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Why this could be Murdoch’s last chance to sell Foxtel

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Original article by Elizabeth Knight
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: Online : 13-Aug-24

Foxtel had been estimated to be worth between $1.2bn and $2bn when an IPO was being considered in 2021. However, an IPO now appears to be highly unlikely, and selling Foxtel may be the best option for News Corp and Telstra. Foxtel’s traditional pay-TV business now boasts about 1.2 million subscribers, well below the peak of 2.9 million in 2015; retaining as many of these customers as possible could be crucial to getting a decent price for Foxtel, given that they pay an average of $90 per month. Foxtel’s own streaming services Kayo and Binge have much lower monthly revenue per customer, and their subscriber growth is also slowing amid growing competition in the streaming sector.

CORPORATES
FOXTEL MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, NEWS CORPORATION – ASX NWS, TELSTRA CORPORATION LIMITED – ASX TLS, KAYO SPORTS, BINGE

Liontown wants lithium breaks as prices teeter

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 7-Aug-24

Association of Mining & Exploration Companies CEO Warren Pearce says it is holding talks with the Western Australian government with regard to royalty relief for lithium producers. The price of spodumene has fallen to $US870 ($1,337) per tonne, and Liontown Resources CEO Tony Ottaviano contends that the government should intervene in order to avert a similar crisis to the rout that hit the nation’s industry. He has also suggested that the federal government should expand its production tax credit scheme to include the upstream processing of spodumene.

CORPORATES
ASSOCIATION OF MINING AND EXPLORATION COMPANIES, LIONTOWN RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX LTR

Rupert, Lachlan and me: inside the Murdochs’ medieval fiefdom

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Original article by Amanda Meade
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 6-Aug-24

Eric Beecher has written a new book called ‘The Men Who Killed the News’, which looks at the abuse of power by media moguls from William Randolph Hearst to Elon Musk. Beecher’s career in journalism included a number of years with the Murdoch family-owned News Corporation, with Beecher saying that News Corp is like a "’medieval fiefdom", where editors learn through "a kind of osmosis" rather than through direct instruction. Beecher says he had been working on the book slowly for years, with the impetus to finish it coming in 2022, when he was personally sued by Lachlan Murdoch over an article that appeared in Crikey; Murdoch eventually dropped the case in April 2023.

CORPORATES
NEWS CORP AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

West highly vulnerable to China on critical minerals

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Original article by Cameron England
The Australian – Page: 18 : 31-Jul-24

A new report notes that while rare earth elements are crucial to the global energy transition, countries such as Australia are vulnerable due to their reliance on China for critical minerals. The report from the Henry Jackson Society, Freshwater Strategy and the Centre for Resilient Society notes that China’s willingness to ignore the environmental harms associated with the production of rare earth elements has contributed to the nation’s domination of global supply. They warn that this reliance on China means that Australia and its Five Eyes partners risk running out of critical minerals in the event of a price spike or armed conflict.

CORPORATES
HENRY JACKSON SOCIETY, FRESHWATER STRATEGY, CENTRE FOR RESILIENT SOCIETY

Nine Entertainment CEO returns to office after Olympics trip as five-day strike comes to end

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Original article by Amanda Meade
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 31-Jul-24

The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance has advised that journalists from Nine Entertainment’s publishing division will return to work at 11am on Wednesday. The end of the five-day industrial action by about 500 journalists will coincide with the return of Nine’s CEO Mike Sneesby, after a week in Paris where he entertained corporate clients and attracted scrutiny for participating in the Olympic torch relay amid the turmoil in the company’s newsrooms. Michelle Rae from the MEAA says Nine’s management has committed to resuming negotiations with journalists when they return to work.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT AND ARTS ALLIANCE

ABC cops Buttrose blast over news bias

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Original article by Sophie Elsworth
The Australian – Page: 5 : 30-Jul-24

Media industry veteran Ita Buttrose says the ABC needs to present both sides of an argument, contending that this is "much better" for the viewer or the listener. However, Buttrose adds that some ABC interviewers are reluctant to tell both sides of a story; she also says that if the public broadcaster’s journalists cannot take criticism they should just "give up". Buttrose’s five-year term as the ABC’s chair ended in March. Meanwhile, she says the strike action by Nine Entertainment journalists on the eve of the Paris Olympic Games was an "unwise decision", given that the Olympics is a major investment for the company.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN BROADCASTING CORPORATION, NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC

Union fury at Nine chief’s torch run amid jobs row

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Original article by James Madden
The Australian – Page: 3 : 24-Jul-24

The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance has criticised Nine Entertainment CEO Mike Sneesby for attending the Paris Olympic Games during enterprise agreement negotiations at its publishing division. The union is seeking a pay rise of 20 per cent over three years for employees of the division, and Nine’s staff have voted to take strike action for five days from Friday, which will coincide with the start of the Games. Sources have indicated that Nine’s journalists were also not impressed by footage of Sneesby participating in the Olympic torch relay, given that the division is expected to shed about 90 jobs as part of a broader restructuring program at Nine.

CORPORATES
NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, MEDIA, ENTERTAINMENT AND ARTS ALLIANCE

Suppliers say Coles has outperformed Woolies

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Original article by Carrie LaFrenz
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 23-Jul-24

A survey of 26 supermarket suppliers by investment bank UBS has found that the number who thought Coles outperformed Woolworths in the final quarter of the 2023-24 financial year more than doubled to 41 per cent. 19 per cent of suppliers felt Woolworths had performed better in the period, while 41 per cent said they had traded "about the same". Asked which supermarket they thought had gained the most market share since the start of the year, 59 per cent of suppliers said Aldi had, while 30 per cent said Coles had; just eight per cent said Woolworths had.

CORPORATES
UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, COLES GROUP LIMITED – ASX COL, WOOLWORTHS GROUP LIMITED – ASX WOW, ALDI STORES SUPERMARKETS PTY LTD

Liontown finally moves to send lithium to China

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 16-Jul-24

Australian-listed lithium producer Liontown Resources has previously refused to strike offtake deals with Chinese companies. However, Liontown has reach a 10-month deal to supply 100,000 tonnes of spodumene to Shenzhen Stock Exchange-listed Sinomine; this deal will help Liontown to get through a period when its Kathleen Valley project in Western Australia is likely to be operating at a loss. Liontown CEO Tony Ottaviano recently acknowledged that it cannot ignore the "biggest market in the world", given that China accounts for 80 per cent of global demand for lithium.

CORPORATES
LIONTOWN RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX LTR, SINOMINE RESOURCE GROUP LIMITED, SHENZHEN STOCK EXCHANGE

Chinese nab stake in Forrest-backed rare earths play

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 21 : 10-Jul-24

A Hong Kong-based subsidiary of China’s JL Mag Rare-Earth Company will acquire a 9.8 per cent stake in Australian-listed Hastings Technology Metals . JL Mag will receive 19.6 million shares in the rare earths explorer via the $7m investment, while it will also gain a seat on Hastings’ board. Hastings notes that the JL Mag deal is below the threshold for the Foreign Investment Review Board’s current guidelines for investments in the critical minerals sector.

CORPORATES
HASTINGS TECHNOLOGY METALS LIMITED – ASX HAS, JL MAG RARE-EARTH COMPANY LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW BOARD