Speaker 1: This is what the flucks.
Speaker 2: I'm justin and I'm harsh Deep and it's Monday, the
Speaker 2: tenth of June Achi.
Speaker 1: The merge between the physical and the digital world is
Speaker 1: getting more real every single day. Oh yeah, get this.
Speaker 1: Ikia is opening a digital store on Robelosts. Okay, they're
Speaker 1: actually looking for staff and they're actually looking to pay
Speaker 1: those stuff sixteen bucks an hour. Wow, sitting on your
Speaker 1: computer not fair head, Fluxpam.
Speaker 2: Have you ever wondered how much super you should have
Speaker 2: your age? Are you ahead where the average Australian is
Speaker 2: or behind? Having a benchmark to compare your super can
Speaker 2: give you a signal of your financial health and we've
Speaker 2: got it covered in the Flux app, so make sure
Speaker 2: to check it out.
Speaker 1: Great article. HD three informative stories Today, let's get into
Speaker 1: it for our first virtual gaming world. The Australian social
Speaker 1: gaming giant has delivered a massive three hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: million dollar dividend to investors in it's third mega payout
Speaker 1: for the financial year.
Speaker 2: The biggest company that you've never heard of tell me more.
Speaker 1: Literally, Virtual Gaming Old is an absolutely monstrous estliing company,
Speaker 1: but it keeps pretty low key.
Speaker 2: It was founded back in twenty ten with its online
Speaker 2: poker machines and casino games.
Speaker 1: It's the owner of companies Chumber Casino and Lucky Land Slots,
Speaker 1: which you may or may not have heard of Andazz.
Speaker 2: VGW has kept a low profile for a good reason.
Speaker 2: It operates in the gray zone of sweet Steaks.
Speaker 1: That effectively allows them to run gambling operations in the
Speaker 1: US when casinos are banned in many states.
Speaker 2: Get this. By September twenty twenty two, VGW was the
Speaker 2: sixth biggest private company in the whole of Australia.
Speaker 1: It generated more than two point eight billion dollars in
Speaker 1: revenue in the six months ending December last year. And
Speaker 1: now VGW has dishouted dividend worth around three hundred and
Speaker 1: sixty million dollars to a shareholder.
Speaker 2: And that's nearly nine hundred million dollars in dividends just
Speaker 2: for the last financial year.
Speaker 1: And while vgw's investors would be pretty happy with those
Speaker 1: dividend returns, the real payday will happen when VGW is
Speaker 1: sold all goes public.
Speaker 2: But there's a real liquidity risk for those investors.
Speaker 1: True, So what is the key learning here?
Speaker 2: Private market and is a complex dance of higher risk
Speaker 2: but also high reward and a she.
Speaker 1: This is particularly relevant for VGW, which faces a significant
Speaker 1: liquidity risk for investors.
Speaker 2: You see Jazz. Traditional liquidity pathways are kind of limited
Speaker 2: for VGW and Jazz. Why can't VGW just list on
Speaker 2: the public stock exchange.
Speaker 1: Well, it's previously tried to list on the ASX and
Speaker 1: it was rejected because the ASEX wasn't clear on the
Speaker 1: legality of vgw's operations.
Speaker 2: And what about another company buying VGW.
Speaker 1: Well, it's worth more than four billion dollars, so it
Speaker 1: needs to be a pretty big company willing to take
Speaker 1: on a regulatory risk.
Speaker 2: So right now, VGW investors are just happy to take
Speaker 2: their dividends, but.
Speaker 1: They've got to be wondering what their long term options
Speaker 1: really are.
Speaker 2: For our second story, robin Hood, the stock trading app,
Speaker 2: has announced a two hundred million US dollar acquisition of
Speaker 2: cryptocurrency exchange bitstamp.
Speaker 1: Robin Hood's getting deeper into the crypto action. Very interesting,
Speaker 1: So tell me what's going on here.
Speaker 2: Well, Jazz. Robinhood is a US based financial services company
Speaker 2: that's been around since twenty thirteen.
Speaker 1: It's most well known for its app, which allows users
Speaker 1: to trade stocks and ETFs and even some cryptocurrencies, mainly
Speaker 1: without brokerage fees.
Speaker 2: And now robin Hood has just announced that it will
Speaker 2: be acquiring cryptocurrency exchange a bitstamp for two hundred million
Speaker 2: US dollars.
Speaker 1: And a bitstamp isn't just any old exchange, hg. It's the
Speaker 1: world's oldest crypto exchange, been around since twenty eleven.
