Speaker 1: This is what the flucks I'm Brett and aren't Justin
Speaker 1: and Friday, the twenty fourth of January, Doboy, we spoke
Speaker 1: the other day about the potential merger between Maya and
Speaker 1: Apparel Brands, and now it has been overwhelmingly approved if
Speaker 1: you don't mind. We're talking ninety five percent of Maya
Speaker 1: shareholders approving the deal and almost one hundred percent of
Speaker 1: Premier's shareholders. That means Maya is officially becoming the owner
Speaker 1: of JJ's, Dottie Portman's, and your personal favorite Jackie E.
Speaker 1: Holby shopping there mighty soon, flocks out, Here's a little
Speaker 1: tip for you. If you're going to play in our
Speaker 1: weekly game Quick Sticks, which will drop today, there may
Speaker 1: or may not be a little question about the Maya
Speaker 1: Apparel Brands mergerup. So if you want to own fifty
Speaker 1: bucks a day in the Flux app make sure you
Speaker 1: turn on your notifications and be the fastest person to
Speaker 1: answer the three questions correctly. Three hard done by stories today,
Speaker 1: Dozzy boy, let's do it for our first Quantus has
Speaker 1: made major changes to its Frequent Flyer program, meaning you
Speaker 1: will need to use more points to book most international flights.
Speaker 1: They added the Classic Plus tier. Now this what is next?
Speaker 1: B man a search oute for breathing on board. So
Speaker 1: j Boy, we know that Quantus spent the last couple
Speaker 1: of years in full blown damage control. They had backed
Speaker 1: back scandals that could rival a reality TV series. We'd
Speaker 1: be talking illegally sacking staff, allowing customers to pook ghost flights,
Speaker 1: and of course delays of more than forty percent on
Speaker 1: its flights and the man. The reputation repairing seemed to
Speaker 1: work because Quantus' share price was up nearly seventy percent
Speaker 1: last year. As part of this rep rebuild, Jazzy Boy,
Speaker 1: they revamped their frequent Flyer program. Yeh. Last year they
Speaker 1: opened up twenty million new seats for Frequent Flyer members
Speaker 1: under a new Classic Plus offering more seats available, but
Speaker 1: they were more expensive than the traditional Classic Reward, which
Speaker 1: had less flights but were also cheaper. Now the trusty
Speaker 1: Classic Award system is getting a bit of a shake up. Yeap.
Speaker 1: Quantuses announce it'll cost more points to book flights under
Speaker 1: the Classic Rewards tier, anywhere from five percent to twenty
Speaker 1: percent more, in effect devaluing current frequent Flyer points, which
Speaker 1: would reduce Quantus's deferred revenue liability. Oh a nice one,
Speaker 1: jazzy boy, So what is the key learning here? Deferred
Speaker 1: revenue liability is when a company gets paid upfront for
Speaker 1: a product or a service that it hasn't delivered yet.
Speaker 1: In accounting terms, it's added to the balance sheet as
Speaker 1: a liability because in this case, Quantus still owes its
Speaker 1: customers flights in the future, and Quantus customers have been
Speaker 1: earning points at an increasing rate over the past few years,
Speaker 1: and the customers haven't been able to burn these points
Speaker 1: at the same rate, meaning Quantus's deferred revenue liability keeps
Speaker 1: growing and growing and growing. Get this be man. The
Speaker 1: number of total frequent flypoints in the world was up
Speaker 1: thirteen percent in the six months to December twenty twenty three.
Speaker 1: So now Quantus is devalue the points of its classic
Speaker 1: reward system to encourage its customers to burn more points
Speaker 1: and ultimately reduce this defer revenue liability. But Quantus spent
Speaker 1: a year trying to get out of scandal mode, and
Speaker 1: now it could be stepping right back into it. Yep.
Speaker 1: For our second story, Netflix has cracked three hundred million
Speaker 1: global subscribers for the very first time after the major
Speaker 1: release of Squid Game two. More like Squid Gain two.
