Latest / The Curve / Netflix buys Warner Bros, Spotify Wrapped takes over & the Social App to Watch…

Transcript

Netflix buys Warner Bros, Spotify Wrapped takes over & the Social App to Watch… · The Curve

0:01
Welcome to the Curve Weekly, where we read the finance news so that you don't have to.
0:05
I'm Vic Harris, a finance professional who's had a career out of making money for other people.
0:09
And I'm Sophie Hallwright, ex-TV radio producer who was sick and tired of not knowing anything
0:13
about how to invest, so we made this podcast.
0:15
Coming up in today's episode, we talk about
0:18
lots of things happening in the media space.
0:20
We talk about Spotify, Netflix, and a global first
0:23
ban in social media.
0:25
But there is one company that has dodged the bullet.
0:28
Can you guess what it is?
0:29
Moving into the luxury space, there's finally some movement happening with some pretty massive brands buying other massive brands.
0:37
So we'll explain what is happening.
0:39
And there's something we haven't spoken about in a while, which we'll give you an update on, which is Trump's tariffs.
0:45
And finally, Ozempic, the weight loss drug, has found its way into a new market.
0:50
There's a new, I don't want to say thing.
0:52
Customer.
0:52
Customer.
0:53
And actually, one of those customers is in the studio with us right now.
0:57
So if you'd like to watch this episode and see who that is,
0:59
click the link in the podcast show notes.
1:01
But before we get in, Soph desperately wants to talk about her dating life.
1:04
I do not.
1:05
This is not making the cut.
1:06
This is not making the cut, guys.
1:12
We're speaking off mic about how Soph's been invited away for the weekend.
1:15
Oh, this is not going on the podcast.
1:17
There's no fucking way this is going on the podcast.
1:20
No, no, no.
1:21
She's been invited to his house in Devon.
1:23
This is not going on the podcast.
1:24
I'm being fully serious.
1:26
Emily our producer was like oh lots of lovely people come from Devon I was like perfect you
1:30
must be lovely uh and then we were like what's the equivalent to New Zealand and we were like
1:36
oh I reckon Hawke's Bay would you agree yeah okay it's like a part of New Zealand that just I don't
1:43
know what it is but cool hot people come from Hawke's Bay yeah and it's got vineyards it's got
1:49
It's a universally great area, really cool to live in,
1:54
but just everyone from there is awesome.
1:56
Yeah, like if you were like, I'm dating someone from Hawke's Bay,
1:58
everyone's like, oh, nice, nice.
1:59
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
2:00
Great, yeah, yeah, yeah.
2:01
You hooked a good one.
2:02
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
2:03
And I said, I was like, well, I nearly came from Hawke's Bay.
2:06
No, you didn't.
2:07
I did.
2:08
You're an Auckland girl.
2:09
No, I know I am now.
2:11
But my dad, my mum and dad met in the UK,
2:16
and dad got a job offer in Hastings, which he thought was-
2:20
Hold on.
2:22
So they met here.
2:23
So your mum was from New Zealand.
2:27
So Eileen, off she trots on her overseas adventure
2:30
where the pound is three times more than the New Zealand dollar.
2:34
Very smart woman.
2:35
I'll be going over there to get some great money to send home.
2:37
So she goes off to the UK and she met your dad where?
2:42
He was actually, yeah, they were on a holiday.
2:45
Where were they?
2:46
No, no, this is a story that I must know.
2:49
I don't know.
2:49
Was it like a big party house or something?
2:51
No, they were traveling.
2:52
Yeah.
2:53
And dad was hooking up with her best friend.
2:58
Don't you hear stories like this?
3:00
You forget your parents were kids doing exactly the same shit.
3:03
And the friend had a big night and ended up going home early and combing it out.
3:07
And mom and dad hooked up.
3:08
That's quite shady from Eileen.
3:10
I was like, mom and dad.
3:12
And they end up traveling together, just going off the two of them.
3:15
this guy that she'd never met.
3:16
And I was like,
3:17
mom,
3:17
I was like,
3:18
mom,
3:18
if I did that with the guy that had just met,
3:20
you would be like,
3:21
come home now.
3:22
Like there would be no way you'd let me travel the world with a guy like that.
3:25
I just,
3:25
anyway.
3:26
Also your poor friend that's gone traveling with her.
3:29
It's so funny.
3:30
Cause dad's like,
3:30
it's not like that.
3:32
And mom's like,
3:32
yes,
3:32
it is.
3:33
It's quite funny.
3:35
So funny.
3:35
Yeah.
3:36
Oh,
3:36
that happens a lot when someone hooks up with the wrong friend first and then has to backtrack.
3:40
But also like now they're obviously,
3:41
you know,
3:42
happily married still.
