Westpac cuts 5% of its workforce | Mayne Pharma's big headache | Bitcoin's major milestone

Westpac’s new CEO is cutting 5% of its workforce to reduce costs after disappointing investors with first half year results. 

Mayne Pharma shares tumbled 40% after its potential buyer has threatened to walk away its $672 million takeover bid.

Bitcoin hit an all-time high yesterday after breaking through the $110,000 USD barrier - and it’s now worth more than Amazon and Google.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
This is what the Flux. I'm Brett, I'm justin and
it's Friday, the twenty third of a Josey Boy.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Klina is gearing up to go public and its CEO
just announced four straight quarters of peril profit. Except it
wasn't the real CEO delivering the news.

Speaker 1 (00:17):
Was his AI clone. Yep.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Klana's trying to sell itself as an AI first company now,
but Juzy Boy, no matter how a lifelike voice slapping
AI on a buy now polator business doesn't make it
one that.

Speaker 1 (00:28):
Is true Fox. And if you want to kick off
the weekend on a high, fifty bucks in your pocket,
it's always in the Flux out on a Friday with
our weekly game Quick Sticks. All you've got to do
is turn your notifications on in the Flux app. And
if you're the first to answer three business or finance
questions correctly, that fifty bucks is all yours to make
sure to download the app and turn your notifications on today.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
Three fantastic stories today, Juzzi Boy, let's do it for
our first West PAX new CEO is cutting five percent
of its workforce to reduce costs after disappointing investors with
first half year results.

Speaker 1 (00:59):
Corporate makeoverseason at the Bank b Man. So what is
the story?

Speaker 2 (01:02):
Well, Westpac was founded in eighteen seventeen and is the
third largest of Australia's big four banks.

Speaker 1 (01:07):
And despite different brand names, Westpac also owns Bank of
Melbourne's and George Bank and Bank SA.

Speaker 2 (01:12):
So together Westpac supports close to thirteen million customers.

Speaker 1 (01:16):
Of bed But despite its size, b Man it was
the slowest kid in the banking class when it comes
to costs. For a number of years, Westpack has had
the highest cost ratio among the four major banks. In
other words, Westpac needs to spend more in order to
earn the same amount of revenue as other banks.

Speaker 2 (01:31):
So Josey Boy, Westpac's new CEO, has announced plans to
cut another five percent of the workforce, which is about
seventeen hundred jobs across the.

Speaker 1 (01:38):
Bank and be Man. That is in addition to the
over nine hundred jobs that were already cut last year.

Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yep, it's the biggest redundancy Westpac has seen in the
last decade.

Speaker 1 (01:46):
Or as Westpac likes to call it, a business simplification
program with the chirpy name unite so inspiring. So now
b Man the new CEO, Anthony Mila, is putting his
foot on the gas to deliver the cost savings he
promised investors. So what is the key learning here?

Speaker 2 (02:01):
When a new CEO steps in, big big changes usually
are not far behind. A fresh leader brings their own vision,
so that often means reshaping the business to fit the
new strategy, and when it's a public listed company, the
pressure is dialed up to one hundred in this is
what I.

Speaker 1 (02:16):
See action, not just talk. So new CEOs tend to
move pretty fast, changing the EXAC team, shifting priorities, or
in Westpac's case, cutting costs through redundancy. Yeah, be man,
and we've seen this happen before.

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Back in twenty twenty three, Quantus swapped out their CEO
after coppying a ton of heat from customers and investors.

Speaker 1 (02:34):
Yep, and then new CEO made some pretty big changes
to the EXAC team and reset the business direction to
recover from that lost trust.

Speaker 2 (02:40):
Since then, profits have bounced back to better than pre
pandemic levels and it's invested in extra eighty million customer service.

Speaker 1 (02:47):
So be man. Only time will tell whether these are
the last big cuts at Westpac or a sign of
ongoing cuts to come for our second story.

Speaker 2 (02:55):
Main Farmer shares tumble thirty percent after its potential buyer
threatened to walk away from its six hundred and seventy
two million dollar takeover bed.

Speaker 1 (03:04):
You will walk.

Speaker 2 (03:06):
What is happening here to Maine Farmer Group is the
asxisted company was founded way back in eighteen eighty six,
mind you, as a parcel delivery service, but.

Speaker 1 (03:16):
The man in the early nineteen nineties, Maine was found
to be part of a price fixing cartel, so it
sold its transport interests.

