Speaker 1: This is what the Flux.
Speaker 2: I'm justin and I'm harsh deep, and it's Friday, the
Speaker 2: thirteenth of September.
Speaker 1: Ag Andy Warhol may be turning his grave right now
Speaker 1: because Campbell Soup Company has announced plans to change its name.
Speaker 1: Do not worry, though it's not going too far. Campbell
Speaker 1: Soup Company will be changed the Campbell's Company, I must say,
Speaker 1: given they also own Kettle's Chips and Fregel sauces, kind
Speaker 1: of makes sense. It's still a very sad loss.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, Jazz Friday isn't only the best workday of
Speaker 2: the week because it's just before the weekend, but also
Speaker 2: because it's our quick sticks day. That means if you're
Speaker 2: the first to answer three business questions correctly in the
Speaker 2: Flex app, you'll win fifty bucks. So make sure to
Speaker 2: download the Flux app and turn your notifications on.
Speaker 1: Three quizzical stories today. HD.
Speaker 2: Let's get into it for our first.
Speaker 1: Aria Group, the owner of real estate dot com doa AU,
Speaker 1: has had its first offer to acquire Right Move rejected,
Speaker 1: but it may come back for more.
Speaker 2: The first offer is almost never the final offer. But
Speaker 2: tell me more about this one.
Speaker 1: Okay, So last week we spoke about how Aria Group
Speaker 1: was looking to acquire a UK based company called right Move. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Right Move is the UK's largest online real estate property
Speaker 2: portal and it's listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Speaker 1: It's kind of like the real estate dot com dot
Speaker 1: i use equivalent over the pond in the UK.
Speaker 2: Now Jazz. It was revealed that Aria Group was looking
Speaker 2: to make an eleven billion dollar offer for right.
Speaker 1: Move, which is a twenty seven percent premium to right
Speaker 1: Move share price on August thirty.
Speaker 2: But Right Movers come out and rejected this offer faster
Speaker 2: than an auctioneer can stay sold.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Right Move said the offer was wholly opportunistic and if.
Speaker 2: That wasn't enough, they also said that the offer fundamentally
Speaker 2: undervalued right Move and its future prospects.
Speaker 1: Out But HD it ain't over yet because Aria Group
Speaker 1: is reassessing its options and could come back with a
Speaker 1: revised and improved.
Speaker 2: Offer and Jazz Aria said if the deal was to
Speaker 2: go through, it would apply for a listing on the
Speaker 2: London Stock Exchange.
Speaker 1: Interesting, so tell me what is the key learning here?
Speaker 2: Global ambitions demand a global stage listing on a major
Speaker 2: exchange can open the door to more sophisticated institutional investors.
Speaker 1: These are investors who may prefer to investing companies listed
Speaker 1: on well regulated and internationally recognized exchanges.
Speaker 2: You see, jazz Aria Group is currently valued at twenty
Speaker 2: seven billion dollars. It's the eighteenth largest listed company on
Speaker 2: the ASX, So rather than.
Speaker 1: Being a big fish in a small ASX pond, listing
Speaker 1: on the London Stock Exchange would allow Aria Group to
Speaker 1: become accessible to a whole new market of investors.
Speaker 2: And jazz Aria Group wouldn't be the only ASX listed
Speaker 2: company to jump ship to another exchange.
Speaker 1: Nope. Remember recently Life three sixty, the AX listed child
Speaker 1: tracking are YEP.
Speaker 2: They listed on the Nasdaq in June this year to
Speaker 2: get exposure to a bigger market.
Speaker 1: So for Aria Group, listing on the London Stock Exchange
Speaker 1: could be a critical step in cementing its position as
Speaker 1: a global digital property leader.
Speaker 2: For our second story, hester the super Fund is putting
Speaker 2: pressure on Australia's largest companies to ad gender targets across
Speaker 2: their entire organization.
Speaker 1: You've heard of voting with your olid HD, but now
Speaker 1: it's voting with your super So tell me what's going
Speaker 1: out here so we.
Speaker 2: Know superannuation funds as the pots of gold at the
Speaker 2: end of the rainbow for Ozzie workers.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and HESTER is the industry super fund for workers
Speaker 1: in the health and community service sector.
Speaker 2: We're talking eighty seven billion dollars in funds under management.
Speaker 1: We're also talking more than nine hundred and fifty thousand members,
Speaker 1: of which eighty percent are women.
