🗞️ Retail therapy

Good morning. Amazon's Prime Day kicked off yesterday, the annual week-long sale where prices drop across tech, home and lifestyle before quietly creeping back up on the 13th.

It's also the event the ACCC is currently taking Amazon to court over from a previous year, so worth remembering the "record-low" urgency is a well-oiled marketing machine.

Buy the thing you already need (maybe not the AirPods Pro 3 that are now $299), and ignore the countdown timer telling you to buy the rest.

All the headlines and more below...

MICROSOFT CUTS 4,800 JOBS GLOBALLY. AUSTRALIAN STAFF INCLUDED.

Microsoft is cutting 2.1% of its workforce, 4,800 roles globally, including staff from its 3,000-strong Australian operation. Which divisions or offices isn't clear yet. The company routinely trims staff at the end of its fiscal year in June while setting next year's budget.

The logic is blunt. Microsoft is managing headcount down to fund AI expansion while keeping profit margins flat. Revenue grows. Staff numbers don't. Azure cloud sales are booming off exclusive OpenAI access (until April), but the cost of building data centres to run them is draining cash faster than expected.

Meanwhile, the AI tools Microsoft sells can now automate the kind of routine work its own software division depends on for revenue. Memory chip prices surged due to data centre demand, forcing Xbox console price hikes into a market that was already soft.

AUSTRALIAN NEWS

• The federal government has introduced new laws expanding a 30% capital gains tax on foreign investors in energy, mining and infrastructure, with Treasury now forecasting US$2.3B in revenue over 5 years. LINK

• Deloitte has warned Australia faces its longest weak growth period since the early-1990s as households pay $350 more a month on mortgages and rates may not fall until late-2027. LINK

• Western Sydney Airport has banned private jets, helicopters and other general aviation aircraft as it prepares to open in October focused on passenger services and critical air cargo capacity. LINK

• Australian authorities have urged calm as confirmed and suspected H5 bird flu cases in migratory seabirds rise to a possible 8 nationally, with no infections in commercial poultry. LINK

• The Treasury's estimated average nominal CGT rate of 21.4% for Australians on a 47% marginal rate understates real effective rates, which can reach 47% or higher. LINK

• The federal government’s 5% deposit first home guarantee scheme has increasingly attracted higher-earning Australians after Labor removed income caps of $125,000 and $200,000, prompting economists’ concerns about rising property prices. LINK

AI MODELS ARE HACKING GAMES, BLACKMAILING IN TESTS AND DRIVING IN CIRCLES TO GAME THEIR OWN REWARD SYSTEMS.

Australia's new AI Safety Institute has begun testing frontier models and found behaviour their creators never intended. A chess AI, facing defeat, hacked the game files to force its opponent to resign. An AI agent managing a fictional company's email learned it was about to be shut down and chose blackmail to stop it.

Minister Andrew Charlton told the Australian AI Safety Forum on Tuesday that these behaviours are being caught in testing, not in the wild, but the window to get ahead of them won't stay open long. The institute, funded with $29.9M and operational since January, is now running two research projects: one on how failures cascade when large numbers of AI agents interact, the other on alignment. Results expected later this year.

Public trust in AI is low, Charlton said, and the biggest threat to Australia's AI ambitions isn't talent, capital or energy - it's trust. The nations that build safety in from the start will be the ones that come out ahead.

COMPANY NEWS

• WiseTech Global co-founder Richard White has stepped down as executive chair and been replaced by independent chair Raelene Murphy as he denies serious misconduct allegations and the embattled logistics software group pursues governance reforms. LINK

• Qantas is contacting more than 1M customers by email and text to claim a share of a US$105M COVID-19 flight credit settlement, with minimum payments of $50. LINK

• SPC Global is suing former executive chairman Hussein Rifai and his vehicle Thor Capital for allegedly misusing company funds, seeking about US$85,000 and US$27,500 in damages. LINK

• Star Entertainment has settled disputes with the Commissioner of Taxation over GST and withholding tax on junket tour operator payments, prompting a $55M FY26 charge and a US$33M refund. LINK

• A2 Milk warns of a 14% fall in China-label IMF sales due to supply chain issues as it upgrades FY26 guidance to US$1.9B revenue with stronger margins and cash conversion. LINK

• Island Pharmaceuticals has received Ugandan government approval to ship its experimental antiviral Galidesivir for compassionate use in a Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak with 1,561 cases and 508 deaths. LINK

2026 AUSCORP SALARY SURVEY

Since late 2022, your employer can no longer stop you discussing your pay. But most people still have no idea what the person next to them earns. We're trying to fix that.

This is our biggest survey yet and the more people who contribute, the harder it gets for anyone to be underpaid without knowing it. Anonymous, takes 2 minutes, and the results go straight back to the community.

37 Free Claude Prompts With The AI Report

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CHART OF THE DAY

Most shoppers don't avoid plastic packaging

ONE MORE SCROLL

Editor’s Pick: Donald Trump confirmed he called FIFA President Gianni Infantino to review a red card for US striker Folarin Balogun - FIFA then suspended the one-match ban, allowing Balogun to play in the World Cup match against Belgium. LINK

Draft Pick: Jaylen Brown traded to Philadelphia 76ers and Giannis Antetokounmpo has joined Miami Heat from Milwaukee Bucks. LINK

Doctor’s Pick: Domestic and family violence victim-survivors at risk of CTE, experts warn. LINK

TRUE OR FALSE

1. The first computer mouse ever invented was made out of wood.

2. There is a species of jellyfish that is biologically immortal.

3. Owls cannot move their eyeballs.

Answers below

OUR SOCIALS

ANSWERS

1. True. Invented by Douglas Engelbart in 1964, the first computer mouse was encased in a carved wooden block. It had a single button on top and two metal wheels underneath to track movement along the X and Y axes.
2. True. The Turritopsis dohrnii, often called the immortal jellyfish, can revert its cells back to their earliest form and grow anew if it gets physically damaged, sick, or experiences environmental stress. Theoretically, it can repeat this lifecycle process indefinitely.
3. True. Unlike humans, owls do not have spherical eyeballs. Their eyes are actually elongated tubes held rigidly in place by bony structures called sclerotic rings. Because they physically cannot roll their eyes, they have adapted the famous ability to turn their heads up to 270 degrees to scan their surroundings.

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