Corporate news, markets, and the economy
Lee Mathews, who built a fashion empire from hand-made clothes sold at champagne parties, faced intense court questioning over a multimillion-dollar debt owed to a London-based creditor.
Jake Nguyen 
Meta has laid off hundreds of workers across multiple divisions whilst simultaneously offering top executives compensation packages worth up to USD 2.7 billion each. The contrast raises hard questions about resource allocation and accountability.
Sophia Vargas 
As chipmakers race to build factories for AI-hungry data centres, they are colliding with an unexpected constraint: there simply aren't enough electrical transformers available. Micron's Singapore plant could need 500 of them.
Aisha Khoury 
Epic Games cut 1,000 jobs due to Fortnite's engagement collapse. CEO Tim Sweeney's attempt to frame the layoff as a positive has drawn scathing backlash from industry figures.
Tom Whitfield 
After an eight-month US import ban cost Ultrahuman $50m in lost sales, the Indian smart ring maker is returning with the Ring Pro. Whether it can compete against Oura's 85% market grip is a different story.
Sarah Cheng 
GameStop is aggressively marking up Pokemon trading cards far beyond the manufacturer's suggested retail price, exploiting scarcity to profit from customers much like the scalpers the company publicly criticises.
Fatima Al-Rashid 
Sonova has announced it will sell Sennheiser's consumer audio business just four years after acquiring it for EUR 200 million, marking a costly withdrawal from the headphone market.
Oliver Pemberton 
Pearl Abyss shares soared 23% today after the developer announced Crimson Desert had sold 3 million copies in five days, reversing an earlier market rout triggered by mixed critical reviews.
Darren Ong 
Sony Honda Mobility has discontinued development of its Afeela electric vehicles after parent companies reassessed their strategy amid weakening demand and tariff pressures.
Oliver Pemberton 
The MultiCam camouflage pattern, designed by a Brooklyn-based company, has become the most widely adopted military camouflage globally, extending into civilian fashion, law enforcement, and even baby clothes.
Fatima Al-Rashid 
Trump's 15-point plan to end the Iran war includes reopening the Strait of Hormuz, the chokepoint directly causing Australia's fuel crisis and driving inflation fears that could push the RBA into unwanted interest rate hikes in May.
Andrew Marsh 
Australia's ABC staff walked off the job on Wednesday, marking the broadcaster's first strike in 20 years. The dispute centres on below-inflation pay rises and fears about job security.
Yuki Tamura 
More than 200 Victorian fuel stations have run short of supplies as Middle East tensions disrupt global oil markets. Independent retailers without long-term contracts struggle most.
Daniel Kovac Nearly half of British households say their finances have worsened in the past year despite government cost-of-living support. Australia's similar approach risks repeating the same mistakes.
Oliver Pemberton 
Apple is making its business suite free but banking on advertising revenue from the new Maps ads platform launching this summer. The strategy shows how Apple is adapting to regulatory pressure and changing markets.
Sarah Cheng 
After eight years of talks, Australia has secured the right to keep making and selling prosecco at home under a landmark EU free trade agreement, though exporters face a 10-year phase-out before the name disappears from overseas bottles.
Andrew Marsh 
Australia's headline inflation dipped to 3.7% in February, but the improvement proved illusory as soaring fuel costs from the Iran war reshape the economic picture ahead of May interest rate decisions.
Oliver Pemberton 
Brisbane has shortlisted two major international consortia to deliver a $3.6 billion entertainment and housing precinct centred on a 17,000-seat indoor arena at the Gabba site.
Marcus Ashbrook 
Amazon has acquired Fauna Robotics, makers of Sprout, a 42-inch tall humanoid robot designed for homes and schools. The deal marks Amazon's second robotics acquisition this month.
Mitchell Tan 
Arm has broken from its core business model to manufacture and sell its own datacenter CPU, betting that AI agent systems will generate unprecedented demand for general-purpose computing.
Sarah Cheng