What the Flux

Welcome to What the Flux Unpacked! Where we go deeper into the juiciest business story of the week. Today, we’re unpacking Lush Cosmetics - the bath bomb maker cutting ties with Australia’s largest shopping landlord.  We delve into why a brand that relies so much on in-person presence... is pulling itself from sme of the biggest shopping centres in Australia.  ____ Download t...

Virgin Australia is hiking airfares as fuel prices surge… yet again. Four Japanese beer makers…Asahi, Suntory, Kirin and Sapporo… are being investigated for allegedly taking part in a price-fixing cartel. Domino's Enterprises has fired its Australia-New Zealand CEO after less than a year in the top job. _ Download the free app (App Store): http://bit.ly/FluxAppStore Download t...

Coles is reportedly in talks to bring robots into one of its supermarkets… to turning part of the store into a mini warehouse. Adidas is taking Aussie fashion label White Fox to court, claiming its four-stripe trackies are a little too close to the famous three. SpaceX is reportedly lining up a $40 billion loan to buy Nvidia chips… and the chips themselves could be the collateral. _...

Firmus, the Aussie AI factory builder, has put a near $44 billion price tag on its IPO…which would make it the second-largest IPO in Australian history. Marley Spoon, the meal kit company, has seen a major turnaround in sales after selling new meal kits for people on Ozempic. Mattel, the toy maker of Barbie and Hot Wheels, has received takeover interest from a buyer…which could value...

The ATO has revealed that more than a quarter of Australia's biggest companies paid zero income tax in FY25. Getty Images, the company behind basically every stock photo of people shaking hands in an office, is being kicked off the New York Stock Exchange. The credit card surcharge is officially dead as of yesterday in Australia, but experts reckon that sneaky surcharges might just pop back up som...

The RBA has hiked rates for the fourth time this year, pushing the cash rate to 4.60%, its highest level since 2011. Cochlear, the Aussie hearing implant maker, has been hit with a shareholder class action five months after its share price fell off a cliff. Instinct, the AI assistant that does your life admin for you, has quadrupled its valuation to $10 billion in a month… and it doesn't ev...

Myer is hoping Santa can pull its sleigh out of the red, after it made a near-$300 million loss. An OpenAI agent has hacked into a Medicare data portal… and the government didn't find out for three months. Vietjet has registered its first Aussie-plated plane and now there’s rumours that Qantas and Virgin could soon have a third wheel on the Golden Triangle. _ Want to learn how to go f...

David Jones is losing its luxury glow-up, with Gucci, Dior and Chanel shoes all walking out the door over unpaid bills. Meta's share price jumped 11% in a single day, which is its biggest pop since early 2025 after its new AI agent hit No. 1 on the US App Store. Kylian Mbappé has dumped Nike after 20 years to become the face of On, the Swiss sneaker brand that's coming for football's bigges...

Nine Entertainment has doubled down on the English Premier League until 2034 for its streaming platform Stan as it goes harder on live sport. Miro, the digital sticky-note platform, has agreed to sell itself to Bending Spoons for just over $1.3 billion enterprise value… or less than 90% of its previous value. Insurance company Zurich is offering Australian Tesla owners discounts… if...

Woolworths is allegedly telling suppliers it’ll wipe their products from supermarket shelves… if they don’t agree to lower their prices. Cricket Australia has announced plans to open up the Big Bash League to private investors that will turn the league into a “billion dollar opportunity”. Anthropic's CEO has asked the AI industry to slow down in its “reckless&r...

Xero has apologised to accountants after it paid a small business influencer to promote Xero…and replace accountants altogether with AI. Apple has just launched its latest iPhone called the “iPhone Duo” and it's already Apple's most expensive iPhone ever. Firmus, the Australian AI data centre company has announced a six-year deal to sponsor the Tasmanian Devils AFL team. _ Want...

The Australian Tax Office has ruled that Amazon, Google, Netflix and other tech giants need to pay extra tax in Australia…and this could cost them billions of dollars every year. Nike has been dropped from the S&P 100… after losing around 76% of its market cap.. Volkswagen's board has signed off on 50,000 job cuts and halving its car models over the next 9 years. _ Want to learn...

