🗞️ Making space

Good morning. Fox Sports is going to pay someone $50,000 to watch every game of the Football World Cup live from an office in Times Square.

The mega-fan will need to 'make their fandom shine' while tourists watch them in a custom-built viewing space.

With the option to work from home, we're sure some Australians will also be payed to watch all of the World Cup games.

All the headlines and more below...

ALMOST 2M HOUSEHOLDS PLAN TO DOWNSIZE - THAT'S 14% MORE THAN 2021

1.93M Australian households now plan to downsize within 5 years, up from 1.68M in 2021. Just under half expect to spend less than $1M on their next home. A third are prepared to spend $1-2M.

In 2024-25, only 15,800 downsizers actually used the tax-free super contribution scheme to move $4.17B from their home sale into superannuation. That's less than 1% of the 1.93M who say they're planning to move.

32% of older Australians see stamp duty as the main barrier to selling. Some states offer concessions, but it remains a key revenue source and relief isn't universal. The RBA governor flagged it as an issue last October.

Developers are building 1-bedroom apartments. Downsizers want 2 or 3 bedrooms with storage, outdoor space and layouts that don't feel like a shoebox. When they can't find that, they stay put. Younger families keep competing with retirees for the same stock.

AUSTRALIAN NEWS

• An IMF working paper has found that the RBA’s rapid post-COVID rate hikes in 2022 and 2023 prompted thousands of Australians to increase labour supply by taking extra work. LINK

• Australia’s construction industry is being pushed to the brink as a second wave of supply cost rises hits tradies, with company collapses now about 24% of total insolvencies. LINK

• The Australian dollar is forecast to rise to US75¢ as higher interest rates and surging commodity prices drive its rally, after reaching a 4-year high of US72.77¢. LINK

• Health Minister Mark Butler has labelled the $50B NDIS a “great human rights achievement” while admitting its flawed design has turned it into an “ATM for shonks, grifters, fraudsters and crooks”. LINK

• Treasurer Jim Chalmers has pledged a budget productivity package targeting $10B in annual regulatory cost cuts for business, including a permanent $20,000 instant asset write-off for small enterprises. LINK

• Almost 2 million Australian households plan to downsize in the next 5 years, up 14% since 2021, as a survey of 52,000 households highlights varied million-dollar spending intentions. LINK

• Australians are scaling back Mother’s Day spending amid cost-of-living pressures. LINK

MIXUE HAS 60,000 STORES GLOBALLY. MCDONALD'S HAS 42,000.

The Chinese bubble tea and ice-cream chain opened its first Brazilian store last month in São Paulo. Its signature cone costs $1.20. Lemonade and sundae combo at under $7. Nearly 300 people have already inquired about becoming franchisees.

Mixue brings most of its supply chain in-house. More than 60% of ingredients are self-produced. It runs 29 warehouses across China and 7 logistics hubs across Southeast Asia. That keeps an ice cream cone at 40 cents in China and $1.19 in the US.

Revenue last year was $4.6B, up 35%. Net profit at $810M. But the stock is down 30% this year and it closed a net 428 international stores in 2025, mostly in Southeast Asia. Supply chain integration outside China also lags.

The company is now aiming for 500 to 1,000 stores in Brazil by 2030 and hopes to open a factory there to supply the Americas.

COMPANY NEWS

• ACMA has found Entain, the US$6B multinational behind Ladbrokes and Neds, committed 500 BetStop breaches over 3 years but cannot fine it due to a 12-month limit. LINK

• MinterEllison has cut its 2025-26 graduate intake by almost a third to 72 as AI-driven automation reduces routine legal work and shifts demand towards more complex matters. LINK

• Chinese food and beverage chain Mixue has opened its first Brazilian store as it expands its 60,000-outlet, low-cost bubble tea and ice-cream empire that challenges Starbucks. LINK

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CHART OF THE DAY

Which countries rely most on Gulf fertiliser exports?

ONE MORE SCROLL

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Draft Pick: Never before seen’ Cleary moment stuns NRL in epic Panthers win.

Odd Pick: A massive 11,000-carat ruby has been unearthed in Myanmar’s war-scarred gemstone heartland.

TRIVIA

True or false:

1. Sloths can hold their breath underwater longer than dolphins.

2. Oxford University is older than the Aztec Empire.

3. The lighter was invented before the friction match.

Answers below

OUR SOCIALS

ANSWERS

1. True. Sloths can hold their breath for up to 40 minutes by slowing their heart rate down to one-third of its normal pace. Dolphins, depending on the species, generally need to surface for air every 8 to 10 minutes.
2. True. Teaching at Oxford University began around 1096. The Aztec Empire, specifically the founding of its capital city Tenochtitlán, didn't begin until 1325.
3. True. The first lighter, known as Döbereiner's lamp, was invented by German chemist Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner in 1823. The first successful friction match wasn't invented until 1826 by John Walker.

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