Speaker 1: Mrib Man, terrible joke, Tell me more juzzy boy. We
Speaker 1: know Netflix is the OG of the streaming platforms. It
Speaker 1: actually launched back in nineteen ninety eight as a DVD
Speaker 1: rental business before shifting into the streaming world. In fact,
Speaker 1: Netflix's founders famously tried to sell the business to Blockbuster
Speaker 1: back in two thousand for fifty million bucks. Oh how
Speaker 1: the tables have turned Aha, and now juzzy boy. Netflix
Speaker 1: has announced it hit three hundred million global subscribers in
Speaker 1: the most recent quarter, which is a jump of nearly
Speaker 1: nineteen million new subscribers chuck. On top of that, it's
Speaker 1: profit doubled from a year earlier to nearly one point
Speaker 1: eight billion dollars. And it's no surprise that Netflix investors
Speaker 1: were doing the Wednesday Adams dance and the share price
Speaker 1: rocketed fourteen percent. But what was the reason for these
Speaker 1: big jump in subscribers. Netflix reckons that the Jake Paul
Speaker 1: and Mike Tyson boxing match brought in millions of new subby's,
Speaker 1: as well as the NFL games over the holiday period,
Speaker 1: but the icing on the cake was the new release
Speaker 1: of squid Game two, which personally, I must say it
Speaker 1: was kind of underwhelming. Sorry to hear that, Juzzy boy,
Speaker 1: but I'm wondering, what is the key learning come for
Speaker 1: the specials stay for the series. Yes, recently we've seen
Speaker 1: every broadcaster and their dog vying for live sports rights.
Speaker 1: Live sports are scene as a way to actually differentiate
Speaker 1: themselves in a very crowded streaming market. In Australia, You've
Speaker 1: got streaming platform Dezone acquiring fox Sell for three point
Speaker 1: four billion dollars, largely for Foxtell's sports rights. You've got
Speaker 1: op This with English Premier League rights. You've also got
Speaker 1: Stan with rugby and oz Open. Interestingly, though be Man,
Speaker 1: Netflix is targeting the one of specials like Paul and
Speaker 1: Tyson as opposed to the full season of any major sports.
Speaker 1: Seems counterintuitive because subscribers can then unsubscribe shortly after the
Speaker 1: event is done. But Netflix reckons that its subscribers are
Speaker 1: signing up for these events and then sticking around for
Speaker 1: its quality content like squidty Game. And this is what
Speaker 1: we call the ultimate Mike Tyson one two punch. For
Speaker 1: our third and final story, Donald Trump has announced at
Speaker 1: least five hundred billion US dollars into a project called
Speaker 1: Stargate that will fund AI infrastructure in the US basically
Speaker 1: anything China does. Trump wants the US to do more of.
Speaker 1: Juzzy boy, So tell me what's going on here? Okay,
Speaker 1: So we know that Donald Trump officially became the pres
Speaker 1: of the US last week, and now, in one of
Speaker 1: his first moves, he's announced a five hundred billion US
Speaker 1: dollar joint venture in the AI space called Stargate, sounding
Speaker 1: very sci fi if you asked me, uh huh, and
Speaker 1: juzy boy, some of the big dogs of the AI
Speaker 1: industry will be tipping in as part of this private
Speaker 1: sector investment. We'd be talking Open AI, Oracle Soft bang. Now,
Speaker 1: apart from this very dramatic name, what actually is this
Speaker 1: Stargate that we're all speaking of will be man. The
Speaker 1: idea is that Stargate will encourage investment in the physical
Speaker 1: and digital infrastructure of AI. Okay, and what does that mean?
Speaker 1: But basically means these private companies will build a heap
Speaker 1: of data centers to power AI in the US, or,
Speaker 1: as Trump calls it, very very massive structures and man.
Speaker 1: The goal of Stargate is to maintain the US lead
Speaker 1: in developing AI ahead of China through a public private partnership. Interesting,
Speaker 1: So what is the key learning here? Public private partnerships
Speaker 1: are collaborative agreements between the government and private sector companies.
Speaker 1: The government brings the mission in this case, make our
Speaker 1: AI better than China's AI, and the private sector brings
Speaker 1: the technology, the innovation, and of course the all important cash,
Speaker 1: and together they get the job done with less risk
Speaker 1: for government funding and pretty chunky financial incentives for the
Speaker 1: private sector and be man. These public private partnerships happen
Speaker 1: all over the world, even here in Australia yep. Many
Speaker 1: of the major toll roads in Australia, like CityLink in
Speaker 1: Melbourne or Sydney Metro Northwest, they are public private partnerships.
Speaker 1: The goals which connects freeways and improve traffic flow, but
Speaker 1: the private sector funded, built and operates these toll roads
Speaker 1: and the government collects the share of toll revenue while
Speaker 1: someone else is doing the heavy lifting. Flux, d'am, if
Speaker 1: you want to win fifty bucks to kick off this
Speaker 1: weekend on a high, there is only one place to
Speaker 1: do it. It is in the Flux app at a
Speaker 1: random time today. To make sure you turn on your
Speaker 1: notifications with the fastest person to answer the three questions
Speaker 1: correctly in quick sticks. Thanks for listening and we'll see
Speaker 1: you on Monday.