3:43
And like,
3:44
you know,
3:44
40 years later that you hopefully the friends over it yeah but i mean i don't know if i'd be
3:48
friends if i literally planned a big oe trip which by the way back then would have been
3:53
so expensive and so far from home ship to come over here kind of thing and she you know her
3:59
friend let's say sally she's very excited she's met this man and oh fun we hooked up and then
4:03
she wakes up the next day and her friend she's traveling with has hooked up with him i know
4:07
and then ditched her and gone traveling with him got it quite good anyway that's a good story
4:13
sorry wait what was sorry the whole point of this was yes was that I could have been from Hawke's
4:17
Bay so dad got this job offer in Hastings he was like amazing Hastings there's there's a Hastings
4:21
in the UK there's also a Hastings in New Zealand on the other side of the world so he accepted this
4:25
job and then they realized oh it's Hastings which is by Hawke's Bay so anyway yeah so you're cool
4:33
and hot yeah yeah thank you yeah that's where I was getting it I didn't want to say myself
4:37
yeah yeah nice yeah okay so we've had um oh oh my god it's Spotify wrapped week it is we were
4:43
going to share what what our um no we're not no we're not no oh because you don't want to talk
4:48
about yours really isn't that bad yeah oh no really i actually haven't even looked at mine yet
4:52
do you know how many brands i have seen are doing spotify wrapped versions now it's crazy the most
4:59
incredible marketing ploy that's ever been thought of ever it's free marketing for them everyone
5:03
sharing their spotify wrapped is an advertisement for spotify it's great i got it listening stats
5:10
oh no
5:12
top song
5:12
oh shit
5:14
I've listened to that
5:14
a lot lately
5:16
what is it
5:16
Olivia Deen
5:17
no
5:17
it's actually
5:18
Wishless Taylor Swift
5:19
Wishless
5:20
yeah
5:20
interesting
5:22
choice of song
5:22
you don't like it
5:23
no
5:23
I got wood
5:24
oh yeah
5:25
I love that you say
5:29
as if it's like sexy
5:30
it's so not
5:31
like
5:32
opened my thighs
5:33
I'm like
5:34
I know
5:35
I think it's because
5:35
it's so not
5:37
that it's funny
5:38
what is your age number
5:39
ready oh mine is kind of embarrassing but in a good way what's yours
5:45
so much worse i literally looked at mine and i thought shit yeah it's younger but am i proud
5:51
of that but mine's 28 i know i'm like this is 21 i'm like mine's 21 i'm like what 21 year old
5:58
listening to olivia dean wait hold on you know just to be with taylor swift i'm like oh so good
6:03
but you've got a 21 year old listening i'm so here for it we're youthful so funny because on the way
6:08
to work today i was like right rod stewart elton john i need to change this for next year i was
6:15
like god oh my god that's so good i must say this is the best it's ever been like all the like fun
6:19
dots and shit like it's so cool so apparently this was done created the idea was created by an intern
6:25
back in like 2016 so and now everybody is copying it like clothing stores being like this is wrapped
6:31
this is what we've sold this week like it's crazy it's quite incredible yeah i don't know if i've
6:35
seen that many other examples of this where there's a brand that's created something that's
6:40
for marketing purposes but it's been taken so it's like a cultural phenomenon now every year
6:46
people look forward to their spotify raps yeah well look forward to maybe it's a little bit
6:50
dramatic but everyone knows it's that time of year like content calendars content creators are
6:54
planning how do i repurpose our most sold top for the year and now blah blah blah it's probably a
7:00
great time to thank our audience god yeah gosh we had our creative stats come through oh my goodness
7:07
it was like far out it was so amazing and also just everyone that's shared to their story or like
7:13
shared to their friends podcasting in general is sure you can try and market your podcast but
7:19
really word of mouth is the only way that actually gets new listeners and that people trust their
7:25
friends with recommendations whether it's a show on netflix yeah it's a show on spotify it's
7:29
It's a vitamin brand that they love.
7:31
Like the best marketing is word of mouth.
7:33
And if you guys didn't talk about it with your friends or share episodes with people,
7:38
we wouldn't have seen, like we've seen such incredible growth this year.
7:41
It's amazing.
7:42
So yeah, thank you.
7:43
And to everyone who shared it on their stories, I was like, cute.
7:46
Yeah, I love that.
7:47
So nice to see.
7:48
I think the thing for me from our Spotify wrapped, the curves was the reach.
7:54
95 countries.
7:55
I was like, is there even that many countries in the world?
7:58
Wow.
7:58
95?
7:59
Yeah.
8:00
Okay, so top three countries.
8:02
New Zealand, Australia, the UK.
8:04
What was the lowest country?
8:06
I want to know where it was.
8:07
Paraguay.
8:08
Paraguay.
8:09
By Uruguay.
8:10
Paraguay.
8:11
Paraguay is in South America.
8:13
It's amazing.
8:14
By Brazil.
8:15
Oh my gosh, that's so cool.
8:16
I want to see the UK getting bigger.
8:18
Same.
8:19
I want to see the UK.
8:20
Number one even.
8:21
Yeah.
8:22
Better than Australia.
8:23
Yes, I definitely want to see it better than Australia.
8:25
I agree.
8:25
Come on, Brits.
8:26
If you are listening to us from Australia, we love you.
8:27
Yeah, we love you.
8:28
We really do love you.
8:29
But like, is anyone listening in the UK?
8:32
Can you?
8:33
That's a Kiwi.
8:34
Can you share it with your Brit friends?
8:36
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
8:37
We need you to be our like, her eyes and ears.
8:39
What am I looking for?
