This is what the flux I'm Brett and I'm Justin and it's Wednesday, the night of October.
Dozy Boy.
With the AFL and NRL Grand Finals featuring interstate teams over the last couple of weeks, there is no surprise that hotels were booming. Hotel occupancy during the NRL Grand Final in Sydney that was eighty five percent and the AFL Grand Final in Melbourne was at eighty two percent, but still doesn't beat Taylor Swift Concerts, where occupancy was ninety two percent if you don't mind so. In summary, swifty has beaten basically the biggest codes in the country.
Not even Katie Perry could be swifty Bucks out. Did you know? Sixty six percent of Aussie's do not know the first thing about their credit score. And if you're sitting there thinking that's me as well, there is one way to find your credit score and all the information behind it. It is in the flux out. So make sure you start off October on a high by checking out your credit score and seeing if it's gone up or it's found out.
Three truly riveting stories today, Dozzy Boy, Let's do it for our first West Farmers is expected to generate around six billion dollars in revenue this year via its health division.
Because Australians are apparently getting sicker.
That's coop cough sick, not fully sick. It's a telling more.
We all know West Farmers, the giant Wa based conglomerate that owns a heap of the biggest companies in Australia.
We'd be talking Bunnings, We'd be talking Kmart, we'd be talking.
Target now Juzzy Boy.
In twenty twenty two, West Farmers saw a massive gap in the Aussie health space and they decided to fill that gap.
Yep. Since then they've been on what you'd call a buying spree, buy UPGPS, dental clinics, radiology clinics.
It acquired Australian Pharmaceutical Industries for one billion bucks in twenty twenty two, which owns Priceline.
It acquired telehealth company Instance Scripts.
Also Clear Skincare and Silk Laser Clinics and.
Bman Across the West Farmers' Health division. It generated more than five point six billion dollars in twenty twenty three's financial year.
But now Jazzy Boy, it's expected to top over six billion dollars in the upcoming financial year and.
Talk me through the reason for this growth be man.
Well, West Farmers has run the numbers on about three million health checks.
Yeah, and they found that the number of ousi's getting sick is supposedly increasing.
Yeah, the data shows arise in obesity, diabetes and heart disease risk.
Bad news for our health, but good news for West Farmers.
So what is the key learning here?
Would you collect a treasure trove of data you can use it to fine tune your offerings down to the very last detail.
West Farmers has gathered a massive amount of health data for over three million digital health checks across Australia and.
Johnsie Boite data is now one of the most valuable assets for businesses. So you could say West Farmers is sitting on a gold mine.
Yeah. We've already seen West Farmers do this through its part steak In Cole's Flyby program, and now we're seeing them do it across healthcare as well. For example, across all their businesses, they now know that one in two Australians had an elevated risk of heart disease.
And twenty nine percent had high blood.
Pressure twenty six percent were obese.
And by using data analytics, they can predict which medications may be in demand.
Or maybe where health trends are heading.
Or even they could spot new opportunities for expanding services and the.
Result is even healthier profits for our set.
Second story, Google will be required to open its app store to rivals so its users can have more choice when downloading and using apps.
Jesus is setting a scary new precedent for Google and possibly Apple too, be man, so tell me more.
Well, dosyboy.
We all know Google, the tech behemoth behind Google Search and Maps and Google Mail and Google Drive and Google everything.
And it also happens to be the owner of Android i e. Apple iOS is arch rival yep.
Android's the operating system on pretty much every single smartphone device other than Apple.
We're talking Samsung, Murderoller, HGC, Huawei LG, and a squillion more.
And as you know, if you want to download an app like the Flux app from Google or Apple, you've got to do it through their app store.
The b Man, a US judge, has just ordered Google to open up Google Play to its rivals.
That means Google can't pay developers to launch their apps. Exclusively on Google Play.
It also can't force developers to use Google Play's billing system.
And Google also can't block other app stores from being downloaded from within.
Google's app store.
Very meta review.
Aha, So you you.
Better believe Dussie Boy that Google was shocked and appalled and their shares dropped more than two percent following this news.
And Apple shares also dropped two percent on this news.
And it's all because their walled garden could be about to fall.
So what is the key learning here?
A walled garden is a closed platform or ecosystem where the owner of the platform has total control.
And be man. What we're seeing here is that the warmed garden is potentially falling down to give consumers more choice.
We know that Apple and Google both created a pretty tight ecosystem across their products. For some context, Josey Boy, Apple and Google, they both charge anywhere between fifteen to thirty percent commission for purchases in these apps.
But this court decision gives developers a way to circumvent these fees.
And Josie Boy, given that Google's play Store generated eleven point two billion US dollars in gross revenue, and that was just for last quarter. Wow, this is a major concern for their investors.
For our third and final story, the creator of popular video game Assassin's Creed is considering going private after it lost close to half its market value.
This year not the best year for the makers of Assassin's Creed. Juzzy boy, I'm very keen to know what the story is here, your little gamer.
So be man. The name of the company is Ubisoft Entertainment. It's the French video game publisher that started in the nineteen eighties.
Now, Josey boy, you may not have heard of Ubisoft, but it's best known for games like Assassin's Creed, Just Dance, Prince of Persia, and your favorite watch Dogs.
I've heard of it, but man. Ubisoft is allegedly considering going private and delisting from Eurodex, which is the largest stock exchange in Europe.
YEP.
Ubisoft's founding family and also Chinese tech company ten Cent are thinking about buying the company out and taking it private.
And be man. Ubisoft's been struggling big time, with a share price down forty percent just this year. Yep.
Ubisoft's found it challenging to come out of a pandemic rut.
And it's had to delay the release of new games and also cancel some games as well.
But it's not canceling Watchdogs or Just Dance?
Is it?
Juzzy Boy?
No, it's not and b Man. Just last week, Ubisoft cut it's twenty twenty five financial year Ernie's guidance to just under two billion euros, down from two point three billion made in twenty twenty four.
So it's not surprising that shareholders were putting pressure on UBISAFT to.
Bring about some change. So what is the key learning here?
Well, when profits sink, shareholders often want changes at the helm you.
See, be Man. When shareholders invest their money into a business, they also hold those businesses accountable for how they operate, and when a company isn't performing up to scratch, shareholders often will push to make some changes. In Ubisoft's case, minority shareholders have been pushing for them to go private or at least for a strategic investor to come in.
Basically, they're not happy with how the company's been managed.
And sometimes shareholder pressure can be enough to bring about major changes in a business. YEP, Flux am every single month. In the Flux app, you can check your credit score for free and see if it went off, if it went down, and also why it changed. It's one of those things you need to do if you want to stay on top of your money. To make sure to download the Flux app to check it all out.
Thanks for listening and we'll see you on writing