We have reached our final episode of 2023. And what a year it was: inflation and interest rates, miracle drugs to record breaking sports contracts, AI to CZ, there was so much that happened. Today, we’re recapping the year that was. To do it, we’re bringing in the whole team at Equity Mates to share what they think are were the biggest business stories of the year. Want more Equity Mates? Click here. Buy a copy of Don’t Stress, Just Invest for your loved ones this Christmas. Click here.  In...

We’re back for another Fast 3. Where a collection of the team from the Equity Mates join me to cover 3 stories in less than 15 minutes. Today, we’re covering a range of topics today from a world-first global treaty on plastic waste to why Elon Musk told Disney CEO Bob Iger to go f- himself. Also, we’re looking at recent housing data that suggests it’s actually cheaper to buy than rent in some parts of Australia. That doesn’t seem right - Alec and Sascha dig into the numbers. Want more Equity...

Controversy sells. We learned that last week when we saw reports that Kyle and Jackie-O signed a 10 year contract extension with Australian Radio Network worth $200 million. Meaning, if that’s correct, Kyle and Jackie-O will be pocketing $10 million a year each, for 10 years. It’s probably the question you’re mulling over right now, and it was certainly one voiced in our office last week - what’s the numbers behind the contract? If they’re getting paid $200 million, just how much are they...

Happy Birthday ChatGPT! Since arriving in our lives this time last year, it’s made news headlines, had teachers, industries and governments worried, and on a more personal level, made many menial tasks - like writing shopping lists or building excel spreadsheets, much easier. It’s Friday the 1st of December and today Sascha is joined by Capital Brief correspondent Dan Van Boom to ask... well … What exactly has the arrival of Chat GPT changed? How has it influenced the world around us? Want...

If we were to say great power competition between China and the United States - what’s the first thing you think of? Whatever it was, I’d hazard a guess it wasn’t Rugby League. But Australia's National Rugby League competition has found itself right between China and the United States contest in the Pacific. And NRL executives are planning to cash in. It’s Wednesday the 29th of November and today Sascha and Ren discuss - how has Rugby League found itself in the middle of the US-China great...

Overseas migration is frequently being called out as one of the primary factors influencing the housing market. As Core Logic writes - in the face of high interest rates, low consumer sentiment and stretched housing affordability, values and rents continue to rise and vacancy rates plummet as net overseas migration has hit record highs. Today, Sascha is joined by Core Logic’s Head of Research Eliza Owen to the podcast to talk about one of their recent articles. The original article, if you’d...

Australia are cricket world champions. In a brutal six months away from home, Australia’s men’s cricket team has won the World Test Championship, retained the Ashes against England and now won the One Day Cricket World Cup. But as the dust settles on the tournament, cricket powerhouse India wonders how they let it slip away, and Australian hero Travis Head continues partying - there are bigger questions being asked about the future of the game. Like, is the future of 50-over cricket on the...

ChatGPT has taken the world by storm this year. That is the AI chatbot made by OpenAI.  Sam Altman, the CEO and co-founder of OpenAI, has become one of the most recognisable faces in business this year. He’s travelled the world speaking to world leaders about the opportunities and the dangers of AI and the need for strong regulation. There are few people with as much technical knowledge and the philosophical thought when it comes to AI as Sam Altman.  Which is why it was such a surprise when...

Cost of living, inflation and interest rates have been the big economic story of the past 18 months. People and businesses are doing it tough. So when Australia’s Big 4 Banks reported their latest results, there was a fair bit of anger: Commonwealth Bank’s profit rose 5% to $10.2 billion NAB’s profit rose 9% to $7.7 billion ANZ rose 14% to $7.4 billion Westpac’s rose 26% to $7.2 billion Today Sascha and Alec look into these numbers and understand how bank profits are rising. What's going...

Zero emissions hydrogen has the potential to supplant oil and gas as the fuel of the future — Australia is in a brilliant position to take advantage of this investing theme. But there are major hurdles to overcome. Today Sascha is joined by Kate Burgess, Climate, energy and resources correspondent at Capital Brief to ask: Does Australia have what it takes to become a hydrogen superpower? Want more Equity Mates? Click here.  In the spirit of reconciliation, Equity Mates Media and the hosts of...

America is once again nearing a financial crisis, where the government is unable to spend money and needs to shut down everything but the most essential services. Unless the US Congress agrees to pass a series of appropriations bills and allow the US government to spend, America’s federal government will shutdown on Friday 17 November. Alec and Sascha answer the question - why should we care? Want more Equity Mates? Click here.  In the spirit of reconciliation, Equity Mates Media and the...

Sam Bankman-Fried. The founder of crypto exchange FTX was arrested last year and earlier this month was convicted by a jury of his peers in New York. Plenty has been written and said about the disgraced so-called crypto king. But as his reign comes to an end, we wanted to look at the wash up and what next for crypto. Sascha and Bryce break it down in today's episode. Want more Equity Mates? Click here.  In the spirit of reconciliation, Equity Mates Media and the hosts of The Dive acknowledge...

