WEBVTT - Biggest tech stories - 2025 Recap

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<v Speaker 1>This is what the flux.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm Brett and I'm Justin and it's Wednesday, seventeenth of

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<v Speaker 2>December Fox. Today we are doing a recap of some

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<v Speaker 2>of the biggest tech stories of twenty twenty five. In

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<v Speaker 2>twenty twenty five, we saw some of the biggest acquisitions

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<v Speaker 2>we've had in years and even bigger earnings results. But

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<v Speaker 2>not just that, we also saw markets reacting, sometimes very quickly,

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<v Speaker 2>when expectations were met. It was part of this recap.

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<v Speaker 2>We're not going deep on AI because it deserves its

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<v Speaker 2>own dedicated recap episode, So enjoy this episode where we

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<v Speaker 2>take a look back at the stories that define the

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<v Speaker 2>tech world in Australia and around the world in twenty

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<v Speaker 2>twenty five.

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<v Speaker 1>Three splendid stories Today, Juzzy Boy, let's do it for

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<v Speaker 1>our first domain, the Aussie real estate website, will be

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<v Speaker 1>sold to US real estate giant Coast in a deal

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<v Speaker 1>worth two point eight billion dollars.

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<v Speaker 2>Ooh, Aria Group not happy right now, It's got a

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<v Speaker 2>red competitor here be man, so tell me more well.

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<v Speaker 1>Juzzy Boy Domain is the real estate marketplace that first

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<v Speaker 1>listed its properties online in nineteen ninety nine, back.

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<v Speaker 2>When those real estate newspaper fold outs were the best

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<v Speaker 2>way to know which properties were selling.

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<v Speaker 1>But Domain has always played second fiddle to real estate

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<v Speaker 1>dot com dot a U in the digital real estate industry.

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<v Speaker 2>Yet real estate dot com dot U has forty six

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<v Speaker 2>percent more monthly unique visitors than Domain.

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<v Speaker 1>But Josie Boy, that didn't stop a mystery buyer from

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<v Speaker 1>acquiring a sixteen point nine percent stake in Domain back

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<v Speaker 1>in February of this year.

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<v Speaker 2>And spoiler alert that mystery buyer was the US real

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<v Speaker 2>estate firm Coastar. Yep.

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<v Speaker 1>They slid into Domain's DMS with an offer, which was rejected.

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<v Speaker 2>Then they sweetened the deal, and.

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<v Speaker 1>Now Domain's majority shareholder Nine Entertainment has backed this deal.

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<v Speaker 2>Which was it a forty two percent premium to Domain

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<v Speaker 2>share price before the proposal.

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<v Speaker 1>And technically shareholders still need to vote on the deal.

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<v Speaker 2>Given nine has a sixty percent steak in Domain and

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<v Speaker 2>coast has now got nearly seventeen percent, there's not too

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<v Speaker 2>much up for debate.

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<v Speaker 1>Yep. So what's the key learning here?

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<v Speaker 2>Controlling stakes don't just influence outcomes, they often decide them.

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<v Speaker 1>Yep. When a company or a shareholder owns a large

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<v Speaker 1>stake in a business, they can effectively control the outcome

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<v Speaker 1>of major decisions.

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<v Speaker 2>Everything from leadership changes to mergers and acquisitions.

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<v Speaker 1>In this case, Nine owns sixty percent of Domain, which

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<v Speaker 1>means their vote basically seals the deal with Costar.

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<v Speaker 2>As long as Nine's on board, the deal is likely

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<v Speaker 2>to go ahead.

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<v Speaker 1>But does not all controlling shareholders are willing to facilitate

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<v Speaker 1>a takeover like this deal.

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<v Speaker 2>Remember when the private equity firm KKR try to acquire

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<v Speaker 2>the Australian hospital operator Ramsey Healthcare in twenty twenty two

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<v Speaker 2>for twenty billion dollars I do.

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<v Speaker 1>The deal fell apart because the Ramsey family, which owned

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<v Speaker 1>nineteen percent of the company, did not back the proposal.

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<v Speaker 2>So be man at Controlling stakes don't just influence deals,

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<v Speaker 2>they often make or break them. For our second story,

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<v Speaker 2>Google has announced its largest acquisition in history, acquiring cybersecurity

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<v Speaker 2>startup Whiz for thirty two billion US dollars.

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<v Speaker 1>Holy Smokerroni's not bad for a four year old company.

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<v Speaker 1>Juzzy boy, What is going on here?

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<v Speaker 2>Ky So Whizz was founded back in twenty twenty and

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<v Speaker 2>he's one of the fastest growing startups of all time.

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<v Speaker 1>Is an Israeli company that's New York based and sells

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<v Speaker 1>security tools that protect information stored in data centers.

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<v Speaker 2>And we know that the data centers are the second hottest

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<v Speaker 2>word right now behind.

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<v Speaker 1>AI so jes wait. Google has now announced its acquisition

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<v Speaker 1>of Whiz for thirty two billion US dollars, and this

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<v Speaker 1>is Google's largest acquisition by a country mile. The next

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<v Speaker 1>biggest is Motoroller Mobility in twenty eleven for twelve and

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<v Speaker 1>a half billion US dollars, which it.

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<v Speaker 2>No longer owns the men. Whiz currently works with others

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<v Speaker 2>like Amazon and Microsoft in the cloud market too, but

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<v Speaker 2>it's possible that Google will make the tech exclusive for

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<v Speaker 2>Google customers in the future.

