Australian wine sales to China dropped 98% in two years. That's not a typo. That's 98%. In the 2020 Financial Year, Australia sold $1.1 billion worth of wine to the world’s most populous country. In the last financial year, it sold just $25 million. It's not because the quality has dipped. This is a story about China. Call it economic coercion, call it weaponisation of trade, or just call it buying from friendly markets... this story is appearing with Canadian canola, Norwegian Salmon, and Phili...
Aug 03, 2022•16 min
What would you do if you won millions in the lottery? We've all imagined the many various ways we'd spend it. It was hard not to think about this again as the Mega Millions lottery prize in the US soared past $1 billion - with one lucky person winning the full $1.34 billion prize. You can forget about becoming an instant millionaire. The lottery is now making billionaires. But once you've got that winning ticket, it’s not all private jets and mansions… There's some strange and fascinating statis...
Aug 01, 2022•16 min
Big Tech gets big by finding a market and just absolutely dominating it. Apple’s iOS has 25% market share. Microsoft Office enjoys 50%. Google Search owns their space with 90%. But none of these Big Tech companies are stopping anytime soon... They have an insatiable appetite for growth. Regulators and politicians have tried to curb their appetite, by raising antitrust and anti-competitive concerns. They’ve taken these companies to court and they’ve passed laws. But still, Big Tech keeps growing....
Jul 29, 2022•17 min
Air travel chaos. Luggage lost, flights cancelled and delayed, hours-long security lines. And the general unrest from travellers is being directed at both airlines and airports. Plenty of COVID-impacted industries are returning to normal - theme parks are reopening, cruise ships are sailing and restaurants and bars are humming - but not air travel... Instead we have airlines blaming airports and airports blaming airlines, all the while travellers wait in longer lines. Today Sascha and Simon ask ...
Jul 27, 2022•14 min
Manolo Blahnik can finally sell his shoes in China. This has been a fight 22 years in the making, and the Spanish shoe maker isn’t alone. Big western brands have been fighting and losing in Chinese courts for decades. But last week, something changed. China’s highest court sided with Manolo Blahnik, cancelled the trademark held by a local Chinese business and opened the door for Manolo Blahnik to sell his shoes in China. Today Alec and Sascha talk about what changed, and wonder does this case te...
Jul 25, 2022•18 min
France has run out of mustard. That’s right, the home of mustard is… mustardless. Supermarkets are limiting sales to one jar per person. Carrefour, a French supermarket giant, is being accused of stockpiling mustard to drive up prices. Chefs are appealing on social media for any spare jars. But behind the funny headlines, there is a devastating story - one that will only get more frequent. Today, Bryce and Alec get to the bottom of why France run out of mustard, and look at why this is actually ...
Jul 22, 2022•12 min
Ski fields in Saudi Arabia? Not the most natural combination to spring to mind... but the Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman wants to change that. And he’s allocated $500 billion of the country’s oil wealth to make it happen. Neom is the main project in Saudi Arabia’s efforts to modernise the country. It’s the ambition for a city of more than a million people, one of the largest hydrogen plants in the world, a raft of futuristic technology… and a ski resort. And it's all built on a patch of ...
Jul 20, 2022•15 min
Headlines were made around the world last week as Netflix announced Microsoft as their official business partner for their new ad-supported, lower-priced subscription offering. This is the latest step in Netflix’s plans to offer ads on their platform - like the ad breaks we’re used to on TV, or Youtube. There's been a bit of pushback about the fact Netflix is moving to an ad-supported model. Wasn’t on demand, whenever you want, uninterrupted content one of the big problems streaming services wer...
Jul 18, 2022•16 min
In America electric vehicles have crossed the magic number. An analysis from Bloomberg found that 5% of new car sales is the magic number for mass adoption of electric vehicles. And the US is the 19th and latest country to cross that threshold. Good news for Tesla. Good news for the climate ... but, is there really a "magic number"? Bryce and Alec unpack all the details in today's episode of The Dive . Who says business news needs to be all business? Tell us what you think of The Dive - email us...
Jul 15, 2022•19 min
Chinese property was front of mind for many investors last year as we watched property developer Evergrande struggle with its $300 billion dollars in debt. Turn away for a few months and now Evergrande’s developer peers are accepting fruit and vegetables as payments. Chinese property developers are now accepting garlic in exchange for property. You heard that right. And no, garlic isn’t code. 500g of garlic will get you 5 yuan off your property. Or maybe more realistically, 5 tonnes of garlic wi...