8:40
Also, do you know the New Zealand accent?
8:43
Yes.
8:43
I was just going to be like, oh, yeah, the accent can be quite jarring for some Brits.
8:48
But I reckon they like it, don't you think?
8:50
But the New Zealand accent got rated the sexiest accent of the world.
8:56
Are you?
8:57
I know
8:58
Pidding
8:59
Hello
9:04
Of all the things you could have said
9:06
Hello
9:08
Not sexy
9:10
Shit that's funny
9:10
I know
9:11
Oh my god
9:12
I was like thank goodness for being Kiwi
9:14
Oh my god
9:15
Yeah
9:15
Put that on your hinge profile
9:18
Sorry but like talk about we're on a podcast
9:20
I know
9:21
And we have the sexiest accent in the world
9:22
I know
9:23
It's just a shame there's 90% females listening to the podcast
9:26
podcast but yes yeah holy shit Emily can you cut me some cut downs of me talking that I can put on
9:34
my hinge hello just from different angles hello hello hello hello um I'd love that anyway point
9:42
was if you're in the UK can you send our podcast to your friends and not New Zealand friends I mean
9:47
fine New Zealand friends will take any promotion at this point but particularly UK people we need
9:54
to start forward you know send your friends the sexiest voice in the world exactly so anyway
9:59
Spotify uh is actually done really well this year it's up 23 percent its share prices which is
10:05
great they're actually rising raising their prices as well which is fantastic but fair enough when
10:10
you add features if the price stays the same but you continue continuing to add features
10:15
essentially getting cheaper imagine raising the prices for 500 million people you just put it up
10:23
like one dollar not even that's 500 million added to your yeah bottom line as they say the bottom
10:28
line that is that's what apple does with its iCloud storage like yeah all those subscription
10:34
services Netflix like you add tiny little increase when you've got millions of users
10:40
yep straight to the bottom line okay I'm just gonna butt in here quickly it's a bit by the way
10:47
We're about to tell you a news item and go into a lot of detail, but unfortunately, or
10:53
fortunately, we've had an update on this news item hot off the press.
10:58
So I just wanted to preface this and jump in with a bit of an update.
11:01
And it's all around Netflix and Warner Brothers.
11:03
So we, as you'll hear soon, are about to talk about this possible deal between Netflix and
11:11
Warner Brothers, so Netflix buying Warner Brothers.
11:13
but we've just found out literally half an hour ago that they've actually bought the entire
11:19
Warner Brothers business for about $80 billion.
11:23
So we go into a lot of detail in the podcast soon
11:26
about how the deal might have been struck, what parts they might take.
11:31
We speak about how Netflix
11:33
might take the HBO part, but not other parts.
11:35
And it is still very relevant and a very educational
11:39
piece, but I just wanted to jump in here and give a little update.
11:42
This is major, major news.
11:44
This is
11:45
one of the biggest streaming providers joining forces, one of the biggest production and film
11:51
houses and studios.
11:53
And it just goes to show the consolidation that we're seeing in the media
11:57
space right now and how these traditional media companies are really struggling to exist
12:01
in a new environment where you've got these online streaming platforms.
12:04
So just wanted to update you,
12:06
major, major deal and Netflix paid.
12:08
They paid for this deal entirely with cash.
12:11
So that just means
12:12
like they're rolling in cash.
12:14
But yes, very exciting detail.
12:16
And we will update you further
12:17
as more news comes available.
12:22
While we're in the media space, we have got some other big news
12:26
that Netflix made a bid for Warner Brothers.
12:29
So Warner Brothers is big, big, big media company.
12:33
It owns like CNN, Warner Brothers Studios, HBO, so many different like networks and production houses.
12:42
Warner Brothers, it sounds really old school to me, but they've obviously tried to move with the times by acquiring all of those businesses.
12:49
Yeah.
12:49
Right?
12:50
Yeah.
12:50
So buying Warner Brothers is essentially buying a lot of production houses.
12:55
Yeah.
12:55
It's not just one production house.
12:57
It's like buying a production house that has 10 different babies.
13:01
And movie rights and stuff as well, right?
13:03
Like they're going – I guess if Netflix – if this does go through and Netflix does end up buying Warner Brothers, they'll be like vertically integrated in terms of the studios and production for content purposes as well as like horizontally for like HBO, which has like Game of Thrones, Big Little Lies, Sex and the City.
13:20
like there's it will open their their like library in terms of of shows that they now own um but also
13:26
like they can save costs on the like content production of those new series and stuff i think
13:32
that they will only purchase a small part of it i think they'll only be able to purchase a small
13:38
part of it because there's like regulatory kind of competition watchdogs that are like no hang on
13:43
if you own a big part of the media space then you could charge 50 a month for your netflix
13:49
subscription and people would still have to pay it because there's nowhere else to go so
13:52
there's like competition watchdogs that make sure that deals like this are still favorable to the
13:58
to the customer at the end of the day and still have like space for competition it's kind of like
14:03
when you've got so much pricing power that you could charge that because there is nowhere else
14:08
to go so if we wanted to watch movies we would have to go there do you know like it's like if
14:13
you want to go to the supermarket and you need bread but you only have one place to buy bread
14:16
where you're forced to pay 50 pounds a month.
