Afternoon Report | Netflix in major takeover talks

This is the Fear and Greed Afternoon Report - everything you need to know about what happened in the markets, economy and world of business today, in just a few minutes.

1. ASX finishes week higher

2. Bruising IPO for Saluda Medical

3. AGL walks away from Gippsland wind project

4. Oprah endorses Australia’s social media ban

5. Netflix in talks to buy Warner Bros Discovery

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Fear and Greed Business News Afternoon Report
for Friday, the fifth of December. Oh Michael Thompson and
every afternoon, We've got the five stories that happened today
that you need to know about. Let's go a story
number one. The S and p ASX two hundred closed
zero point two percent higher today to eighty six hundred
and thirty five points. It means the BOSS was up
slightly for the week as well, up zero point two

(00:25):
percent for the week. The best performers today with the
material stops led by the lithium miners, UBS lifted its
outlook for lithium demand between now and twenty thirty. That
played out very well indeed for the local miners. Igo
was up seven point one percent today. Both Mineral Resources
and Liontown were up almost five percent. The banks broadly

(00:46):
had a good day Westpac, Comwealth Bank and NAB We're
all up. A and ZED was flat and Bendigo and
Adelaide Bank jumped two and a half percent. With the
Financial Review reporting that police in Victoria arrested four people
in a money laundering investigation linked to a branch. There
were slightly mixed results today for the tech stocks. Data

(01:07):
center operator next dc inked a partnership with open Ai.
It climbed three point one percent today. For the retailers
Premier Investments, which owns brands like Peter, Alexander, Smiggle, Just Genes,
it fell almost sixteen percent after its first half guidance
came in below expectations. Broadly, markets are in a bit

(01:28):
of a holding pattern at the moment ahead of two
big big meetings next week, the Reserve Bank Board and
the US Federal Reserve. Story number two. The other big
story on market today a very bruising debut on the
ASX for Saluta Medical, the spinal cord stimulation company, listed
on the share market today, only to tumble more than

(01:50):
fifty percent. Shares were issued at two dollars sixty five,
but opened at one dollar ninety and continued to head
south from there, closing at one dollar twenty. Saluta had
raised two hundred and thirty million dollars ahead of the float,
hoping for evaluation of about seven hundred and seventy five
million dollars. It is the second week debut from a
medical device maker just this week. Saluta is based in

(02:14):
the US, but the technology was developed in Sydney and
the third of its operations are in Australia. The tech
aims to treat chronic back and leg pain by adjusting
electrical stimulation in real time. The company says six thousand
patients have already been implanted with the device, with no
requests for removal onto story number three. Now, an AGL
has walked away from its flagship offshore wind proposal in Gippsland,

(02:38):
delivering another blow to Victoria's renewable energy ambitions. The company
and its partners have surrendered their feasibility license for the
Gippsland Skyes project, halting plans to explore large scale offshore
turbines in the region. It is the highest profile exit
so far from Victoria's offshore wind program, following two two

(03:00):
earlier project cancelations. It raises some fresh questions about the
state's ability to meet its twenty thirty two offshore wind targets.
The Australian newspaper reports this afternoon that the federal government
had tried to keep developers engaged by waiving license fees,
but rising costs and regulatory hurdles and delays to an

(03:20):
auction that was crucial to the development in Victoria have
all hit confidence. AGL says it will now focus on
onshore wind gas and a major battery rollout, with plans
to approve up to nine hundred megawatts of grid scale
batteries within the next eighteen months. Story number four Media

(03:41):
icon Oprah Winfrey has praised Australia's ban on social media
for under sixteens, calling it world leading and a move
that could change the lives of an entire generation. The
ban comes into effect next week, preventing anyone under the
age of sixteen from having an account on platforms including Instagram, TikTok, Fail,
Spoken more. Appearing in Sydney last night, Winfrey said, and

(04:04):
I quote, there are all of these young people who
cannot actually communicate or have a conversation, particularly young boys,
because they become addicted to pawn so early and don't
know how to actually ask somebody out on a date.
Haven't experienced the socialization of talking to a real person.
So once again, Australia leads the way for the rest
of the world. The Speaking Tour is Oprah's first visit

(04:26):
to Australia in a decade, and finally, Story number five
a big one to finish the Afternoon. Netflix is in
exclusive negotiations to buy Warner Brothers Discovery, with Bloomberg reporting
that the blockbuster deal could reshape the global entertainment industry.
Netflix has reportedly offered twenty eight dollars a share for

(04:47):
Warner Brothers Discovery, coming in above a twenty seven dollar
per share offer from rival Paramount, though Paramount wants to
buy the whole company, including cable channel CNN, whereas Netflix
is focused on the film and TV studios, HBO Max
streaming service, and related parts of the company, including a
huge content library ranging from Harry Potter and Friends to

(05:09):
The White Lotus and The Sopranos. Netflix has also offered
a five billion dollar breakup fee. If regulators block the takeover,
a deal could be announced within days. The merger would
create a streaming giant with more than four hundred million
subscribers worldwide, but may raise a few antitrust concerns in

(05:30):
the US and in Europe. And that's it for the
Afternoon Report for Friday, the fifth of December. Make sure
you're following the podcast and head along to Fearandgreed dot
com dot au to sign up for our free daily newsletter.
I'll put a link in today's show notes as well.
I'm Michael Thompson. Enjoy your evening.