Latest / What the Flux / Lovisa faces class action lawsuit | Bunnings ramps up its media | Microsoft's mega AI spend

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Lovisa faces class action lawsuit | Bunnings ramps up its media | Microsoft's mega AI spend · What the Flux

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: This is what the Flux I'm brand and I'm justin
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: ads Monday to third of February, does it boy.
• 0:10
  Speaker 2: The government got a bit of a shock when it
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  Speaker 2: released the taxes received from tobacco had dropped to a
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  Speaker 2: nine year low. And no it's not because of a
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  Speaker 2: dramatic drop in smokers here in Australia, but because smokers
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  Speaker 2: are turning to the black market for cheaper cigarettes. And
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  Speaker 2: just get this, in the last financial year the government
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  Speaker 2: pocketed nine point seven billion dollars from the tobacco tax, down.
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  Speaker 1: From over sixteen billion the year before. Very very interesting man,
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  Speaker 1: Flux man. It's the beginning of a brand new month,
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  Speaker 1: whether your credit score has gone up, whether it's gone down,
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: and how it's changed over the past month. We have
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: it all covered in the Flux app with a very
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: simple and easy to understand credit score is all to
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  Speaker 1: credit score. February three.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Refreshing stories today, Dozy boy, Let's do it for our
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: first Levisa. The jewelry chain is facing a class action
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  Speaker 2: from its employees after allegedly forced staff to work for
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  Speaker 2: free outside rosted hours.
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  Speaker 1: Jeez, Lavisa's team sparkle may be losing its shine. Be man,
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  Speaker 1: so tell me more well, Juzyboit.
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  Speaker 2: Lavisa started in twenty ten as a fast fashioned jewelry
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  Speaker 2: chain with budget friendly bullying. Yeah, they release hundreds of
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  Speaker 2: new styles of jewelry every single week, and over the
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  Speaker 2: past fourteen years, the company has grown to over six
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  Speaker 2: hundred stores around the world.
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  Speaker 1: Including listing on the ASEX in twenty fourteen, and now
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  Speaker 1: worth a casual three point two billion dollars.
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  Speaker 2: But behind the glitz of Lavisa, things might not be
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  Speaker 2: so golden.
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  Speaker 1: Lavisa's facing a class action lawsuit from its employees for
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  Speaker 1: allegedly breaching workers' rights That includes paying them the wrong
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  Speaker 1: base rate. That includes not paying staff for attending training,
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  Speaker 1: as well.
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  Speaker 2: As forcing staff to perform duties before or after they're rosted.
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  Speaker 1: Chiff and the man, we are just talking about five
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  Speaker 1: employees or fifty employees alleging this behavior. Wow, how many
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  Speaker 1: are we talking? We're talking three hundred employees, most of
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  Speaker 1: who are young women in high school, in university and Joseboit.
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  Speaker 2: If this lawsuit is successful, it could have a significant
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  Speaker 2: impact on Lavisa's financial results and its reputation.
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  Speaker 1: So what is the key learning here?
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  Speaker 2: When a company is hit with a workplace lawsuit, the
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  Speaker 2: implications can extend far beyond legal fees.
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  Speaker 1: We often see class actions result in in pretty hefty
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  Speaker 1: settlements that can drain companies resources.
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  Speaker 2: For example, in twenty twenty one, Woolworth's was forced to
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  Speaker 2: repay five hundred and seventy one million dollars after underpaying
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  Speaker 2: Star and that had.
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  Speaker 1: A significant impact on its profit for the year.
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  Speaker 2: But jus boyd, there are also serious implications beyond direct
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  Speaker 2: financial losses.
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  Speaker 1: These type of lawsuits can also erode brand trust, particularly
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  Speaker 1: if it's so public in the.
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  Speaker 2: Media like this is Yeah, we know that consumers today
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  Speaker 2: are more socially conscious, so any negative press can drive
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  Speaker 2: customers away.
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  Speaker 1: And be man. It seems like this lawsuit isn't the
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  Speaker 1: first time Levisa has been criticized for its workplace practices.
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  Speaker 2: Nope, its employer rating on SEK is two point seven
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  Speaker 2: out of five, two point four out of five on Glassdoor,
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  Speaker 2: and one point six out of five on Product Review.
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  Speaker 1: Yikes, So be man, Levisa might need more than a
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  Speaker 1: quick polish to fix it. Class action.
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  Speaker 2: For our second story, Bunnings has begun rolling out three
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  Speaker 2: hundred large in store LED screens throughout its hardware stores
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  Speaker 2: to build a retail media behemoth.
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  Speaker 1: It's only a matter of time that the partnerships moved
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  Speaker 1: from the ads on TV to the ads in the stores.
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  Speaker 1: Tell me more, b Man, Well we know.