14:19
And yes, there'd be people that are like,
14:20
screw that, I can't afford to pay that $50 a month or whatever.
14:24
But when you're kind of, I guess, 5Xing the price,
14:29
you can afford for those people to drop off
14:30
and you're still super profitable.
14:33
But yeah, supermarkets is a big one,
14:35
particularly in New Zealand.
14:36
We've got kind of two big supermarket chains
14:38
and there's always backlash in terms of like the prices
14:40
that they're charging, the profits they're making,
14:42
and we can't go anywhere else to do our shopping.
14:44
Same in Australia, you've got Coles and Woolies,
14:46
like they always get they're always in the media i'm surprised boots in the uk boots pharmacies
14:53
are not that because for anyone that doesn't know boots is this ginormous chain of chemists here
15:00
really i feel like it doesn't leave a lot of space for competition i mean i'm just i would mainly go
15:07
to a boots for anything so what does it mean what does it mean if netflix actually does buy
15:12
Warner Brothers and would they buy, were you saying they would buy a part of it, they wouldn't
15:16
buy all of it?
15:17
I think there'd be things that what we just talked about in terms of what they could
15:22
and couldn't purchase and yes there's probably enough streaming platforms around they could buy
15:28
HBO but whether they could go more into the traditional media space and start buying up
15:34
studios and production houses and all of that and film content could be a bit more of a question
15:40
mark so isn't it it'll probably get split up warner brothers probably get split up isn't that
15:45
quite shit for warner brothers you know if isn't it like here are my four children oh yeah i only
15:50
want your cute young one and then you've got these awkward three kids that you don't want to do with
15:55
like i mean when you're a public company all investors want is their share price to grow and
15:59
the value of their investments to grow and warner brothers hasn't been doing well if chopping it up
16:05
creates value then shareholders will be all for it.
16:09
So interesting.
16:10
And sometimes it does right
16:11
because you might have this really good performing asset that gets shadowed by all these other
16:16
terrible performing parts of the business so when you do actually break up businesses it can lead to
16:23
increased value and this is when we spoke in ages ago about spin-offs you know.
16:27
I was literally just
16:28
thinking that I was thinking you know and there was an example that we used at the time I think
16:32
it was a drug store or something but it was the idea that there was one drug or one part of the
16:37
business that was doing really really well so they were basically going to spin it off to be its own
16:42
company rather than it being it's like if you thought about unilever and there's one amazing
16:47
product underneath that or business but because everything else is doing badly it means that
16:52
i don't know say the soap department's doing really well yeah it's it actually just looks
16:57
like the whole business is drowning but it's not but if you pull out the soap department
17:01
And give it the resources, the management team of its own and let it run, then it can actually.
17:07
And yes, the shareholders, it depends on the structure, but usually they get shares in the new entity or the spinoff.
17:15
It'll be like cut.
17:17
You'll now have shares in these three different businesses and you can decide if you want to sell or keep or whatever.
17:22
But it's to create value at the end of the day.
17:25
That's why they do it.
17:25
Sometimes the idea of being separate can be actually more valuable.
17:29
Or it could be creating value in a way that we actually are drowning in debt and we need to sell an asset, whether that is our streaming platforms, our studios or whatever.
17:42
We need to sell an asset to pay off that debt to therefore make the existing business more valuable.
17:47
So yes, lots of reasons that these companies do these transactions, but it could be quite game changing for the media space.
17:53
There's a lot of changes in the media landscape right now.
17:56
I think that where we land with television or streaming is quite interesting.
18:01
But I also do feel like there's similar movement happening within the social media space.
18:06
Because, you know, for a while, there's been a couple of dominant players.
18:11
It's starting to feel like that's shaking up a bit.
18:14
And I think that this next story kind of speaks to exactly that.
18:18
There has been some pretty incredible regulation or law, actually, that's been passed in Australia.
18:26
this week and it is all around how if you're under 16 you'll be banned from using social
18:33
media platforms in australia and any company that doesn't comply will get huge fines and it is the
18:38
first country in the world to do this so effectively no young people in australia will have access to
18:43
social media which is hallelujah i think that's incredible yeah i think this is such a huge
18:50
milestone and a big win for young people a big blow to tech companies social media companies in
18:58
particular because they are like that's their up-and-coming audience that you know targeting
19:02
that younger demographic that's such an interesting point it's the idea that a lot of those people
19:08
you hook them in early and then they're addicted for life but essentially they don't have young
19:13
brains to prey on anymore because they're not going to have access to them yeah and shame also
19:18
So New Zealand's trying to follow suit.
19:20
Shane Zuckerberg.
19:21
Zuckerberg.
19:22
Zuckerberg.
19:23
Zuckerberg.
19:24
Zuckerberg.
19:25
New Zealand's trying to follow suit.
19:26
We're trying to implement this as well.
19:28
Oh, yes.
19:28
The Before 16 campaign.
19:30
Before 16.
19:30
For anyone that wants to or thinks this is an amazing idea and wants to sign a petition
19:34
and be involved, there's this really amazing campaign called Before 16.
