Latest / What the Flux / RBA hits pause | EA sells for $55 billion - it's in the game | Accenture's AI ultimatum to 800k staff

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RBA hits pause | EA sells for $55 billion - it's in the game | Accenture's AI ultimatum to 800k staff · What the Flux

• 0:05
  Speaker 1: This is what the flux.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: I'm Brett and I'm justin and at Wednesday, there first October.
• 0:09
  Speaker 3: Josey Boy, TikTok will soon have new overlords in the US.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: Apparently earlier this week, Donald Trumps signed in.
• 0:15
  Speaker 3: Exec order that will allow TikTok to remain in the
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: US and sold to a group of US investors. There
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: have been some big names hinted at as investors with
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: Oracle Dell Fox Corps too, but China has not yet
• 0:27
  Speaker 3: confirmed that it's accepted the offer.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: Big question of how they're going to transfer the algorithm
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: overbe Man, I know fox Man as which he got
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: the beginning of October. It is the perfect time to
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: be checking how your credit score changed in the month
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: of September. Did it go up, did it go down?
• 0:40
  Speaker 2: It's all covered in the Fox credit scord took. To
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: make sure to download the Flex app and check out
• 0:44
  Speaker 2: your credit score for October.
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: Three monstrous stories today, Juzzy boy, let's do it for
• 0:48
  Speaker 3: our first. The RBA has held the cash rate at
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: three point six percent after monthly inflation bounced back fast
• 0:56
  Speaker 3: and then expected.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: We all saw it coming. The RBA slamming on the
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: brakes more time, so tell me more.
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: Well, juzzy boy, The Reserve Bank of Australia is a
• 1:04
  Speaker 3: bit like a DJ at Australia's Economic Party.
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  Speaker 2: Eight times a year they check the vibes and adjust
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: the cash rate as needed.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: To make sure inflation and unemployment rates stay in check.
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  Speaker 2: And we've had three rate cuts this year so far,
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: and many of the major banks were expecting another one
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: before the end of the year.
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: But the Consumer Price Index or CPI, that rate jumped
• 1:22
  Speaker 3: from two point eight percent to three percent in August.
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: Which is the top end of the target inflation rate
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: for the RBA.
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: And when that news hit, financial markets turn their expectations
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: right back down.
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: In fact, the financial markets priced in an eight percent
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: chance of a rate cut, and.
• 1:36
  Speaker 3: The financial markets are right except for those eight percent
• 1:38
  Speaker 3: juzzy boy.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: The RBA is taking a cautious approach this meeting and
• 1:42
  Speaker 2: pause the cash rate at three point six percent.
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  Speaker 3: This will give the RBA more time to observe changes
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  Speaker 3: in the broader economy and write out any short term volatility.
• 1:50
  Speaker 2: So what is the key learning here?
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: You don't need a mortgage to care about cash rate changes.
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: If you've got money in the bank account. The cash
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: rate probably impacts how much interest you're earning on your savings, but.
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: The cash right it could be affecting you in more
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: subtle ways as well. Jussy Boy. For example, when the
• 2:03
  Speaker 3: interest rate is lower, it becomes cheaper for businesses to
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: borrow money.
• 2:06
  Speaker 2: That means they could spend more on growth activities like
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: hiring new staff or investing in new opportunities.
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  Speaker 3: And the cash rate can even have a domino effect
• 2:14
  Speaker 3: on your investment in super portfolio.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a positive correlation between cash rate cuts and
• 2:18
  Speaker 2: share market jumps.
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  Speaker 3: In fact, the median return for the ASX two hundred
• 2:22
  Speaker 3: is up between sixty seven percent in the year after
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  Speaker 3: the first rate cut.
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: Interesting. So you see, b man, it's not just about mortgages.
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: The cash rate affects the economy as a.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: Whole, and that is why it's worth paying attention to.
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: For our second story, video game, Giant Electronic Arts has
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: agreed to sell out to Saudi Arabia's sovereign Wealth Fund
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  Speaker 2: and two private equity firms for a whoppen fifty five
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  Speaker 2: billion US dollars.
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: Got on a minute, Juzzy Boy game changing numbers for EA.
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  Speaker 2: What is the story Electronic Arts was found in nineteen
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  Speaker 2: eighty two and today is one of the largest independent
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  Speaker 2: video game publishers in the whole wide world.
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  Speaker 1: Yep.
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  Speaker 3: It's best known as the maker of EA Sports FC
• 2:57
  Speaker 3: formerly known as Fifas, and it's all also the maker
• 3:00
  Speaker 3: of the SIMS.
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  Speaker 2: And the maker of the SIMS language Wish.
