Latest / What the Flux / Canva rebrands as AI company | AustralianSuper dumps $1 billion | Levi Strauss' denim comeback

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Canva rebrands as AI company | AustralianSuper dumps $1 billion | Levi Strauss' denim comeback · What the Flux

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: This is what the flux I'm and I'm justin and
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: it's Friday, the tenth of April.
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  Speaker 2: Does he wait? The government expanded the first home by
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  Speaker 2: a scheme last October and confidently said it would not
• 0:14
  Speaker 2: push up house prices slight issue. They were completely wrong
• 0:18
  Speaker 2: because in the six months since, prices for homes within
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  Speaker 2: the scheme caps jump six point seven percent, which is
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  Speaker 2: nearly double the national growth rate over the same period.
• 0:25
  Speaker 2: According to totality.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Flux Out, it is Friday and Friday means one thing.
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: Here Quick six, Well, you can win fifty bucks for
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: answering three business or finance questions correctly and being the
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: first to do it. So if you want to win
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: fifty bucks, to kick off the weekend on a high,
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: and make sure to download the flux out turn notifications
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: on and be ready to play Quick six today.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Three sensational stories Today, Juzzy boy, Let's do it for
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  Speaker 2: our first. Canvas has acquired two new startups as it
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: tries to reposition itself from design software to AI marketing company.
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  Speaker 1: Nothing like a bit of a rebrand pre ipob man,
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  Speaker 1: So what's going on here? So?
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  Speaker 2: Canva is obviously the Australian born design platform founded in
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  Speaker 2: twenty thirteen.
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  Speaker 1: The one we've all used to pretend where graphic designers.
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  Speaker 2: Fun Fact Cameras now valued it around sixty billion Australian dollars,
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  Speaker 2: making it one of Australia's most valuable private companies, surely
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  Speaker 2: number one.
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  Speaker 1: Getting close and Beman. Over the last few years, Canvas
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  Speaker 1: has been on an acquisition rampage.
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  Speaker 2: They've made six AI acquisitions since twenty twenty four. In
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  Speaker 2: jus boy, they cannot stop and just will not stop
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  Speaker 2: these acquisitions.
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  Speaker 1: And now Canvas acquired two more companies, sim Theory and Auto.
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  Speaker 2: Taking the total to eight since twenty twenty four.
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  Speaker 1: And the man these companies both happen to be owned
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  Speaker 1: by the same founders and brothers.
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  Speaker 2: Talk about a little bundle of joy exactly.
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  Speaker 1: Auto is a marketing automation tool, while sim Theory is
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  Speaker 1: a workflow platform that helps build AI agents.
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  Speaker 2: And these eight acquisitions are believed to have cost Canvas
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  Speaker 2: more than four hundred million bucks.
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  Speaker 1: All part of canvas plan to become an AI company
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  Speaker 1: rather than a traditional software company. So what is the
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  Speaker 1: key learning here?
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  Speaker 2: Acquisitions are not always about growth. Often they can be
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  Speaker 2: about repositioning the for a company.
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  Speaker 1: Os public or IPOs is often period where it focuses
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  Speaker 1: heavily on shaping how investors perceive it.
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  Speaker 2: This is known as pre IPO positioning.
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  Speaker 1: At this stage, it's not just about financial performance, it's
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  Speaker 1: about telling a compelling growth story.
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  Speaker 2: Investors want to know is this company future proof? Can
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  Speaker 2: this company scale? Does it have genuine competitive edge?
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  Speaker 1: And for Canva, doubling down on AI is a strategic
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  Speaker 1: move to strengthen that narrative.
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  Speaker 2: Right now, AI is the equivalent of using the trendious
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  Speaker 2: font on the market.
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  Speaker 1: The b Man traditional SaaS. Let's just say it's giving
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  Speaker 1: Microsoft paint energy and before Canvas IPOs, it would want
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  Speaker 1: confidence that the market views it as an AI opportunity
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  Speaker 1: rather than a Microsoft painty software. Might I remind you
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  Speaker 1: that Canvas software design competitor Figma the senior share price
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  Speaker 1: plummet eighty percent since it ipoid last year.
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  Speaker 2: And its other competitor, Adobe is down thirty seven percent
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  Speaker 2: over the last twelve months.
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  Speaker 1: So be man with a potential IPO on the cards
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  Speaker 1: for Camera in twenty twenty six. This pre IPO positioning
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  Speaker 1: is a critical part of the process for.
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  Speaker 2: Our second story. Australian super has dumped nearly one billion
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  Speaker 2: dollars from its ESG fund as it titans ethical investing rules.
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  Speaker 2: OZ Super just did a bit of a Marie Condo
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  Speaker 2: on its SG fund median and many did not spark joy.
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  Speaker 2: So tell me what all right? So Australian Super is
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  Speaker 2: Australia's biggest super fund with over four hundred and ten
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  Speaker 2: billion dollars in assets under management, and.
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  Speaker 1: Oz super has had a pretty important role in the
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  Speaker 1: lives of two and a half million Buzzi members. Yeap,
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  Speaker 1: investing their hard and money well for a comfortable retirement,
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  Speaker 1: no pressure at all. Now within Australian Super Beman there
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  Speaker 1: are a number of different investment products to choose from,
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  Speaker 1: including an ESG or socially aware portfolio.
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  Speaker 2: And now ozps ESG fund has removed nearly one billion
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  Speaker 2: dollars worth of investments from the fund.