19:38
We'll link it in the podcast show notes if you want to find out.
19:40
Like before 16.
19:41
Yeah, yeah.
19:41
Like as in not before 16.
19:43
But it's very cool and hip.
19:45
It's the B, the 4, the 1, the 6.
19:48
because this well I guess it's amazing for New Zealand to see Australia do this because we're
19:52
so close right yeah you know if this was happening in Paraguay then then New Zealand may not be harder
19:59
harder sell to the New Zealand government yeah I hear you yeah so so back to social media we are
20:03
glad there is a ban for under 16 year olds as everybody should and yeah I think it's a great
20:09
thing for society poor thing it might hurt the social media platforms a little bit like but one
20:13
thing people have said as a counter to this which I think is really important to keep in mind for
20:18
young people or if you're around young people is the lack of connection to community.
20:22
Yeah.
20:22
Particularly if people don't see themselves represented in their friendship groups,
20:26
their schools, their communities, you know, there's obviously in some places a lot of
20:30
lack of diversity and being able to have connection online with different communities can be
20:36
life-saving for a lot of young people.
20:37
So I think that there has to be communication and help to connect them in different ways
20:43
if it's no longer going to be online.
20:45
I think that's really important.
20:46
One platform that managed to not be looped in with this ban for young people is Pinterest.
20:54
Pinterest has had a bit of a, I guess, identity refresh.
20:57
Like it's really struggled as a public company, but recently it's had a new CEO a few years
21:03
ago now, and his whole thing was around positioning the social media platform as not your typical
21:10
social media platform.
21:10
he wants the goal to be when you're on Pinterest to make you feel better after spending time on
21:17
their platform not worse and he wants to get rid of this kind of enragement equals engagement that
21:24
he wants to get rid of that do you know what I'm sick of I am sick of the enragement equals
21:28
engagement yeah I just get so sucked into it and it's just like very discombobulating I think that
21:36
there's a lot to be said for creating content that makes the world a better place.
21:41
Totally.
21:42
To create a sense of community to make, and I do think that's what podcasts do too.
21:46
I think
21:46
people go to podcasting to learn, to feel connection, to better themselves, blah, blah,
21:52
blah.
21:53
I think that the fact that Pinterest is trying to do this is probably the only
21:57
or one of the main social media platforms that is doing it differently.
22:01
TikTok, I would say,
22:02
is more educational and there's definitely content on there that can be helpful but you can easily
22:06
get sucked your algorithm into like some weird stuff yeah but pinterest has also been one of
22:12
the only platforms that managed has managed to age down with its content and with its offering
22:16
like if you think facebook you know absolutely not like good luck trying to bring that back into
22:22
gen z's and younger tiktok has really you know nailed a certain demographic so has instagram
22:28
so is WhatsApp.
22:28
Like they've all kind of had their niches,
22:32
whereas Pinterest has now got over 50% Gen Zs on its platform.
22:37
That's incredible.
22:38
And so if you'd said that to me two years ago,
22:41
I would have said there's just no way.
22:43
Pinterest is so uncool and no one uses it.
22:45
Yeah.
22:45
But when we were speaking about this yesterday with the team,
22:48
Lucy, our social media manager, was saying she uses it a lot
22:53
for fashion stuff, for ideas,
22:55
and that it is more of a enjoyment scroll rather than like a doom scroll yeah i don't know what's
23:01
about it because it is inspiring like it's it's aspirational it's inspiring like the content you
23:06
see on there is beautiful and it can be useful it's quite you can get that on social media on
23:12
instagram but it sucks you into this like i don't know i think there's a great there's people i
23:18
think use pinterest i think i don't use it heaps but more as a creative outlet place for inspiration
23:26
and because you actively know that that's the place that you're going for it you're you probably
23:30
get what you need and then you can get off the platform yeah it's not i think you open up every
23:34
other social media account and your head just gets sucked into your screen and five hours later
23:38
you're like what just happened and their whole ethos is to try and keep you there for longer
23:42
and like feed you more stuff and create that kind of hamster wheel yeah constantly like addiction
23:47
yeah there is so many social media platforms right and like the the audience is so
23:54
segregated now as well you've got older people using facebook you've got young people using
23:58
tiktok you've got millennials using instagram now you've got pinterest for that even yeah i also
24:02
think linkedin has become the dark horse someone said to me the other day that they were scrolling
24:08
linkedin to look at the comments oh yeah it was emily alfred rosa i mean just scrolling
24:13
I'm sorry are you looking for another job yeah I'm like alarming what were you doing on there
24:19
um no but people go to search just check if she's updated her profile shit um point is I think that
24:29
there is a bit of a shake-up happening in the social media space I think that for a long time
24:34
Instagram and TikTok kind of Facebook whatever have been sort of the leaders and it's there's
24:39
been all this power and so much of our attention is going towards the zuckerbergs whatever elon
24:45
musk etc now it feels a little bit power to the peopley you know the fact that there's other
24:51
places people want to spend their time and give their attention that's not just those platforms
24:55
i really like feels positive to me does there's hope there is hope two other quick headlines
25:01
Prada has bought Versace.
