This is what the Flux.
I'm justin and I'm harsh deep, and it's Wednesday, the twelfth.
Of June a se We know the bonds that entered voluntary administration in April this year. There was still a little sparkle of hope that it could bounce back. But now more than three hundred bonds or employees have been told their roles are officially terminated, so they won't pay for the past two months. It's kind of hard to see it come back from here. FLUXPAM.
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Three time saving stories.
Today, let's get into it for our first.
Apple has announced a partnership with GPT's creator to bring generative AI tools to iPhones as part of their New Age of AI, or Apple Intelligence, as they call it.
No surprise that Eon Musk had a thing or two to say about this union. What's going on here?
Just Apple is, of course, one of the world's most valuable tech companies, with evaluation of two point nine trillion US dollars.
It started back in nineteen seventy six with a handbuilt computer that was actually a circuit board minus the keyboard, minus the mouse, minus the monitor and the power supply.
But today Apple's an entire ecosystem of tech, hardware and software and entertainment, and now it looks like it's finally leading into artificial intelligence too. Yeah.
Apple has announced in its latest conference that it will be launching Apple Intelligence, a bunch of generative AI products and services to its devices.
We're talking things like turning your sketches on your Notes app into clear images.
Or automatically recording and transcribing audio including phone calls.
Kind of creepy, very creepy. And we're talking Siri being able to access your texts and your emails to answer questions and do simple tasks, also kind of creepy.
Apple's also announced a partnership with open ai to allow its users to integrate the devices would chat GBT, but.
A she there is one little catch apart from it all being very creepy. These features won't work on any iPhone older than an iPhone fifteen.
So with these tech big dogs coming together to bring AI to iPhones, we could see the biggest iPhone upgrade cycle we've seen so far.
Interesting, So what is the key learning here?
The upgrade cycle is a pattern of replacing old technology with newer versions.
Remember seeing the lines outside Apple stores when a new iPhone would drop, Well, they might be oh, yeah, come back.
You see about two hundred and seventy million iPhone users haven't upgraded their iPhone in four or more years.
And that means they're not buying new Apple devices often enough for Apple's liking. Yep.
But as part of this AI update, customers will need to upgrade to at least an iPhone fifteen first.
And there's a good chance they will. In fact, according to Apple, more than fifteen percent of the Apple installed base is expected to upgrade to the latest iPhone to use the AI, and this.
Could trigger the biggest upgrade cycle since Apple came out with the iPhone twelve in twenty twenty, that often five G connectivity.
For our second story, Toyota's reputation just took a fifteen billion US dollar hit after it was found to have falsified its car safety tests.
A reliable turder pulling a fast one here, tell me what's going on?
Okay, So, Turda is the Japanese car manufacturer that was found in nineteen thirty seven.
And Turda also owns a Diahatsuit, Lexus and Heino brands, as well as twenty percent of Subaru.
In fact, Toyota is the largest automotive company in the whole universe based on vehicle salt.
Yep, we're talking over ten million vehicle sold in just twenty twenty three alone.
But now Toyota's investors have slammed on the handbreak after discovering the Toyota had falsified and mishandled its car safety tests.
Now floxwam. The good news is if you are cruising in a turder, they've promised that the cars are still safe to drive.
But the bad news for Touda was that the share price dropped over five percent, which took more than fifteen billion US dollars off its market valuation.
Really taken a hit to their brand equity.
A yeah, so what is the key learning here?
Brand equity is the value that a company gained or losers from the perception of its brand by its customers, and.
This perception is based on customers experiences as well as the company's reputation in the market.
Lexis and Tuda were both known as the most reliable car brands in the world in twenty twenty three, according to Consumer Report, but.
This safety scandal has caused severe damage shorts brand equity in twenty twenty.
Four, and recovering from such a hit involves not just addressing the immediate issues transparently, but also re establishing customer trust.
Remember diesel GATEHD back in twenty fifteen when Volkswagen manipulated their diesel emission results. Oh yeah, after that, their CEO stepped down and they sidered a lawsuit fourteen point seven billion US dollars and as part of.
That settlement put ten billion dollars towards repairing or buying back polluting Volkswagen vehicles.
Which has contributed to renewing Volkswagen's brand equity, especially as it's now becoming one of the leaders in the shift to clean energy.
For our third and final story, the company behind car part retailers Autobarn and Berson has received a takeover bid of more than one point eight billion dollars from a private equity giant.
Sounds like a very opportunistic of EHD. So tell me everything.
Well, you may not have heard of Bapcore, but they're the company behind some of the biggest car part retailers.
Yeah. They started back in nineteen seventy one when it was just persons, but after arrange of acquisitions and sales a changed name to babcour in twenty sixteen and.
Just backcour may not be in a sexy industry, but it is a seriously big company.
Yeah. They're the owner of more than eleven hundred auto barn Persons, Midas and Auto pro.
Stores with over five five hundred employees.
Actually, over the past twelve months, Bapcoor has been struggling more than the engine on my two thousand and nine master YEP.
It suffered the reprofit downgrades in the past twelve months and.
Then through on top of that, its share price has declined more than twenty seven percent too.
So now Bain Capital, the private equity giant, has swooped in with a takeover offer of more than one point eight billion.
Dollars and its values each share at around five dollars forty that's still well below the eight dollars that the share price was sitting at just over two years ago.
Seems like beIN trying to turbo charge and under performing engine here.
So what is the key learning here?
Private equity is all about seeing value where others see challenges.
Seg that call has all the makings of a very successful business.
They've got a significant presence in the car parts industry across Australia.
We've got strong brand value and they've.
Got more than twenty five percent market share across Australia.
Oh and by blah bye, there are twenty million passenger vehicles in Australia currently and it's still expected to grow.
But just Bapcourt doesn't even have a CEO right now.
So private equity giants like Bank Capital see this as an opportunistic buy and we'll try and implement a turnaround, you know.
Change backcourse tires, tweak the engine and maybe change some detals before it puts it back on the market at a premium.
Plus. I've ever wondered what you're spending each and every month, Well, in the Flux app, we can through that for you. In under thirty seconds. It's a three hundred and sixty degree view of all your finances in the one spot to download the Flux app, check out the budgeting tool and it will save the hours of time.
Thanks for listening, and we'll see you on Friday.