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  Speaker 1: We're talking one hundred and eighty listed companies cut from
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  Speaker 1: industries like defense, gambling, alcohol and fossil fueled linked industries too,
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  Speaker 1: and the man. This big change comes after a fair
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  Speaker 1: bit of criticism of ethical funds which weren't exactly investing
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  Speaker 1: in ethical companies.
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  Speaker 2: And now the criteria has become much stricter. So what
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  Speaker 2: is the key learning here? Ethical investing is no longer
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  Speaker 2: a label for investors. It's something that funds actually needed
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  Speaker 2: to prove.
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  Speaker 1: For the last few years, ESG funds could kind of
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  Speaker 1: market themselves as ethical or sustainable without being crystal clear
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  Speaker 1: on what that actually meant.
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  Speaker 2: But lately ACIK has been cracking down hard on greenwashing.
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  Speaker 1: That's where companies or funds overstate how ethical or sustainable
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  Speaker 1: their investments really are. In fact, in just over a year,
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  Speaker 1: ACIK took forty seven actions on greenwashing, including Mercer, who
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  Speaker 1: ACIK took the court for misleading ASG claims and it
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  Speaker 1: was forced to pay over eleven million dollars in fines.
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  Speaker 1: So be a man. Investors like Australian Souper are tightening
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  Speaker 1: their ASG criteria to avoid that ACIK scrutiny and stay credible.
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  Speaker 2: But here is where it gets tricky, juzzy boy, because
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  Speaker 2: the strict of your rules, the fewer companies you can
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  Speaker 2: invest in.
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  Speaker 1: We're seeing that play out in real time because Australian
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  Speaker 1: soup Is ESG fund is up just one point nine
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  Speaker 1: percent since Augustine.
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  Speaker 2: Which is well below its performance goal of inflation plus
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  Speaker 2: three percent.
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  Speaker 1: For our third and final story, Levi Strauss has seen
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  Speaker 1: that shares jumped ten percent after its strongest sales in
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  Speaker 1: four years. Because baggy jeans are back, you.
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  Speaker 2: Slash few juzzy boys have been back for a while.
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  Speaker 2: I know that's a bit of a shock to use, So.
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  Speaker 1: Show me more, okay. So le Strauss found it in
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  Speaker 1: eighteen fifty three, actually considered the original creator of blue.
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  Speaker 2: Jeans, and despite a few lean skinny years, Levi Strauss
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  Speaker 2: has just posted its strongest quarterly revenue growth in nearly
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  Speaker 2: four years.
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  Speaker 1: And they made this is juicy because many retailers have
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  Speaker 1: been struggling because of the ten percent tariffs on imports
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  Speaker 1: into the US, but.
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  Speaker 2: Not Levi Strauss. It's been raising its prices and customers
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  Speaker 2: just keep buying. Now Levi's quarterly revenue increase fourteen percent
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  Speaker 2: and raise its full year outlook as well. Despite wars
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  Speaker 2: and tariffs and the cost of living stress the boite
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  Speaker 2: Levi Strauss also owes a big thank you to the Kennedys.
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  Speaker 2: The who Yep JFK Junior and his wife, Carolyn Bessett Kennedy.
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  Speaker 1: Yep Levi Jeans were featured heavily in a new hit
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  Speaker 1: TV show about the Kennedys called Love Story.
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  Speaker 2: And suddenly Levi's five one seven jeans having their own
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  Speaker 2: romantic comeback, with sales jumping twenty five percent after being
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  Speaker 2: featured in the show.
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  Speaker 1: Talk about accidental marketing, So what's the key learning here?
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  Speaker 1: Brands can spend millions trying to manufacture attention, but the
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  Speaker 1: real magic often happens when culture does the marketing for you.
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  Speaker 2: Yep, Levi's didn't just lawn a massive campaign for its
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  Speaker 2: five one seven jeans or a celebrity collab.
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  Speaker 1: It didn't even plan this.
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  Speaker 2: Instead, a TV show featuring JFK. Junior and Carolyn Bessett
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  Speaker 2: put the genes back in the spotlight.
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  Speaker 1: And boom, five one seven jeans our spiked because everyone
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  Speaker 1: wanted a channel They're Inner Kennedy.
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  Speaker 2: Because when people are emotionally invested, the product becomes part
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  Speaker 2: of the fantasy.
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  Speaker 1: And suddenly you're not just buying jeans.
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  Speaker 2: Snap, You're buying the feeling of being a Kennedy on
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  Speaker 2: a casual stroll through Manhattan.
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  Speaker 1: And b Man. We saw something similar with the TV
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  Speaker 1: show The White Lotus.
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  Speaker 2: We did travel to Sicily and Italy spiked four hundred
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  Speaker 2: and twenty four percent after season two of The White Lotus.
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  Speaker 2: So jesboit. When culture moves, the money flows, and Levi's
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  Speaker 2: is cashing in right.
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  Speaker 1: Now, Fox Sam. If you want to kick off your
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: weekend on a high, the place to be is in
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: the Flux App. Today, we'll send a push notication for
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: our game Quick six, where you can win fifty bucks
• 6:47
  Speaker 1: for being the first person answer three business or finance
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: questions correctly. Make sure it's on to the Flux app
• 6:52
  Speaker 1: and have your notifications turned on. Thanks for listening, and
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: we'll see you on Monday.