In this series, Going Deep, we'll be doing bite-sized explorations into the most interesting industries, businesses and economic events… in Australia and around the world. For today's episode, we're looking at AI… but not the version you're probably thinking of. We’re looking at the version that actually keeps the world fed. In particular, how a New Zealand startup built a...

In this series, Going Deep, we'll be doing bite-sized explorations into the most interesting industries, businesses and economic events, in Australia and around the world. For today's episode, we're looking at Australia's gym economy - one of the biggest and most surprising fitness markets on the planet. In particular, how a single Paddington studio grew into a billion-dollar global franchise, the...

In this series, Going Deep, we’ll be doing bite-sized explorations into the most interesting industries, businesses and economic events in Australia  - and around the world. For today's episode, we're deeping the decline of the Aussie music festival. This was a scene that once gave us Big Day Out, Soundwave and Splendour in the Grass… but no more. In this episode, we're looking a...

In this series, Going Deep, we’ll be doing bite-sized explorations into the most interesting industries, businesses and economic events… in Australia and around the world. For today's episode, we’re looking at one of the biggest missed opportunities in Australian media history. Australia has produced some of the world's most beloved content - from TV shows to digital platforms&h...

In this series, Going Deep, we're pulling back the curtain on the industries that shape everyday life in Australia. We've watched Woolworths and Coles pocket billions in profit during a cost-of-living crisis, seen a CEO walk out of a live TV interview rather than answer questions, and watched a Federal Court judge rule that hundreds of "discounts" at the checkout were never real in the first place...

In this series, Going Deep, we'll be doing bite-sized explorations into the most interesting industries, businesses and economic events in Australia and around the world. For today's episode, we're looking at the NBN - Australia's national broadband network. In particular, how a $43 billion promise to give every Australian world-class internet became a $57 billion lesson in what happens when you o...

In this series, Going Deep, we'll be doing bite-sized explorations into the most interesting industries, businesses and economic events… in Australia and around the world. For today's episode, we're diving into the war between artificial intelligence and the entertainment industry. AI can now clone a voice in seconds and put a dead actor back on screen. But the question is whether AI can ac...

In this series, Going Deep, we'll be doing bite-sized explorations into the most interesting industries, businesses, and economic events - in Australia and around the world. For today's episode, we're looking at the decline and collapse of the global diamond industry. We've seen De Beers rack up billions in losses… and lab-grown diamonds take over half the engagement ring market. In this ep...

In this series, Going Deep, we'll be doing bite-sized explorations into the most interesting industries, businesses and economic events… in Australia and around the world. For today's episode, we’ll be diving into the business of IVF. Birth rates are hitting record lows, people are having kids later than ever and a $730 million Australian industry has built itself on that gap. But at...

In this series, Going Deep, we do bite-sized explorations into the most interesting industries, businesses, and economic trends… in Australia and around the world.  For today's episode, we're looking at one of the fastest-growing corners of global finance that most Australians have never heard of - prediction markets. This isn’t a bet on an AFL game.. Or a punt on the Melbourne C...

In this series, Going Deep, we're looking at the rise of the Aussie female athlete economy. We've seen the Matildas become Australia's most valuable sporting brand, women's cricket break viewership records, and the NRL salary cap nearly triple in three years. In this episode, we'll explore how one World Cup semi-final changed the commercial conversation forever - and whether the money is actually...

Today on What the Flux: In Conversation, we’re excited to be joined by Matt Heine, CEO and Managing Director of Netwealth…and Flux’s relatively new corporate overlord. For those who don’t know, Netwealth is one of Australia’s fastest-growing wealth management and fintech companies - having grown its share price over 450% since its IPO in 2017. Matt has been working a...

In this series, Going Deep, we'll be doing bite-sized explorations into the most interesting industries, businesses and economic events… in Australia and around the world. For today's episode, we're diving into the Aussie wine crash… a $3 billion export industry that lost its biggest customer overnight and then spent three years drowning in unsold bottles….and what it actually...