On Melbourne Cup Day, there was one fairly safe bet. Michele Bullock would raise interest rates. And they did, by 25 basis points. The increase to 4.35% will be a bitter pill for borrowers to swallow, and in some ways it feels the economic stakes have never been so high. Today Sascha is joined by Jennifer Duke and they talk about why when so many of us are feeling the pinch, is the RBA still raising rates? Want more Equity Mates? Click here.  In the spirit of reconciliation, Equity Mates...

23andMe and Ancestory.com allow people to spit in a tube and have their DNA analysed to learn more about their ancestory and any health risks. To date, more than 14 million people have spit in tubes and sent it in to 23andMe. Now the company is selling access to an anonymised database of customer DNA to pharmaceutical giant GSK. In today's episode of The Dive, Bryce and Ren look at how genealogy companies use the customer DNA they collect, and how it has been used to do everything from...

Waymo, Tesla, Cruise, Baidu. Some of the biggest names in the race to get driverless cars on the road have been in the headlines lately. In today's episode of The Dive, Sascha and Alec catch you up on what's been happening and ask, who's in poll poition in the race to commercialise self-driving technology? Want more Equity Mates? Click here.  In the spirit of reconciliation, Equity Mates Media and the hosts of The Dive acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and...

Today, the Qantas board will be holding their annual general meeting. It’s a chance for shareholders to hold a mirror to the board and management after months of widespread anger - whether it be over former CEO Alan Joyce’s pay packet, regulatory investigation into cancelled flights, and lobbying the Australian government over competition from a competitor to bring more flights to Australia. But as Capital Brief journalist Jack Derwin writes - this AGM season it feels like the stakes are a...

Turns out, large western companies accidently hired thousands of North Koreans. Now that is a headline that caught our interest. Seems like a big accident. So today Sascha and Alec dig into it. Want more Equity Mates? Click here.  In the spirit of reconciliation, Equity Mates Media and the hosts of The Dive acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respects to their elders past and present and extend...

$688 billion. That is how much tax Americans avoided paying in 2021. With Australia’s tax deadline fast approaching - it is tomorrow, or 31 October 2023, so get your tax returns in - but today Sascha and Alec wanted to understand how Americans could avoid paying so much tax. Want more Equity Mates? Click here.  In the spirit of reconciliation, Equity Mates Media and the hosts of The Dive acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land,...

Would it surprise you to know that the video game industry is worth $200 billion globally? Ok, numbers without context is always difficult, so here’s a comparison - that’s four times as big as Hollywood. Dan Van Boom, the technology reporter at Capital Brief, recently wrote that Australia is perfectly positioned to take advantage of this hidden giant of an industry. Sascha is joined by Dan to ask the question, how can Australia benefit from the video game economy? Want more Equity Mates?...

Fallen Crypto King Sam Bankman Fried… once ‘king of the crypto world’, is now in the midst of one of the biggest fraud trials in American history, taking place in a New York courtroom. So, what’s this trial about? Rewind back to late 2022. The FTX crypto trading operation, and the closely related Alemeda research, both spectacularly collapsed. SBF as he’s known, is currently charged with crimes relating to the disappearance of billions of dollars of FTX users’ money. Because the people using...

It’s a new week, and we’re hitting the decks with a fast three. The stories that have had us chatting in the Equity Mates office. Sascha is joined by her colleagues to talk them through. Alec is digging into the reporting coming out of the recent Amazon antitrust lawsuit, Alf is getting me up to speed on the AI Deep Fakes plaguing celebrities. But first, Bryce is going to dive into the stoush over Liontown Resources between Australia’s richest person and an American chemicals giant. Want...

Atlassian - the Australian software products maker - recently announced it had agreed to buy video messaging platform Loom. They paid US $975 million for the privilege - which accounted for a significant portion of their cash reserves. It also indicates a commitment to work from home, when many big companies this year are winding back on remote work, and calling for a return to ‘business as usual’. John McDuling, Editor in Chief at Capital Brief, joins Sascha to talk about the 2 key takeaways...

Birkenstock Holding plc is a German shoe manufacturer known for its sandals and other shoes notable for contoured cork footbeds (soles) made with layers of suede and jute, which conform to the shape of their wearers' feet. On September 2023, Birkenstock filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in the United States stating that the company would be listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the stock ticker "BIRK". But it didn't go well - the German company’s debut is the worst first-day...

It’s a two parter today! Digging into two stories that caught our attention at Equity Mates. The Nobel Prize for Economics has just been announced, and for the third time ever, it’s been awarded to a woman. Professor Claudia Golden has won for her extensive research and academic writing on historical trends in gender equality. Sascha is joined by Jennifer Duke - who’ll tell me about the professor’s research. And then, recently, there’s been a lot of talk about a cashless future… Macquarie...