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Business news from Australia and around the world: companies, deals, earnings, regulation and the people running them.
1805 articles · page 38 of 38
Shein will begin trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on 1 September, the company announced on Monday, finalising a long-awaited initial public offering that values the fast-fashion giant at close to $27bn – a significant drop from earlier estimates but still one of the largest listings in Asia this year.
· 5 sourcesKPMG Australia will cut 27 partners and approximately 360 staff — about 5% of its workforce — in the first phase of a restructuring triggered by the fallout from an audit leaks scandal and a broader slowdown in consulting demand. The job losses, announced by new chief executive Andrew Yates, are expected to be just the beginning of a deeper cost reduction program.
· 6 sourcesPassengers who booked luxury cruises to Western Australia's pristine northern coastline have been left stranded and out of pocket after the vessel was seized by receivers due to a defaulted business loan, according to reports from affected travelers and industry sources.
· 2 sourcesWoodside Energy's massive $30 billion gas project is under renewed fire as environmental groups point to the company's own modelling to argue the risk of a catastrophic oil spill has been underestimated, with final government advice on the proposal due by the end of the year.
· 2 sourcesThe Dutch Data Protection Authority has fined Uber €825 million (approximately $966 million) for violating Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) through its automated driver suspension system, marking the second-largest penalty ever issued under the landmark privacy law.
A leading Australian media executive has called on the federal government to safeguard copyright protections in the face of the artificial intelligence revolution, warning that tech platforms must not assume free access to locally produced content. In a strongly worded opinion, Michael Miller, a prominent voice in Australian media, argued that Canberra’s policy stance on copyright will determine whether the nation’s creators benefit from the AI boom or see their work exploited without fair compensation.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions has revoked the Reserve Bank of Australia’s access to a long-running survey of its members, a significant escalation of tensions between the two organisations following the central bank’s warning that rising wages could fuel inflation.
A federal judge has ruled that Michael Jeffries, the 82-year-old former CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, is mentally competent to stand trial on sex-trafficking charges, rejecting defense arguments that his dementia and Alzheimer's symptoms render him unfit to participate in his own defense. Jeffries, who was arrested in 2024 alongside his partner Matthew Smith and former staffer James Jacobson, faces accusations of luring young men into exploitative sexual encounters under the guise of modeling opportunities. The trial is scheduled to begin in late October, with a pretrial hearing set for Thursday.
A BBC Verify investigation has tracked a series of inconsistencies in the promotion of Trump Mobile's T1 smartphone, which the company has marketed as a 'Made in the USA' device. The analysis reveals that key details about the phone—including its design, technical specifications, manufacturing location, and launch timeline—have been altered multiple times, raising questions about the accuracy of the company's claims.
· 2 sourcesAustralia's major banks are rolling out fee changes in response to the Reserve Bank's upcoming ban on excessive credit card surcharges, scheduled to take effect in October. The reforms aim to reduce costs for consumers and merchants, but the specific adjustments vary by institution.
· 3 sourcesYouth detention workers across Queensland have walked off the job for 24 hours, escalating a long-running dispute with the state government over wages, conditions and safety, as the Palaszczuk government simultaneously announces a crackdown on youth bail laws.
· 8 sourcesAlliance Aviation Services, the regional carrier part-owned by Qantas, is in advanced talks to secure a rescue recapitalisation, according to sources familiar with the negotiations. As of Sunday, the deal’s size and structure remained in flux, with a final decision on pricing not yet reached.
Flipkart’s quick-commerce division, launched two years ago, is now processing 1.1 to 1.2 million orders per day — nearly triple its November 2025 volume — positioning the Walmart-owned e-commerce giant as a serious contender in India’s hyper-competitive instant delivery space.
· 2 sourcesPotentia Capital has launched a blistering public attack on the founder of software company Soprano, accusing him of derailing a $330 million trade sale, forcing out the chief executive, and then taking the top job for himself. The allegations, detailed in a statement from the tech buyout firm, mark an escalation in a bitter dispute over the future of the Melbourne-based communications software developer.
