With news that another Chinese tech giant is headed to Wall Street, Hong Kong appears to have again missed out on another lucrative IPO. Valued at a phenomenal US$7-8 billion and boasting more than 600…
At a time when the print media in Australia is under intense economic pressure the weekend proved to be a super Saturday of change with the revamping, rebadging and launching of major mastheads. Fairfax…
Virgin Australia has joined arch rival Qantas in delivering a multi-million dollar half-year loss - albeit on a smaller scale. Both airlines have swung from profit to loss - Virgin from a prior half-year…
The exact nature and location of the job cuts announced yesterday at Qantas are still sketchy, but Alan Joyce’s announcement indicates 5000 equivalent full-time jobs will be cut in the next three years…
As was widely expected, Qantas this morning announced a major restructure of its operations. Included in that announcement are: 5000 job losses. A fleet restructure. Salary freezes. Route restructures…
Qantas will cut 5000 jobs, freeze wages of all staff, and sell or defer buying more than 50 aircraft in a bid to cut A$2 billion in costs. The airline said the roles to be lost include 1500 management…
Over the course of the last few months, industrial relations has once again become a major issue on the national political agenda. Allegations of union corruption, uncompetitive wage deals, inflexible…
So it begins – a company running to Canberra with a good story and in need of some or other political favour. To be fair, these companies tend to have very good stories – consumer safety, national security…
Cinema company Hoyts Group is again considering listing on the stockmarket, tipped to take place sometime later this year. It’s expected that the float will be valued at around A$700 million. The group…
G20 finance ministers and central bank governors have set themselves a formidable task in accelerating growth and creating millions of new jobs in order to add 2% to world economic growth over the next…
ACCC Chairman Rod Sims has put drip pricing in online markets on the regulator’s hit list for the year ahead, warning there would “shortly be enforcement in this area”. It’s a welcome and overdue move…
When the who’s who of business and world leaders met at last month’s World Economic Forum in Davos a different industrial model was on the agenda: the circular economy. It’s a term the average person may…
With the demise of manufacturing and without a product to sell internationally, the argument goes that non-resource states such as Victoria are fated to fall into recession in the short run, or experience…
The G20 finance ministers have once again agreed to cooperate to counter aggressive cross-border tax avoidance by multinationals. Many US firms are using tax avoidance schemes for their non-US earnings…
It’s ironic that fantasy home shows are the latest genre in reality TV, at a time when affordable housing is the real fantasy for many. The format is strangely addictive – photogenic twenty somethings…
The G20 finance ministers, who have been meeting in Sydney this weekend, say economic grow is still below the rate needed to get people back into jobs. In a statement released at the conclusion of talks…
Another record trade deficit for Japan is raising doubts about Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s “Abenomics” strategy for economic revival. The new figures follow poor manufacturing sentiment numbers earlier…
As G20 finance ministers and central bank chiefs prepare to meet in Sydney this weekend, leading corporate figures known as the B20 will meet separately with major global investors to discuss the need…
In 2005, the Federal Court faced the difficult task of arriving at a penalty for Steve Vizard after he was found in breach of his duties as a director of Telstra. In his judgment, Raymond Finkelstein criticised…
Treasurer Joe Hockey this week revealed plans to push for quantitative economic growth targets from the G20 Finance Ministers, who are meeting in Sydney this weekend. But it’s unclear whether this mission…
Some of the newest enterprises online are those which link workers to anyone who wants a job done. They’re not concerned with employment or jobs but with “tasks”. These are small, one-off, discrete portions…
Financial markets love to come up with snappy acronyms – you have all heard of BRICS, but there are many others, with the “fragile five” being the latest. The BIITS - Brazil, India, Indonesia, South Africa…
Over the last decade, Australia has experienced a productivity slump. Our long-term productivity growth ranks well below the OECD average, and significantly below that enjoyed by leading economies. However…
Australia and South Korea are entering a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), but before you think “advanced Western country gains access to a large Asian market”, think again. Economic powers have shifted seismically…
Finance ministers and central bank governors from the Group of 20 major economies will meet in Sydney this week. A lot of troubled financial waters have flowed under the bridge since this group last met…