25:03
This is a pretty big deal because we spoke this time last year about
25:09
how Tapestry, which owns Kate Spade and Coach, had made a bid to buy Capri Holdings.
25:16
Now bear
25:16
with me because there is, yeah, we're getting to that.
25:19
Capri Holdings owns Versace and a few other
25:23
brands.
25:24
Anyway, we were talking about the competition watchdog, like that got vetoed.
25:28
They were like, no, no, no, that's the coming together of too many brands in the luxury space.
25:32
We're not going to let you do that.
25:34
So now Capri was kind of back out there going, help, buy me.
25:38
Who wants us?
25:39
And so Prada's come in and gone, yeah, okay, we don't want all of you.
25:43
We'll just take Versace.
25:44
Thank you.
25:45
And Capri Holdings bought Versace in 2018 for $2 billion, and it now sold it seven years later to Prada for $1.4 billion.
25:56
oh so you've lost you've lost 600 something 600 million yeah um but Prada obviously sees value in
26:04
it otherwise they wouldn't buy it right so now Prada's got Miu Miu as well they've now got Versace
26:09
oh I feel like they're starting to get a good little collection of brands over there
26:13
yeah so um but interestingly Prada is its head office is in Italy in Milan yet it's listed on
26:20
the Hong Kong Stock Exchange why is that and I did a bit of research I was like weird like why
26:25
with that and then when they listed i love when you do that yeah i love when she gets her sherlock
26:29
holmes on and she's like i'm gonna look into that well i just thank you so much for it in 2011 when
26:35
they went public asia was their biggest market so they were like let's list where we have the
26:40
biggest demand the biggest most interest it's yeah okay right so that so almost what you're
26:44
saying is the same kind of thing that we were talking about potentially happening with netflix
26:48
and warner brothers where they were like no you can't buy the whole warner brothers or maybe
26:52
you can't.
26:53
They might just be able to buy HBO.
26:55
It's the same kind of thing.
26:56
Yeah.
26:56
You're not allowed to buy the whole of Capri Holdings, but you can take Versace out and
27:01
sort of separate it.
27:02
And Versace has been struggling.
27:04
Sales have declined.
27:05
Donatella Versace left.
27:06
Like there's been quite a-
27:07
Such a cool name, isn't it?
27:08
Donatella.
27:09
I know.
27:09
Sounds like Nutella.
27:10
Yummy.
27:11
Yeah.
27:11
So that's what's been going on in the luxury space.
27:14
And then with the tariffs, so we're winding back the clock now to April-ish.
27:21
does that not feel like a million years ago the tariffs oh yes when we're talking about this it
27:26
just feels like so it feels like way more than a year i know it's quite cool for people who have
27:31
listened since then yeah and have seen the whole thing i think that's why i love the curve weekly
27:35
because you learn about stuff week to week but stuff takes a while to materialize and things to
27:40
happen and i think the more that you learn about all the pieces of the puzzle with the economy
27:44
the more that when things start to happen they make sense yes i know that sounds kind of strange
27:48
But as we look back at the tariffs and what's happened, at the time, I remember being so panicked and freaked out and had no idea what was going on.
27:57
But I feel like I've learned so much from seeing that play out since April.
28:01
Yeah.
28:01
For those who haven't listened since April, Trump introduced tariffs, which made the stock market fall, but also meant that a lot of retailers had to increase their prices because they now incurred all these costs.
28:14
And the tariff is essentially a tax when a good or a product enters the country.
28:19
So if you're importing laptops, for example, and selling them, now the price of those has
28:26
gone up because you had to pay an extra fee.
28:28
That gets passed on to the consumer most times when it's like a reasonable level.
28:33
But when it like doubles or triples, that is when a lot of those businesses have to
28:38
kind of absorb those costs themselves because-
28:40
There's no way they can't sell products.
28:42
But also when they change all the time, which they did in April, there is, you know, businesses can't change the global logistics that quickly.
28:50
And anyway, there was a whole, it was a whole kerfuffle.
28:53
And now they're.
28:55
What a stress, sorry.
28:57
All those businesses that had no idea what they were doing in terms of where they should manufacture, where they should sell, how they price things.
29:03
That would have been one of the hardest years to be in business.
29:05
But also remember that Trump was like, I'm going to introduce these 100% tariffs.
29:10
And then at the 11th hour, he was like, just joking.
29:14
So you would have gone to all of this trouble to implement that and change your prices and
29:19
change your logistics or find alternative logistics or manufacturing facilities only
29:25
to then have to unwind all that.
29:26
Like the cost, even just the people cost of having someone internally manage it.
29:31
Anyway, the distraction, all of that.
29:33
So anyway, there is now a bunch of companies that are suing the Trump administration for
29:41
introducing these tariffs because there's a process going on in court right now that
29:45
could deem them to be illegal.
29:48
So there is a whole bunch of companies that are lining up for refunds should these tariffs
29:53
be deemed illegal by the Supreme Court.
29:55
And all the companies, or most of the companies, are either in Democratic-led states or have
30:02
a very democratic led CEO or leader or anyway so it's just quite interesting to see how kind of
30:09
corporate America is now also dividing in terms of its political stance and yeah but I think it's
30:16
a great thing if it comes I mean the likelihood of it coming to fruition is pretty low but I just
30:22
think it's it's you've got to take a stand on these things and be like you can't just sit in
30:27
power and do willy-nilly what you please like there's repercussions there is legal limitations
30:32
of what you can and can't do, and this was one of them.