Speaker 2: So does it's not surprising that HESTER is now putting
Speaker 2: pressure on Australia's largest companies to adopt gender targets.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Hester's written to the chairs and chief executives of
Speaker 1: the ASEX three hundred companies it invests in, and.
Speaker 2: It's asking these chairs and CEOs to commit to ensuring
Speaker 2: forty percent of its staff are women.
Speaker 1: And if these companies don't hit that target, Hester is
Speaker 1: threatened to vote against executive remuneration, in.
Speaker 2: Other words, hitting the execs right where it hurts them.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Talk about shareholder activism.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, So tell me what's the key learning here? Does?
Speaker 1: Shareholder activism is when big investors leverage their ownership power
Speaker 1: to push companies to make changes, and.
Speaker 2: In this case, it's about making companies more socially responsible.
Speaker 1: Actually, Hester's focus is on gender equality and they're using
Speaker 1: their voting power to nudge companies into setting gender diversity
Speaker 1: goals across all levels.
Speaker 2: Recently, the Workplace Gender Equality Agency in Australia released some
Speaker 2: pretty alarming data.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they revealed that the gender pay gap was more
Speaker 1: than twenty percent in the private sector.
Speaker 2: So hester Reckins, now is the time to push for
Speaker 2: change even harder.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they're hoping that by setting these gender targets across
Speaker 1: entire organizations and not just at the board or exec level,
Speaker 1: it's going to address the gender pay gap and.
Speaker 2: If successful, this will be proof that investors can do
Speaker 2: more than just watch their stocks. They can actually influence
Speaker 2: real change.
Speaker 1: True. For our third and final story, Google is facing
Speaker 1: its second antitrust case against the US Department of Justice
Speaker 1: in just two months, and this time it's for allegedly
Speaker 1: monopolizing the digital ad industry.
Speaker 2: Google's under the interrogation lamp once again. Tell me more.
Speaker 1: Okay, so Google maybe a tech giant worth close to
Speaker 1: two trillion US dollars, but lately it's been facing more
Speaker 1: legal disputes than it can handle. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2: Last year there was Google's battle with Epic Games, the
Speaker 2: owner of Fortnite, which it lost.
Speaker 1: Then there's been three anti trust cases in the European Union,
Speaker 1: all three of which it lost, but is now appealing
Speaker 1: and now does.
Speaker 2: This week, Google has begun its second antitrust case against
Speaker 2: the US Department of Justice.
Speaker 1: Now, actually, the Department of Justice is alleging that Google
Speaker 1: is illegally monopolizing the market for digital ads technology. How so, well,
Speaker 1: it claims the Google's acquiring its competitors when they become
Speaker 1: a threat and forcing website publishers to use Google's tools.
Speaker 2: And this has effectively allowed Google to dominate both the
Speaker 2: buyer and seller side of the ad marketplace.
Speaker 1: But this time at she the US seems to have
Speaker 1: taken a leaf out of the EU's book, because it's
Speaker 1: coming down on Google pretty darn hard.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, so what's the key learning here?
Speaker 1: Well, the EU has largely led the charge in keeping
Speaker 1: tech giants in check, the US is starting to catch up.
Speaker 2: In fact, just early this week, the EU hit Google
Speaker 2: with a two point four billion euro fine and then
Speaker 2: hit Apple with a thirteen billion euro tax bill pouch.
Speaker 1: But now, atchie, it looks like the US is getting
Speaker 1: on board two and no longer giving tech giants a
Speaker 1: free pass. Yep.
Speaker 2: Last month's case against Google was the first time US
Speaker 2: prosecutors have successfully launched an antitrust case against a tech
Speaker 2: platform like Google.
Speaker 1: And recently the US Department of Justice has also broadcases
Speaker 1: against Apple and Amazon and MITA as well.
Speaker 2: Now, while the US is one of the biggest markets
Speaker 2: for tech giants like Google, tech companies are starting to
Speaker 2: realize that their relationship with US regulators is changing.
Speaker 1: Flux Sam, if you want to check off the weekend
Speaker 1: on the best book possible, it all starts with fifty
Speaker 1: dollars in your pocket and that means playing quick Sticks today.
Speaker 1: All you've got to do is download the Flux Out,
Speaker 1: be the first to answer three business questions correctly, and
Speaker 1: the fifty bucks is all yours to Make sure to
Speaker 1: download the Flux Out and turn your notifications on.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening, and we'll see you on Monday.