Jul 13, 2022•16 min
The world’s eyes have been on America’s Supreme Court as they handed down the Dobbs v Jacksons Women's Health Organisation decision, overturning the right to privacy established in Roe v Wade. There has been plenty of commentary on the health, political and legal aspects of the case. We don’t have anything meaningful to add that hasn’t been said more eloquently elsewhere. We have, however, watched the reaction from corporate America with great interest. Traditionally companies would’ve been relu...
Jul 11, 2022•15 min
This weekend sees the final at Wimbledon, the most prestigious event on the professional tennis calendar. There's stunning lawns, an all-white dress code, royals in attendance, and the rich history of tradition makes it one of the most watched sporting events in the world. But the sheen of the tennis circuit is not the same for all. Behind the glitz and glamour, there are professional players struggling to make a living, and the business of professional tennis is a challenging one. Today Darcy a...
Jul 08, 2022•17 min
With the arrival of the pandemic, and the implementation of lockdowns all around the world, investors and founders seized on the idea that this would permanently transform our lives - with a sharp focus on the way we shop and pay. The E-Commerce giants certainly agreed. Amazon’s famous forecasting tool told them to build, build, build, and Shopify told investors they believed pandemic E-Commerce gains will stick because quote “convenience is habit-forming”. Venture capitalists followed, injectin...
Jul 06, 2022•19 min
Moonshots. It appears some billionaires have taken this term differently. While Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are trying to return humans to the moon, Larry Page and Sergey Brin - Google’s co-founders - take it more metaphorically. They have ploughed Google’s billions into a semi-secret division of Google - X. Their moonshot factory. X is working right on the cutting edge of technology - self-driving cars, internet balloons and delivery drones. But their latest focus is on one of the world’s most int...
Jul 04, 2022•18 min
Is Revlon the latest meme stock, following in GameStop’s footsteps? The great beauty retailer, that had mega successful supermodels Claudia Schiffer and Cindy Crawford smiling from their billboards, they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy last week, after accumulating $3 billion dollars in debt. The thing is, they just haven’t been able to keep up with the competition, the next generation of celebrity brands like Rhianna’s Fenty Beauty, but also their mega peers, like L’oreal and Estée Lauder. But ...
Jul 01, 2022•17 min
It is a surprising move for a television-star celebrity billionaire - that is, to start a Drug Company where Americans can access heavily discounted medicines. But it's what Mark Cuban has decided to do. Cuban - an early pioneer of internet streaming, the owner of the Dallas Mavericks NBA team, and Shark on the TV show Shark Tank - has entered the healthcare space with a company that carries his name: Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs. Today Alec and Sascha talk about how the company is solving the p...
Jun 29, 2022•20 min
There's been years of reading headlines about the soaring prices of houses, not just in Australia, but all over the glob - the UK, US, Canada, New Zealand and the Czech Republic. But, with a global economy now fighting inflation, there's signs the rocketing residential prices might be a thing of the past. Today, Bryce and Sascha look at the housing boom, and examine if it's actually unravelling? Read more: Bloomberg: Bubble Bursting SMH: Why property prices rose while the economy contracted Inve...
Jun 27, 2022•19 min
Move over N*Sync, Boys 2 Men, One Direction and Backstreet Boys, the biggest boy band… actually the biggest band, period, for the past few years is the K-pop group, BTS. Unfortunately, but like many bands before them, last week they released a Youtube video announcing they’d be taking a break. The group also explained they want to develop individually and that the pressure of being in BTS was taking its toll on each of them independently. A pop band admitting that they want to take a break is no...
Jun 24, 2022•16 min
It’s almost the end of June, which is the end of the Financial Year here in Australia. Around this time, we always hear the same story... that global companies rake in huge profits, while simultaneously paying next to nothing in tax. The same pattern eventuates. We get frustrated. Politicians get riled up. But ultimately, nothing changes. But, earlier this year the OECD agreed to implement a 15% global minimum tax threshold, and suddenly there was hope that multinational companies would have to ...
Jun 22, 2022•18 min
“Golf, but louder.” That is the slogan for the latest big money tournament in professional sport - LIV Golf. Run by Greg Norman, backed by the Saudi Government, this tournament is throwing humongous money - aiming to attract top golfers to join this new competition. The new tournament is proving to be divisive. The Saudi government - who're internationally criticised for their atrocious record of human rights, are investing a rumoured $2 billion dollars in the new venture. One of the world's bes...
