This is what the Flux I'm just it and I'm harsh sheep, and it's Monday, the seventeenth of June.
A a new salary Guy's been released by Hayes Recruitment. And get this, seventy three percent of employees don't believe that their salary actually reflects their performance. And it seems like this mismatch between what employees want and what employers are willing to offer is getting even sucker by the year.
Flux fan, we're coming up to the end of the financial year, and that means starting to think about all the last minute ways to reduce your tax Very true. In the Flux app, We've just released an article on how to reduce your taxable income via donations and what you need to look out for. So make sure to check it out if you want to do good and also reduce your tax.
Three charitable stories today, let's get into it for our first. Ahl Energy has invested one hundred and fifty million bucks into a new energy tech platform to compete with their arrival, Origin Energy.
Okay, this is sounding a you really similar to Origin's recent investment. Tell me more.
Okay, So, Ahl Energy is one of the oldest and largest energy gas providers in Australia.
Yep, it's nearly two hundred years old and has over four million customers.
But itch, and that doesn't mean it doesn't feel the heat from its impeditors literally.
So now AGL has announced one hundred and fifty million dollar investment into a tech platform called Closer in exchange for twenty percent of the company.
And tell me what does this cluser actually do?
But helps manage electricity supply as well as billing for its millions of customers. Very sexy, I know.
And apparently AGL was actually key to license another energy software called crack it.
But that's the software that Origin Energy has already invested into Rumma, which has given it an exclusive license in the Australian market.
Drama. So ag Closer may play second fiddle to crack it, but it still helps AGL achieve their main goal, which is preparing for a major influx of solar energy and virtual power plants.
So what's the key learning here?
In traditional industries you either need to adapt to risk obsolescence.
Does we know that new innovations are reshaping traditional industries at a crazy pace? And in the energy sector that next evolution is in the form of VPPs.
So how do these virtual power plants actually work?
Basically, a VPP pulls energy from thousands of households or businesses with rooftop solar and batteries.
If a person is generating more solar energy then can fit in their own battery. That energy can often go.
Away yep, But with virtual power plants, that excess energy can be discharged into the wholesale market when prices are.
High, and the individual solo earner can actually make some more out of it and at she well. This is a great way to reduce reliance on coal power. It supposedly will also have a big impact on AGO's bottom line too.
Agl reckons these VPPs will deliver it pre tax savings of between seventy million and ninety million dollars per year.
That's pretty good to me.
For our second story, be Real, the biggest social media app of twenty twenty two, has been sold for five hundred million euros after struggling to turn its initial hype to sustain growth.
I'm sam too surprised, though, I don't think I've done my b Real for at least twenty four months. So what is the story here. Well.
Just be Real is the French photo sharing app that launched in twenty twenty as a more authentic alternative to Instagram and Snapchat.
Now. The idea is you get a daily notification at a random time and you need to take a photo of where you are and a selfie.
That means you're forced to share your real life with your friends and not your curated life.
And b real was huge during the pandemic years. Oh yeah, it was one of the most downloaded apps on the App Store in twenty twenty two.
But now bee Real has been sold to French app developer Voodoo for five hundred million euros.
And that's not the best result because b reels struggled to maintain its growth and started running out of cash.
Bur Reel's growth had really started to plateau in the last year.
And it was on the hunt for a buyer to save it from collapse. So HG, what is the key learning here?
In the social media industry? It takes more than building hype to compete against the titans.
You see, when b reel launched, it built huge traction in just two years.
By October twenty two, twenty two, the app had fifteen million monthly.
Active users, but just six months later that number had dropped to just six million monthly active users because the excitement of this concept just fizzled out.
Be Real's focus on authenticity was unique, so it brought a massive crowd in the beginning.
But the app didn't stand much of a chance against the addictive, the infinite content feed of giants like Instagram and TikTok.
And in the past, we've also seen other social media apps built initial high but not a sustainable business off the back of that hype.
Big Clubhouse that was the Audio social media app, which had almost ten million installs by feb twenty twenty one, but took a sixty six percent nose dive by the end of April.
Or Vine, which was the og short form video platform that was acquired by Twitter in twenty twelve.
But shutdown five years later because they couldn't monetize it. For our third and final story, Jake Paul, the YouTube influencer and part time boxer, is launching a new personal skincare line for young men.
This guy has his hands in way too many pis. Tell me more.
Jake Paul is a bit of everything. He's an actor and a professional boxer.
He has over seventy million followers across the social channels and he's even booked in a fight against Mike Tyson.
Yes, the former undisputed heavyweight champion of the world, Mike Tyson.
So it's not surprising that Jake Paul is trying to leverage his huge audience to sell a new product. And now Jake Paul is launching a personal skincare brand called.
W of course, that's W as in winning Zz.
He's going to start with a body wash, body spray, and antiperspriint deodorant. And there seems to be a big open market for creator led products focused on younger men.
Now seeing so tell me what is the key learning here?
While most creator led products have been focused on young women, there's an untyped opportunity to sell to young.
Men, and particularly in industries that have predominantly catered to just women, like skincare and other beauty products as well.
Get this. From twenty eighteen to twenty twenty three, men's grooming was a twenty eight billion dollar business globally, and it.
Had an annual compound growth rate of more than five percent, according.
To Euromonitor and it's expected to keep going.
Yeah, men's personal care is expected to grow to more than one hundred billion US dollars over the next four years.
And just Jake Paul is in the prime position to leverage this shift in trend.
Because young men are increasingly turning to influencers for their sources of information.
Now, fifty percent of gen Z mails found information about a brand, company, or product through TikTok in twenty twenty three, So it's no surprise that Jake Paul has used the gen Z lingo of w to build his winning formula Flux Sam.
We're coming up to the end of the financial year. You now have thirteen days to sort out how to reduce your taxes. We've released a whole range of articles, including how to reduce your tax will income by donations, so make sure to check it out. Enough plucks out and on Wednesday, Brett will be coming back to the pod. It's been a long time and a she To be honest, I'm not sure if I want him back. You've done an awesome job over the last five weeks. Thanks so much for being on the pod.
It's been great to be back, and until next time, Fluxpan. Thanks for listening, and we'll see you on Wednesday.