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  Speaker 2: Bunnings is the iconic Australian hardware store with the so
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  Speaker 2: bare they're kind of good, jingle heavy ads and.
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  Speaker 1: The iconic snags that haven't changed in years.
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  Speaker 2: The place where you walk in for a pack of
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  Speaker 2: screws and somehow leave with a trolley full of power tools.
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  Speaker 1: Yilty and be Man. Bunnings has grown into an absolute
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  Speaker 1: behemoth over the past decade.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, its revenue has topped nineteen billion dollars in
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  Speaker 2: the last financial year.
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  Speaker 1: But Bunnings isn't just about hammers and host fittings anymore,
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  Speaker 1: b Man, It's building a retail media empire.
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  Speaker 2: Bannings has started to roll out LED screens across its stores,
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  Speaker 2: sprooking products of its hardware suppliers.
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  Speaker 1: In exchange for a very tasty fee, of course, and.
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  Speaker 2: These screens will be placed in strategic positions around their stores,
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  Speaker 2: a bit.
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  Speaker 1: Like how Woollies, Coals and Chemists Warehouse do it as well,
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  Speaker 1: and the retail media intr is growing rapidly. In Bunnings
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  Speaker 1: wants a little slash enormous piece of the pie. Yep,
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  Speaker 1: So what is the key learning here?
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  Speaker 2: Retail media has become the latest shiny new tool in
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  Speaker 2: the retail shed to expand revenue out of existing stores.
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  Speaker 1: It's all about using data to target shoppers right when
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  Speaker 1: they shop.
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  Speaker 2: Whether that's a cheeky digital billboard in Bunnings for a
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  Speaker 2: Reobi drill just as you're shopping in the drill section, or.
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  Speaker 1: An instore radio ad for Telfast when you're shopping at
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  Speaker 1: Chemist Warehouse and Juzyboy analysts reckon.
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  Speaker 2: This retail media industry is already worth more than one
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  Speaker 2: point six billion dollars in Australia.
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  Speaker 1: Will Worth already makes five hundred and fifty mil from it.
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  Speaker 2: And just for the record, Juzzi Boy Woolly's digital media
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  Speaker 2: business has grown at thirty four percent over the past
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  Speaker 2: four years.
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  Speaker 1: So Bunnings is own our West Farmers be thinking let's
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  Speaker 1: get in there, starting with trusty old Bunnings.
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  Speaker 2: For our third and final story, Microsoft has seen its
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  Speaker 2: profit jump by more than ten percent from a year before.
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  Speaker 2: But not all is as good as meets the AI
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  Speaker 2: very good.
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  Speaker 1: I say what you did there, be man, so tell
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  Speaker 1: me more. Well.
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  Speaker 2: Microsoft is one of the great eight success stories of
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  Speaker 2: the past couple of decades.
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  Speaker 1: Juzzy boy. Yeah, it's always been a behemoth, but in
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: the early two thousands, Microsoft kind of lost its way.
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  Speaker 1: Back in twenty fourteen, it pivoted the business to have
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  Speaker 1: a much bigger focus on cloud computing, which has now
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: become a core part of its revenue and now b man.
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  Speaker 1: Microsoft has said its revenue is jumped by twelve percent
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  Speaker 1: to nearly seventy billion US dollars for the last twelve months,
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  Speaker 1: and profits up ten percent as well, both of which
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  Speaker 1: beat Microsoft and the investor markets expectations.
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  Speaker 2: But Microsoft also flagged that it would spend about eighty
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  Speaker 2: billion US dollars on data centers this financial year, not.
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  Speaker 1: What investors want to hear just a few days after
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  Speaker 1: they hear about deep Zeek. Oh interesting, juzzy boy. So
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  Speaker 1: what is the key learning here? For big tech companies?
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  Speaker 1: Balancing high growth with high spending is an ongoing challenge.
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  Speaker 1: On one hand, investors cheer when revenue beats expectations like
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: Microsoft did right here. But on the other hand, investors
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  Speaker 1: also get nervous when a company hints at massive spending
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  Speaker 1: like Microsoft's eighty billion dollar data center investment. It's a
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  Speaker 1: classic case of you got to spend money to make money.
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  Speaker 2: The good news for Microsoft is that it's AI business
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  Speaker 2: generated an annual revenue run rate of thirteen billion US dollars.
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  Speaker 1: But b Man investors are worried about when they'll start
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  Speaker 1: to see an actual return on the AI investment, which
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: keeps getting higher and higher each year, particularly since the
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: announcement of Deep Seek creating very very cheap AI models. FLUXPAM.
• 6:19
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• 6:27
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• 6:29
  Speaker 1: you in the Flux app. This month, we've got it
• 6:31
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  Speaker 2: Thanks for listening, and we'll see you on Wednesday.