Speaker 2 (03:22):
And diversified into healthcare along the journey, you know, the
natural sort of pivot.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
Yeah. They now sales birth control and menopause and dermatology
products in Australia and the US. But it hasn't all
been smooth sailing, juzzy boy. It suffered a net loss
of nearly one hundred and seventy million bucks in twenty
twenty four, but the man back. In February this year,
the US pharmaceutical company named Cossette Center takeover bid Main's
way the six hundred and seventy two million bucks.

Speaker 2 (03:44):
Which was a thirty seven percent premium to Maine's closing
price before this offer fastworld to now, and Cossette is
trying to walk away from the deal, claiming there's been
a material adverse change since their offer.

Speaker 1 (03:56):
Oh and the market didn't take that one. Well.

Speaker 2 (03:58):
Next minute, Main share price thirty percent. So what is
the key learning here? A material adverse change gives a
buyer a potential route to either exit or renegotiate terms
of a deal. If something negative happens between the time
when the offer is made and the deal closing.

Speaker 1 (04:12):
It's basically a legal escape.

Speaker 2 (04:14):
Hatchink, a major profit downgrade, a scandal, a regulatory issue,
and a man.

Speaker 1 (04:19):
In this case, Cossette claims that there was a material
change in Main's financial position.

Speaker 2 (04:24):
And also that Maine had made false and misleading claims
to the US Food and Drug Administration about its contraception pill.

Speaker 1 (04:31):
But here's the catch. Courts don't take these changes very
lightly now.

Speaker 2 (04:34):
In fact, most material adverse change clause disputes end up
favoring the seller.

Speaker 1 (04:39):
Because buyers need to prove the change is substantial and
long lasting and not just a short term blit.

Speaker 2 (04:44):
So now, instead of riding off into the merger sunset,
Maine and Cossette are lawyering up and preparing.

Speaker 1 (04:50):
For a legal showdown. For our third and final story,
bitcoin has hidden all time high after breaking through the
one hundred and ten thousand US dollar barrier, and it's
now with more than Google and Amazon. Not bad for
a made up currency with no ceo and no boards.
Don't tell me more, Joz boy So we know that
bitcoin was created by the man and still the myth
SITUTIONI nakamodu in two thousand and eight. At first, b

(05:11):
Man it was just quirky coders and libertarians getting on board.
But crypto has become mainstream.

Speaker 2 (05:15):
In fact, number of Australians that hold some form of
crypto is around twenty percent according to Fintech Australia.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
That means it's more mainstream than oace milk in Australia.

Speaker 2 (05:23):
And over the past fifteen years it's gone through a
number of incredibly volatile cycles.

Speaker 1 (05:27):
And Jazi Boyd, this happened once again. Yeah. In April
this year, the price of bitcoin fell to seventy four
thousand US dollars after Trump's tariff tantrum. But bitcoin has
been rapidly climbing up actually forty three percent since then.
And now Bitcoin's hit it's all time high of one
hundred and ten thousand US dollars.

Speaker 2 (05:43):
The driver has been spot bitcoin ETFs in the US.

Speaker 1 (05:46):
Institutions are looking for ways to get exposure to bitcoin
without actually owning bitcoin. So what's the key learning here? Then?
It took fifteen years, but bitcoin has become institution accepted
and maybe even friendly. Well.

Speaker 2 (05:57):
In jan twenty twenty four, the US Secure it is
an Exchange Commission the SEC, they approved their first ever
spot bitcoin ETF.

Speaker 1 (06:04):
And that means large institutions can get exposure to bitcoin
via these etf and these ETFs track the real price
of bitcoin. Jazy boy. Why do these ETFs make such
a big impact though, Because holding crypto directly is a
nightmare for large institutions. There's the risk of losing the
password aka the private key. There's also a heap of
regulatory red tape.

Speaker 2 (06:23):
So these ETFs give large institutions the exposure without the headache.

Speaker 1 (06:27):
Get this, bee man. Since the beginning of the year,
the number of bitcoin held by public companies has grown
thirty one percent to about three hundred and forty nine billion.

Speaker 2 (06:35):
US dollars and that comprises fifteen percent of the total
bitcoin supply.

Speaker 1 (06:39):
And this has been a big driver pushing bitcoin prices.
Who record heights Fox Sami. If you want to test
your knowledge or just prove that you're the fastest and
smartest person in the Flux family, make sure you are
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Thanks for listening and we'll see you on Monday.