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<v Speaker 1>And interestingly, this isn't Google's first interaction with Wiz Nope.

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<v Speaker 2>Last year, Google tried to acquire Whiz for twenty three

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<v Speaker 2>billion US dollars, but they rejected the offer.

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<v Speaker 1>So now Google's having a second bite of their cherry,

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<v Speaker 1>and this time it's been successful, but paying forty percent

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<v Speaker 1>more than its original offer and thirty times Whizz's forecasted

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<v Speaker 1>future revenue.

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<v Speaker 2>So what is the key lenny here?

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<v Speaker 1>When big companies by smaller ones, they often assess value

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<v Speaker 1>using a multiple of revenue or a multiple of earnings.

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<v Speaker 2>For example, when Microsoft acquired LinkedIn, it was for eight

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<v Speaker 2>point seven times their revenue, and.

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<v Speaker 1>Into It acquired Mailchimp for about a fifteen times multiple

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<v Speaker 1>on their revenue.

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<v Speaker 2>But in this case, being Man Alphabet is paying thirty times.

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<v Speaker 2>Wiz is forecast at future revenue of one billion dollars,

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<v Speaker 2>or roughly sixty times their existing revenue. Because Wiz is

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<v Speaker 2>growing like wildfire YEP, It's one of the fastest growing

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<v Speaker 2>startups of all time according to the Wall Street Journal.

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<v Speaker 1>Top of that, cybersecurity tools are in very high demand right.

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<v Speaker 2>Now, so be man. Sometimes buyers will pay a premium

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<v Speaker 2>when they say strategic.

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<v Speaker 1>Value, like Google securing a partner that also works with

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<v Speaker 1>its two biggest cloud rivals. Remember when Meta acquired WhatsApp

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<v Speaker 1>for nineteen billion US dollars in twenty fourteen.

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<v Speaker 2>YEP.

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<v Speaker 1>At the time, WhatsApp was believed to be earning about

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<v Speaker 1>thirty million bucks in annual revenue.

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<v Speaker 2>It was a huge risk, but eventually a huge payoff

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<v Speaker 2>because What'sapp generated one point three billion revenue in twenty

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<v Speaker 2>twenty three.

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<v Speaker 1>Google's hoping Whiz will follow a similar part.

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<v Speaker 2>For our third and final story, Meta share price has

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<v Speaker 2>jumped nine percent after its quarterly earnings smash past investor

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<v Speaker 2>expectations that the spenderthon is continuing.

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<v Speaker 1>Not only Zuck bulking right now, but metas profits are too.

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<v Speaker 2>Tell me more you No Meta. The company bid Facebook,

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<v Speaker 2>which started in the Harvard dorm back in two thousand

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<v Speaker 2>and four.

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<v Speaker 1>Since then it acquired Instagram and WhatsApp.

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<v Speaker 2>And the man we know that the part man, part Cyborg,

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<v Speaker 2>Mark Zuckerberg loves to chase the next big thing.

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<v Speaker 1>For a hot minute, it was creating a digital currency

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<v Speaker 1>called Libra.

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<v Speaker 2>And there was the hot a minute when it was

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<v Speaker 2>creating the metaverse.

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<v Speaker 1>And now the hottest minute with Meta focusing on competing

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<v Speaker 1>against Open Ai, Google and Anthropic for AI dominance.

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<v Speaker 2>But now Mark cyborg Berg has revenue of forty seven

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<v Speaker 2>and a half billion US dollars for Meta's last quarter, up.

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<v Speaker 1>To twenty two percent. Year on you next minute, share

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<v Speaker 1>price up more than nine percent, and.

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<v Speaker 2>The Man Meta says that AI is becoming a real

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<v Speaker 2>revenue driver for the business. While investors clearly like the vision,

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<v Speaker 2>they also like the projected dollars coming through.

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<v Speaker 1>But Josey Boit growth in revenue means next to nothing

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<v Speaker 1>if it's not coupled with a growth in earnings as well.

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<v Speaker 2>So what is the key learning here?

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<v Speaker 1>Well, revenue tells you how much a company made. Earnings

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<v Speaker 1>tell you whether they actually kept any of it.

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<v Speaker 2>For example, Meta earned forty seven and a half billion

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<v Speaker 2>dollars in revenue this quarter.

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<v Speaker 1>Earnings, also known as profit or net income, is what's

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<v Speaker 1>left after the bills are paid.

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<v Speaker 2>Think staff wages, AD spend, R and D and yes,

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<v Speaker 2>those billion dollar data centers as well.

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<v Speaker 1>And jes a boy for investors. Both metrics matter a lot.

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<v Speaker 2>But be man. In this quarter, Meta didn't just scre

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<v Speaker 2>a revenue. It also grew its earnings per share by

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<v Speaker 2>thirty eight percent.

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<v Speaker 1>And that was well above expectations.

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<v Speaker 2>So yes, Meta's AI dreams are expensive, but this quarter

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<v Speaker 2>at least it looks like they're starting to pay off.

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<v Speaker 1>And for shareholders who were worried that AI was becoming

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<v Speaker 1>a money pit, it's a reassuring sign.

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<v Speaker 2>Because it means the AI arms race might actually deliver

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<v Speaker 2>financial returns. Box Sham, thanks for listening to the biggest

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<v Speaker 2>tech stories of twenty twenty five. On Friday, we'll be

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<v Speaker 2>talking about the biggest stories from the streaming world this year.

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<v Speaker 1>Thanks for listening, and we'll see you on Friday.