This is what the flux.
I'm Brett and Justin's Monday, the twentieth of January. We are a.
Back baby, Fox fam.
We've been well rested over the summer period and we are back with the latest and the greatest business news for twenty twenty five. And here is our one hundred percent guarantee. Listening to the pod will make you smarter than your boss and you'll never feel out of the loop at dinners with friends or families.
Very important or it work.
Juzzy boy, this could be the juiciest news to come back to. TikTok has given its last viral wave to its one hundred and seventy million US users after it was officially banned over the weekend because it refused to sell its US operations to.
An American company.
Huge, But only time will tell if it will actually survive.
Interesting and be man. What is hilarious is that millions of Americans and now downloading another Chinese TikTok dupe called red Oat. It's now the top app in the whole US app store. It's good to be back with the latest business news.
Ironic stories today. Juzzy boy.
Let's do it for our first Maya's share price dropped more than eighteen percent last week after it warned of a major decline in its earnings for the first five months of FY twenty five.
Not exactly the kind of post holiday news that investors were hoping for. Me man, so tell me more.
Well, Jusie boy will know Maya as one of the og Australian department stores, the.
Department store who's been battling neck and neck with David Jones for over one hundred and twenty years. And be man, we know it's been a bit of a rollercoaster ride for Maya's investors over the past fifteen years.
Since it listed at a two point two billion dollar valuation in two thousand and nine.
But let's be honest, the rollercoaster has mainly been experiencing.
Drops recently, though there were signs of a bit of a glow up with a new CEO and plans to merge with apparel brands.
That's the owner of Portman's in JJ's and other brands as well.
But now juzzy Boy Meyers said its earnings before interest in tax dropped by twenty five percent compared to last year for the most recent five months to December.
Next minute, it's share price got smashed by eighteen percent.
But the retailers that my I also planned to buy, like Dotti and JJ's Just Jean's Portman's, they.
Also got whacked and then man, this puts extra pressure on the merger, which will go to a shareholder vote this Thursday.
Beig core. So what is the key learning here?
Big public mergers need big shareholder buy in.
When a publicly listed company wants to tie them up with another business, the board can't just swipe right.
It needs shareholder approval.
And in this case, Maya needs more than fifty percent of shareholders to vote yes on the deal.
And while the board of directors can try to strongly encourage shareholders to vote yes, they can't force them.
For example, me men. Back in two thousand and six, a group called Airline Partners Australia made an offer to acquire Quantus and the Quantas board supported the deal, but they only managed to get forty six and a half percent of shareholders to approve and the deal didn't end up going through.
So juzzy boy.
Given the underperformance of Maya and Apparell brands in the last five months.
There may be some question marks for shareholders.
For our second story. Rocked, the Australian e commerce tech company, has seen its valuation jumped to five point six billion dollars after its latest capital raise, with some staff taking millions off the table.
One of those companies you probably have seen but never really heard of, so tell me more.
Just founded in Australia back in twenty twelve with the goal to optimize online shopping transactions.
Know when you buy ozopen tickets online from let's say ticket Master yep, and once the payment has been made, you see a pop up offering you forty percent off Hello Fresh or twenty bucks off your.
Next higher car yep.
Highly annoying.
That is Rocked.
They present customers with products or services from other brands after that moment when you purchase something and jesiboit. Rock saw its revenue jump by more than forty percent last year to six hundred million US dollars, and it's.
Also grown to more than fifteen countries.
So now it's raised three hundred and thirty five million US dollars in its latest private capital raise before at IPO's in twenty twenty six.
At least that's the plan.
Uh huh, rock CEO claims they didn't need to raise money, but they did it to give investors employees some liquidity.
So what is the key learning here?
A secondary capital raise isn't about new funding. It's about giving employees and a chance to cash in on their juicy juicy shares you see Beman.
Typically when companies raise money, they issue brand new shares to bring in fresh funds for company growth or expansion.
But a secondary capital raise doesn't create new shares.
Nope, it gives existing shareholders an opportunity to sell their shares to other investors.
In this case with Rocked, the company doesn't directly receive any cash now.
But it's a way for early employees and investors to turn their shares into cash.
So a secondary raise solves this by giving them another way to make their shares liquid and the man.
We've also seen other private tech companies like Camva help facilitate their own one point six billion US dollar secondary share sale.
And Stripe did a one billion US dollar secondary share sale as well.
Or before they hit the big IPO tables.
For our third and final story, Wendy's, the US burger behemoth is flipping its way back to Australia with plans to open hundreds of new stores over the next decade.
Sounds delicious, so go on.
Well, jesiboit.
Wendy's is the burger chain founded in the US all the way back in nineteen sixty nine.
It's the burger chain with the logo of a redheaded girl with pigtails and freckles.
But don't be fooled by Wendy's innocent look, jusie boy, don't get fooled. It's actually the third biggest fast food chain on the planet.
Behind its bit arrivals Makid's and Burger Kings.
Now important to note this Wendy's is different to the hot dog and doughnut Wendy's that's been operating in Australia for at least a couple of decades.
But now be Man Flinn Group, which is the company that owns Wendy's license in Australia. They've anounced plans to relaunch Wendy's here in Australia.
They bring it back after a short stint in the nineteen eighties when they had eleven stores.
In fact, Beman Flinn plans to open hundreds of Wendy's burger joints around Australia over the next decade.
But what works in the US doesn't necessarily work in Australia.
So true, So what is the key learning here?
A winning recipe in one market doesn't guarantee success in other markets around the.
World, especially when you're not taking into account the unique characteristics of that local market.
You see, JUSI boy, Plenty of American fast food giants have strutted into Australia, swanned on in with big dreams of dominating that burger Grayle.
And these brands have copypasted they're winning US formula into Australia. We had Carl's Junior, which was the US burger chain.
They said they would have three hundred stores by twenty twenty six.
But at the last count, nine days later, twenty eight stores.
Or what about My Guys five Guys Burgers and Fries, which launched in Australia in twenty twenty one, At last.
Count there were only five stores, more.
Like five stores Burgers and Fries.
In fact, the most successful burger stores recently have been the locally grown ones like Grill.
And don't forget Noose's very own Betty's burgers.
So Wendy's we need to add a little Australian touch if they really want it to work. Yep, man, it is very good to be back on the pod, chatting with you business news and making the Fluxam a whole lot smarter each and every day at Foxam. If you want to make sure you are on top of the latest business news, becoming smarter than your boss, make sure to hip that subscribe that end on Spotify, on Apple or where. If you're listening to the podcast
Thanks for listening and we'll see you on Wednesday.