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  Speaker 3: And it's a bit of a standout in the gaming
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  Speaker 3: world these days thanks to a wave of industry consolidation
• 3:09
  Speaker 3: over the last few years. But now Jussy Boy Saudi
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: Arabia's public investment fund, along with silver Lake Management and
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: Affinity Partners. They've all agreed to pay fifty five billion
• 3:18
  Speaker 3: US dollars for Electronic Arts.
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  Speaker 2: Which is a twenty five per cent premium to where
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: EA traded before the talks were leased last week.
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: And the deal will be funded with cash of about
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: thirty six billion US dollars.
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: While twenty billion US dollars will be debt from GP Morgan, Chase.
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: And Cole the largest debt commitment for a buyout of
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: all time.
• 3:36
  Speaker 2: And be man this deal will enable Saudi Sovereign Wealth
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: Fund to go deeper into its new favorate asset class.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, so what is the key learning here?
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  Speaker 2: As Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund continues to go further
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: into private equity. It continues to go further into gaming investments.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: Private equity investors have a special place in their heart
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  Speaker 3: for gaming companies, particularly those with steady and reliable franchises
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  Speaker 3: and b man EA's strength in its sports gives it
• 4:00
  Speaker 3: a very predictable revenue the private equity firms really like.
• 4:03
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 3: For example, EA's sport titles include EA Sports FC. As
• 4:08
  Speaker 3: mentioned that was FIFA and also Madden NFL and plenty others, and.
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  Speaker 2: Last year EA's top games accounted to four of the
• 4:14
  Speaker 2: industry's top ten best sellers.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: But Dozivoid.
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  Speaker 3: It also shows how sovereign wealth from the Middle East
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  Speaker 3: is increasingly playing in the biggest private equity deals globally.
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  Speaker 2: In fact, this Saudi fund has already had a significant
• 4:25
  Speaker 2: investment in video games, including the ownership of the maker
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: of Pokemon Girl, so it will be very interesting to
• 4:30
  Speaker 2: see if the world's largest leverage buyout can make it
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: rain for EA and its new big Dame owners.
• 4:36
  Speaker 3: For our third and final story, Accentia has slashed eleven
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  Speaker 3: thousand jobs globally over the last three months and has
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  Speaker 3: put a warning on all staff retrained in AI or
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  Speaker 3: risk being left behind.
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  Speaker 2: Shape up or ship out at Accentua, b Man, So
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  Speaker 2: tell me more.
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  Speaker 3: Accentia is a global IT consulting giant founded in nineteen
• 4:54
  Speaker 3: eighty nine, with nearly eight hundred thousand employees worldwide.
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: Accentua literally has more staff than the whole population of Tasmania.
• 5:01
  Speaker 3: But Jase Boyd, the US government has clamped down on
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: its consulting spend under the Department of Government Efficiency aka DOGE.
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: Yep, they've canceled many IT contracts.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: So now Excentsuons announced an eight hundred and sixty five
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: million US dollar restructuring program to deal with this weaker
• 5:16
  Speaker 2: consulting demand.
• 5:17
  Speaker 3: In fact, in the last three months it's cut more
• 5:19
  Speaker 3: than eleven thousand jobs.
• 5:20
  Speaker 2: Now, the good news for Accentua is it locked in
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: more than five billion US dollars in new AI project bookings.
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: This year, which is almost double the year before.
• 5:27
  Speaker 2: So be man. Given the growth in AI projects, Accentsions
• 5:30
  Speaker 2: warn staff that if they can't reskill for the AI era,
• 5:33
  Speaker 2: they may as well walk out the front door.
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: So what is the key learning here?
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: In professional services firms, the main asset is in software
• 5:40
  Speaker 2: or factories or machines. It's people.
• 5:42
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's the skills and expertise of staff that are
• 5:45
  Speaker 3: the firm's most important asset.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: And be man. This is the same for consulting firms
• 5:49
  Speaker 2: and accounting firms, law firms as well.
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: Yep, and that's why Accentu's warning is so blunt. Retraining
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  Speaker 3: AI or risk being left behind.
• 5:55
  Speaker 2: In fact, according to an IBM survey, about forty percent
• 5:58
  Speaker 2: of the workforce will need a rescre over the next
• 6:00
  Speaker 2: three years because of AI and automation.
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  Speaker 3: So if accentia stuff can't adapt to the next wave
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  Speaker 3: of tech, their skills quickly become obsolete.
• 6:08
  Speaker 2: And the firm's assets lose value.
• 6:10
  Speaker 3: Sounds a bit grim to describe humans as another form
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  Speaker 3: of capital, but in this industry, basically a.
• 6:15
  Speaker 2: Reality is fux Sam has your credits going gone up
• 6:17
  Speaker 2: or gone down? If you want to know what the
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: banks can see about you, there is one place to
• 6:21
  Speaker 2: do it. It is smack bang in the Flux app.
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: We break it down. To make sure to download the
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: Flux app to check it out.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: Thanks for listening and we'll see you on Friday.