30:36
So whether he gets a slap on the wrist, whether he gets –
30:38
they have to be reversed the tariffs, whether these companies get refunds
30:41
is kind of all up in the air, but I think the kind of the PR around it
30:45
is that you can't get away with everything that you want to get away with.
30:48
So are all these – I wonder how all these businesses went about doing it.
30:51
Like would they have contacted each other and basically said,
30:54
let's all band together, or did someone go for – did someone, you know,
30:58
stand up and say this that was absolutely if you see KED and we need to do something about it and
31:03
then other people saw other people doing that and they all started yes yeah it was a bit the latter
31:07
yeah so we've got Revlon, Kawasaki Motors, Costco all these like big big importers big retailers
31:16
that would have had like millions of dollars of impacts from this from this tariffs let alone like
31:23
not just additional costs but like lost sales right if you're going as a customer to buy a
31:28
laptop and it now is double the price you walk away like that's those lost sales for these
31:33
companies as well this year what has really hammered home to me is the outrageous connection
31:39
between politics and the economy and and i think this year well it feels like maybe it's just
31:45
because i you know have all of a sudden started taking part in these conversations but it really
31:50
feels like this year has been an example of that to an absolute extreme because of Trump and because
31:58
of what he's been doing in government and how that's been directly and indirectly impacting
32:04
not only the US economy but global it you know businesses all over the world his sort of political
32:10
agenda there was obviously an agenda behind the tariffs yeah but the flow and effect from that
32:15
like his campaign and what he was saying and then retracting it at the
32:21
ninth hour or whatever had so much impact.
32:25
It does feel really irresponsible and unfair on all these businesses.
32:29
And I,
32:30
I think the fact that they're almost revolting against it and him and
32:34
saying,
32:35
you can't do this.
32:36
This is impacting,
32:37
you know,
32:39
I don't know.
32:40
It's also like,
32:41
it's also like trade policy can only go so far.
32:45
far you can't like tariffs should not be a political bargaining power do you know what i
32:52
mean that it should be it should be used to i guess even out like manufacturing and i get it
32:58
like to a point but like putting on 100 or 150 tariffs is is outrageous so this is super
33:06
interesting gonna be repercussions we'll keep you updated yeah i wonder what's gonna happen
33:10
And lastly, there's a new drug coming out, Soph.
33:15
Miso, hide your ears.
33:17
Oh my God.
33:18
Block your ears.
33:18
Block your ears, Miso.
33:20
But you wouldn't need it.
33:21
She kind of might, though.
33:23
We were talking about it this morning.
33:25
She looks a little bit rounder.
33:26
She's got fur, Sophie.
33:28
Okay.
33:28
There is.
33:29
And her dog, it's like, honestly, like her child.
33:32
Yes.
33:32
Like, she's blind to anything Miso does wrong.
33:35
Miso does a poo in the center of her co-working space,
33:37
and Vic's just like, love you.
33:40
She does.
33:40
She did.
33:42
Absolute yeah.
33:44
She did.
33:44
And so who works?
33:46
Remember, she just did a poo on the carpet.
33:48
That was not her.
33:49
It was her.
33:50
Someone on our team saw her do it.
33:52
That's what I mean.
33:53
But it's like pretending she didn't happen.
33:56
She's like in total denial.
33:57
Yes.
33:59
See, Emily was there.
34:00
Thank you.
34:01
Get your microphone, Emily.
34:02
Oh my God.
34:03
To be fair, Vic had left the room.
34:04
So this is in a co-working.
34:05
So Vic had left the room and a guy just comes over and I'm sat on my own.
34:09
And he goes, is this your dog?
34:11
It's just done a poo.
34:13
We've picked it up, but I just wanted to let you know.
34:15
And I had to take the full rap for it.
34:17
Oh, my God.
34:17
I kind of vaguely remember that.
34:19
So my point here is that you have selective memory when it comes to your child.
34:22
Yes.
34:23
Anyway, where I was going with this is there is now a weight loss drug coming in for pets.
34:30
So it's mainly for fat felines.
34:34
Is this actually true?
34:35
It's actually true.
34:36
But there's trials going on.
34:37
Fat felines.
34:38
So cats.
34:39
Cats.
34:40
it's in trial phase but it's essentially ozempic for pets so it's what it's it's ozempic ozempic
34:48
yeah how hard is it to just not feed your your cat dinner one night but like some must be
34:54
susceptible to not producing enough insulin right so this is actually health reasons for
34:58
yes not just greedy felines yes yeah and so it just goes to show this glp1 protein can be used
35:08
for so many great things.
35:09
Like to stop,
35:10
to prevent obesity-related illnesses
35:12
in pets now,
35:13
like, oh my goodness.
35:15
I mean, it could go,
35:15
I hope it doesn't go the other way
35:16
and you have all these like skinny,
35:17
weird, Siamese-looking cats that are.