Speaker 2: It's now the sixteenth largest crypto exchange actually based on
Speaker 2: trading volume, and offers access to over eighty five different cryptocurrencies.
Speaker 1: But that is not what makes it steel super lucrative
Speaker 1: for robin Hood.
Speaker 2: Okay, tell me more.
Speaker 1: Well, bitstam has fifty active licenses worldwide, meaning it's done
Speaker 1: the hard yards to meet regulatory standards across the world.
Speaker 2: No wonder robin Hood's shelled out the cash to buy this.
Speaker 1: So what is the key learning?
Speaker 2: Why reinvent the wheel when you can just acquire itch.
Speaker 1: When companies want to expand their operations, either into a
Speaker 1: new area or location, they often need to meet regulatory
Speaker 1: requirements first.
Speaker 2: Planning to open a new store location got to get
Speaker 2: a permit.
Speaker 1: Expanding overseas into a new country, particularly in a regulated industry,
Speaker 1: you got to get their approval.
Speaker 2: Obtaining the licenses and regulatory approvals can be extremely time
Speaker 2: consuming and expensive for companies, but.
Speaker 1: There's a shortcut acquiring a company that already has those licenses.
Speaker 2: You see Jazz. Not only is Robinhood buying Bitstamp, but
Speaker 2: it's also buying access to new markets.
Speaker 1: And bypassing the licensing process.
Speaker 2: So if Robinhood's acquisition gets approved by competition watchdogs, we
Speaker 2: could be seeing it dominate the crypto space rapidly.
Speaker 1: For our third and final story, Lululemon has seen a
Speaker 1: big jump in a share price after it raised its
Speaker 1: profit forecast and announced a one billion US dollar share
Speaker 1: buy bout.
Speaker 2: Investors got to love those shared by bats, tell.
Speaker 1: Me more so. Lululemon Athletica, as it's formerly known, is
Speaker 1: the yoga and active word company founded back in nineteen
Speaker 1: ninety eight.
Speaker 2: And wilet started with yoga clothing, it's effectively created the
Speaker 2: athleisure category.
Speaker 1: We're talking legging, shorts, jackets, bags, yoga mats. They got
Speaker 1: it all and just.
Speaker 2: Many clothing companies have struggled with slow sales over the
Speaker 2: past twelve months, but not Lululemon.
Speaker 1: In fact, its first quarter, revenue in the US was
Speaker 1: pretty much flight in a plank position, but it's international
Speaker 1: sales jumped twenty five percent.
Speaker 2: Not only were these sales up, but they were also
Speaker 2: selling more profitable items.
Speaker 1: And if that wasn't ENOUGHHD Lululemon has also announced that
Speaker 1: increased their share by Back program by one billion US dollars.
Speaker 2: Investors like the sound of that, pushing lula Lemon's shares
Speaker 2: higher than a box jump berbie aka eleven percent.
Speaker 1: Very good. So what is the key learning here?
Speaker 2: When you fully saturated one market, it's time to move
Speaker 2: on to another HG.
Speaker 1: Lululemon's at leisure popularity peaked in the US during the COVID.
Speaker 2: Years, but since then, Lululemon's share price and financial results
Speaker 2: have been in downward dog position.
Speaker 1: This year, its share price has dropped more than thirty
Speaker 1: six percent since the beginning of twenty twenty four, and it's.
Speaker 2: Been seeing slow growth, particularly in the US market.
Speaker 1: But by detecting these trends early, you can help a
Speaker 1: company respond before these trends become fully entrenched.
Speaker 2: Does. The women's ath leisure space has become extremely crowded
Speaker 2: with popular brands like a Loo, Yoga and fabletics.
Speaker 1: So Lululemon has diversified into men's clothing and corporate clothing.
Speaker 2: As well as pushing as ran into global markets.
Speaker 1: In fact, overseas revenue now accounts for around twenty one
Speaker 1: percent of Lululemon's revenue, but they see it reaching fifty
Speaker 1: percent in the long term and it's these.
Speaker 2: New growth channels that will help grow the Lululemon brand
Speaker 2: into the future.
Speaker 1: It's tough to say the word Luther Lemon fluxam. Most
Speaker 1: people don't give their superannuation much thought. But if you're
Speaker 1: deciding to come around and try to understand what a
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Speaker 1: your super we've got it covered in the Flux app,
Speaker 1: so make sure to check it out. With HG's latest article,
Speaker 1: it's a cracker.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening, and we'll see you on Wednesday.