Jun 20, 2022•19 min
Earlier this month, New Zealand proposed a world first - having farmers pay for the emissions of their animals. Essentially, a methane tax for livestock. In a country that only has 5 million people, but 10 million cows and 26 million sheep - and where 50% of their emissions come from agriculture, it's no surprise it's front of mind in New Zealand's battle to get to net zero. In this episode, Alec and Sascha talk about how New Zealand are proposing to tax emissions from agriculture, and then look...
Jun 17, 2022•18 min
Inflation is the biggest story of the moment. The rapid climb of the cost of basic goods and services is damaging economies, markets, businesses - and most likely your hip pocket as well. We predict you've spotted a sign of inflation. In the US, a photo of a Los Angeles gas station went viral charging more than $8 a gallon for fuel, in Australia - a photo went viral after a $12 iceberg lettuce, and in the UK - the fear that one third of the country's fish and chip shops will close in the next 9 ...
Jun 15, 2022•18 min
In honour of the Queen's Birthday weekend which we're celebrating here in Australia (despite her actual birthday being on 21st April) The Dive team wanted to look at monarchies around the world. To be precise, we were interested in how much these Royal Families own, how much they cost and whether they bring in any additional revenue for a country. Alec and Sascha ponder the question, 'what's the value of a monarchy?' Tell us what you think of The Dive - email us at thedive@equitymates.com In the...
Jun 13, 2022•15 min
Last week, a surprising police raid took place in Germany. 50 police officers raided DWS Group, a subsidiary of mega investment bank Deutsche Bank. What was the alleged crime? Greenwashing. If you haven't heard of Greenwashing before, it's a term used to describe when a company markets their product as ‘sustainable’ or ‘environmentally friendly’ when it really just isn’t. It's classic marketing spin. In the investing world, greenwashing has become more and more of an issue over the past few year...
Jun 10, 2022•19 min
Last week an Elon Musk email was leaked where he said, "Anyone who wishes to do remote work must be in the office for a minimum (and I mean *minimum*) of 40 hours per week or depart Tesla." It led to a big conversation at the Equity Mates office, about whether working from home just a phase, and will there eventually be pressure to return to the office on the horizon? Sascha and Darcy examine 'What is the new normal for work life balance?' Tell us what you think of The Dive - email us at thedive...
Jun 08, 2022•14 min
Sheryl Sandberg, the Chief Operating Officer of Meta (formerly Facebook), announced she was stepping down from the company after 14 years at Mark Zuckerberg’s side. And reports of her closeness with Zuckerberg aren’t exaggerated - when she started the job she asked for three things – that they would sit next to each other, that they’d meet one-on-one every week, and for honest feedback when he thought she messed something up. Mark agreed to all of it, on the condition the feedback would have to ...
Jun 06, 2022•19 min
AGL is Australia’s oldest and largest electricity generator. It is also Australia’s largest emitter of carbon dioxide. The company plans to shut its last coal fired generator in 2045. And has been resisting calls for it to accelerate plans to shut down its coal fired power plants. Which has put it in conflict with Mike Cannon-Brookes, who has been using his considerable wealth to try and accelerate Australia’s transition to a zero emission energy grid. This week this conflict came to a head and ...
Jun 03, 2022•20 min
Today we’re going to unpack the business story behind the big entertainment headlines of last week - Justin Timberlake’s 100 million dollar payday! You may not know it, but chances are whenever you’re streaming music on Spotify or Apple Music, the money isn’t going to the artist. It’s not even going to the record label. These days, it’s pretty likely the revenue from that stream is ending up in the pockets of some of the biggest asset managers in the world. Music copyrights have become one of th...
Jun 01, 2022•20 min
Glencore, the Swiss and British commodity trading and mining company, plead guilty in the US, the UK, and Brazil, to spending hundreds of millions of dollars to bribe officials in numerous countries and also, to running a scheme to manipulate oil prices. For such a big scandal, The Dive team felt it had got remarkably little coverage. So we wanted to unpack exactly what happened at Glencore ... and now that their pleading guilty, will this change anything in the broader company culture? Tell us ...
May 30, 2022•18 min
This week saw the sale of one of the world’s most coveted assets. And it wasn’t a billion dollar tech unicorn, or a one of a kind Picasso, a Stradivarius violin, or even a super yacht. It was a football club. Not just any football club - one of the Big 6 clubs of the English Premier League - Chelsea - which finally sold, after being seized from its Russian owner - Roman Abramovich. The battle to bid for the club was fierce. A queue of billionaires, along with some of the best money managers and ...
May 27, 2022•19 min
