🗞️ The blue bird

Good morning. CNN reported this week that X, formerly Twitter, is worth 80% less than 2 years ago, when Elon Musk bought it.

X no longer trades publicly but Fidelity reported that the shares are now worth an estimated $4.2 million, an additional 24% drop since the end of July.

Who knew that calling a rescue diver a “pedo guy”, challenging Vladimir Putin to a cage fight, and tweeting about taking Tesla private at $420 might not be the best way to boost investor confidence…

All the headlines and more below...

AUSTRALIAN NEWS

Sydney doesn’t have enough 3-bedroom apartments for Boomers

• Sydney lacks enough 3-bedroom apartments, causing Baby Boomers to compete with young families for the limited stock, pushing prices up faster than for smaller properties. LINK

• Australia's housing crisis is worsened by soaring costs and shrinking buyer pools, with developers scaling down projects . LINK

• Australia's IPO market is experiencing its worst drought since the GFC, with companies avoiding public listings in favour of private capital to protect valuations. LINK

• Collaboration across sectors is proving effective in fighting scammers, with Australia seeing a 13% reduction in scam losses in 2023 as ecosystem-wide anti-scam efforts take hold. LINK

• Rental growth has stalled despite low vacancy rates, with rental prices dropping in cities like Brisbane and Canberra in what is the weakest September quarter in 4 years. LINK

• Tasmania is launching a sand flathead breeding program as part of a $1.2M investment aimed at restoring the fish population, which has been depleted by overfishing. LINK

• Experts say negative gearing and capital gains reforms would likely cause only a minor decline in house prices, though rents could rise if the changes are implemented. LINK

• CreditorWatch has reported a surge in late payments, with small businesses struggling the most, particularly in the construction sector, where 92% of businesses reported overdue invoices. LINK

• MIT economist warns that AI will only impact 5% of jobs, with the technology not living up to the economic hype fuelling the current tech stock rally. LINK

COMPANY NEWS

Formula 1 and LVMH announce historic 10-year Global Partnership

• LVMH has signed a 10-year deal to sponsor Formula One, replacing Rolex as the official timekeeper. LINK

• Microsoft confirmed that it won't call workers back to 5 days a week unless productivity drops. LINK

• Meta and Australian banks have teamed up to tackle celeb-bait scam ads, with 8,000 scam ads taken down from Facebook and Instagram since April. LINK

• ANU will cut at least 50 jobs and merge its health and science colleges as part of a $250M cost-cutting plan. LINK

• OpenAI has raised $6.6B in funding, valuing the company at $157B, with major backers including Microsoft and Nvidia. LINK

• Westpac will sell its auto finance loan book to Resimac Group, a deal expected to close by mid-2025. LINK

• Telstra has urged customers in WA to purchase additional services to avoid communication blackouts, following an eight-day outage that left many residents without connectivity. LINK

• Qantas is revamping its in-flight dining options as competition heats up in the domestic market, following Virgin Australia's partnership with Qatar Airways. LINK

• Origin Energy has pulled out of its flagship green hydrogen project in Newcastle due to high production costs. LINK

• A Russian court has frozen $372M in assets belonging to JPMorgan and Mellon Bank, in connection with a dispute over Ukrainian bank subsidiaries. LINK

• Microsoft will invest $4.8B to boost its AI and cloud infrastructure in northern Italy, marking its largest investment in the country to date. LINK

CHART OF THE DAY

The price of homes often rise strongly following rate cuts

ONE MORE SCROLL

Editor’s Pick: World War II bomb explodes at a Japanese airport, causing a large crater on runway.

Draft Pick: Australia starts its T20 Women's World Cup campaign on Saturday, taking on Sri Lanka. All you need to know about the tournament here.

Odd Pick: Childless Republican candidate poses with borrowed family in bizarre photo shoot.

TRIVIA

Mt Rushmore

On this day in 1927, construction of Mt Rushmore began. How well do you know the famous American sculpture:

1. What state is Mt Rushmore in?
   a) South Dakota
   b) Montana
   c) Nebraska
   

2. How tall are the heads on Mt Rushmore?

   a) 18 metres

   b) 28 metres

   c) 38 metres
   

3. Whose face is not on the sculpture?

   a) George Washington

   b) Abraham Lincoln

   c) Thomas Jefferson

   d) Franklin D. Roosevelt

   e) Theodore Roosevelt
   

4. Why was it built?

   a) The state came into a tax surplus and voted on building the sculpture

   b) Calvin Coolidge, Americas president in 1927, wanted to honour previous presidents

   c) The state wanted to increase tourism

Answers below

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ANSWERS

1. South Dakota
2. 18 metres
3. Franklin D. Roosevelt
4. The state wanted to increase tourism (it now attracts 3 million tourists a year)

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