at that score (among other factors) when they're deciding whether or not to invest in the company. 

💡 The highest rating the S&P can give is an AAA rating - and the lowest is a D. By selling its oil portfolio, BHP is increasing its a dependency on a single asset, which makes it more vulnerable - and warrants two notches off their belt to a BBB+.

Click Frenzy owner Global Marketplace buys NZ online marketplace GrabOne

Background: Global Marketplace is the parent company of e-commerce events business Click Frenzy. Ya know, the giant sale that happens four times a year, lasts for 53 hours and makes you spend all your money?!

What happened: Click Frenzy launched in 2012, and it's amassed a whopping 1.7 million customers, and attracted some top-tier board members like RedBalloon founder Naomi Simson. It's also been growing at 40% each. year. 

What else: Global Marketplace is looking to launch across the ditch, so it bought NZ daily deals and e-commerce site GrabOne in a $16.7 million deal. Which means NZ could get its very own ClickFrenzy sale soon, and Click Frenzy gains access to a whole new consumer and merchant database. 

So what's the key learning?

💡 Consumer databases are a collection of information about all the customers that have made a purchase from a business. And companies will pay big bucks for it.

💡 A database is super powerful. We're talkin' fast and easy access to millions of customers, and data about age, gender and purchasing history. It's the good stuff, Flux fam. 

💡 Building a customer database can take years. Especially in a new country. But, by buying a local business - and its consumer database - you can go full steam ahead, right from the get go.

Twitch users are holding a one-day blackout to raise awareness over 'hate raids'

Background: Twitch is the world’s leading live streaming platform for gamers. It launched back in 2011, and has a whopping 140 million unique monthly visitors, and 26.5 million daily active users. And, the Twitch team brings in around $2.1 billion in revenue each year. 

What happened: There are over 127,000 live Twitch broadcasts going on at any given time, and with so many people using the platform, it's become prone to 'hate raids'. This is where a group of users use dummy accounts or bots to fill a live-streamer's chat with targeted abuse.‍

What else: Twitch streamers that have been victims of hate raids are over it. So, they're staging a one-day no-streaming protest, and hoping the movement draws attention and support for them. Then, they're hoping that forces Twitch to make policy changes to address the issue. ‍

So what's the key learning?

💡 Platforms have an increasing responsibility to protect their users: whether that be over misinformation, privacy concerns or even abuse.

💡 On average, we're using social media sites for nearly 2.5 hours a day. It's where we get our news - and our entertainment. And while most of it is fun and games, a lot of it can get pretty dark.  

💡 While platforms can't police what people say, they can update their policies to make their spaces safer. We've seen Twitter flag misleading content, TikTok update privacy measures for teens and Facebook moderate content on the Taliban. Hopefully Twitch can reign in its users.

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