35:20
Oh my God, Misa,
35:21
imagine if your mum put you on it.
35:23
Oh, your pets?
35:24
Oh, them pets.
35:25
I wouldn't.
35:28
But that's wild.
35:29
Oh my God.
35:29
And also,
35:30
I look at this and I was like,
35:31
oh my goodness,
35:32
I want to buy back into the GLP-1 companies
35:35
because I was just like,
35:36
this is just the start.
35:36
Also, pets is just a space where it's the same as kids.
35:41
Anyone will buy anything for their pets.
35:43
The fact that this is potentially...
35:45
There's members clubs for pets now where you pay a membership,
35:48
you drop your pet off.
35:49
They have dog walking, they have playdates,
35:52
they get washed and groomed and you pick them up at the end of the day.
35:55
Are you joking?
35:55
I know, like a Soho house for pets.
35:57
Imagine.
35:58
Oh my God.
35:59
It's just getting boozed and you should see them.
36:00
They look like a Scandinavian Pilates studio.
36:03
Why would you not just stay to hang out with your dog at the location?
36:06
Yeah.
36:07
I mean, if you're paying for that, you probably got places you can go and hang out to.
36:12
Yeah.
36:13
Anyway.
36:13
This is huge news.
36:15
The pet space, I think, is so interesting.
36:18
I find it incredibly interesting.
36:20
There's so
36:21
many trends that feed into people having more pets, spending more money on pets.
36:24
You know,
36:24
you've got a society that's more affluent.
36:26
You've got a society that's having less children.
36:29
You've got women that are delaying having children, focusing their careers and want
36:33
to have pets.
36:34
There's just so many things.
36:36
anything to do with pets.
36:37
I am all over it.
36:38
And it's not just because I have a pet.
36:40
No, no, no.
36:40
I definitely agree.
36:41
And I think that there's this huge wave at the moment that I'm
36:44
noticing.
36:44
Aging demographic.
36:44
You've got people living longer, therefore they want pets as
36:46
companionship.
36:47
There is, yeah.
36:48
She's an investor.
36:50
She's an investor.
36:50
We do actually have an amazing
36:52
interview coming out this week with Mia McGrath, who is a Gen Z, UK-based, absolute financial
36:59
genius, in all honesty.
37:00
She's so clever.
37:01
She really, off the back of Black Friday, just quickly,
37:03
I know that we decided not to talk about that in this podcast because we're just absolutely
37:07
inundated with Black Friday, how to deal with it.
37:10
You know, it's just everywhere online.
37:12
But one of the things that she shared, I mean, there was so much gold in this interview,
37:16
but one of the things she shared was the idea of gamifying the way that you think about
37:21
spending with things like Black Friday sales, because this is this big orchestrated marketing
37:26
campaign rather than thinking of, and actually maybe we should just play a clip rather than
37:30
me trying to explain it.
37:31
A lot of these things are designed to kind of get you.
37:35
So I try to see any kind of marketing or sales or like any kind of email newsletter.
37:41
I just unsubscribe from it because at the end of the day, you as a consumer, you might want things and you might find value in those things.
37:48
but at the same time, like how many of those things just end up collecting dust or end up in
37:53
a bag somewhere?
37:54
It's always like the big companies that are winning.
37:56
So I try to make it into a game
37:57
and I just think if I have bought something, like I've lost, not in a bad way, but it's just like,
38:03
you know, even on Black Friday, everyone thinks, oh, I got such a good deal, but you didn't because
38:07
that was all orchestrated for you to buy something.
38:10
The easiest way to do it is to just think of it as
38:13
a game and each time you don't buy something you've won because you've seen behind the clever
38:18
marketing tactics and you can then put that money aside for your future so that episode's coming out
38:24
this week definitely recommend listening she was I I need to completely scrap my entire budget and
38:29
start again after listening to her speak about how to prioritize what you spend and how to invest so
38:35
yeah that will come out in a couple of days and we will see you next Monday for the Curve Weekly
38:41
last Curve Weekly of 2025
38:42
have a great weekend
38:43
have a good week
38:46
everyone
38:48
and thanks again so much for listening
38:50
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38:54
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39:01
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39:04
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39:13
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39:16
Bye.
39:16
Bye.
39:18
Sweet.
39:19
Yeah.
39:19
See you next Tuesday.
39:20
Lol.
39:23
See you next Tuesday.
39:24
I mean Monday.
39:25
No, actually, though.
39:26
New episodes out every Tuesday.
39:31
Okay, quickly.
39:32
The Curve was created to empower and educate you about investing,
39:35
but we are not financial advisors.
39:37
Our platform exists for educational purposes only,
39:39
and it doesn't provide personalized investing advice
39:42
for your individual needs
39:43
and should not be relied upon
39:44
to make an investment or financial decision.
39:47
And always remember to do your own research
39:48
before making any investment or financial decision.
39:51
We're here for any knowledge and support you need,
39:53
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39:55
And thanks for being here.
39:57
You got this.
39:57
Yeah, we know you got this.
39:59
So many people just coming out and saying,
40:01
I've got Mesa's butt in my face right now.
40:03
Talking about...
40:04
out it's down down down down down
40:11
we have to end this podcast