· 3 sourcesActor Mark Ruffalo has hit back at allegations of anti-Semitism, labelling them “fundamentally dishonest,” after he faced criticism for highlighting data giant Oracle’s role in a merger between two Hollywood entertainment giants and its technology contracts with the Israeli military.
· 3 sourcesRillet, an AI-powered accounting startup, secured $100 million in funding and achieved a unicorn valuation within 48 hours, after CEO Nicolas Kopp shared unexpectedly strong growth metrics during a routine board meeting. The rapid round, led by Iconiq and joined by Sequoia Capital and others, reflects surging investor appetite for AI-driven enterprise software.
Australia's property market is facing a triple blow this spring: heavily indebted developer Bathla has entered administration, a Perth real estate agency has been formally warned for allegedly allowing its agents to buy a home they were hired to sell, and new data confirms buyers have effectively 'gone on strike' amid falling prices and scarce listings. The developments underscore growing strain across the sector, from development giants to local agencies.
· 4 sourcesGetting turned down for a raise can be a demoralising experience, but career expert Victoria Devine argues it can also be a powerful opportunity to reset your professional strategy. In a new guide published across multiple Australian news outlets, Devine outlines a step-by-step approach to not only cope with the disappointment but to build a compelling case that virtually guarantees a pay rise in the next review cycle.
· 3 sourcesTwo men have been convicted in separate UK criminal cases this week for uploading explicit images and videos of women to OnlyFans without their full consent, with one receiving payment for the material, as reported by The Guardian. The convictions have prompted domestic violence charities to warn of the rising threat of tech-facilitated abuse and coercion on online platforms.
Former world snooker champion Graeme Dott was convicted on Monday of sexually abusing two primary school children in Scotland during the 1990s and early 2000s, as the case adds to a growing global conversation about the vulnerability of young people thrust into the spotlight. The 49-year-old was found to have subjected a girl and a boy to multiple incidents of abuse.
· 6 sourcesFires caused by incorrectly discarded lithium batteries, particularly from vapes and other portable electronics, are now occurring at UK recycling centres at a rate of more than 10 per week, according to new figures that put the annual cost at £1 billion and raise serious safety concerns for workers and nearby communities.
· 3 sourcesNewly unsealed court documents from Nevada reveal that Rupert Murdoch and his son Lachlan harboured doubts about News Corp CEO Robert Thomson and war-gamed his forced retirement, exposing the extent of the family's bitter succession clash. The records, made public this week, detail secret plotting against the Australian-born executive, including a memo drafted after watching the HBO drama Succession, and lay bare the tensions that have roiled the Murdoch family trust.
· 6 sourcesTake-Two Interactive has subpoenaed Microsoft and Discord, demanding records to identify individuals behind recent leaks of Grand Theft Auto VI gameplay footage, according to court filings reported by Kotaku. The subpoenas, filed Thursday, target content that Take-Two says infringes copyrights for the highly anticipated game, giving the companies until September 4 to comply.
Nvidia on Thursday flatly denied a report that it plans to ship a variant of its Groq-based language processing unit (LPU) to China by the end of 2026, telling Tom's Hardware the story is 'incorrect' and that the company has 'no China-specific LPU product in our roadmap.' The denial comes as Supermicro confirmed it has terminated employees, including two executives indicted by the US Department of Justice, after an internal investigation found failures in export compliance amid allegations of a $2.5 billion scheme to smuggle Nvidia GPUs to China.
· 4 sourcesTwo New York City renters have filed a class action lawsuit alleging that Compass, a major real estate brokerage, has deliberately withheld thousands of rental listings from public platforms like Zillow, creating a fabricated supply shortage that artificially raises rents across Manhattan. The complaint claims Compass controls over 80 percent of Manhattan rental listings, giving it monopoly power to dictate pricing.
The Dutch data protection authority has fined Uber €825 million ($966 million) for deactivating driver accounts through automated systems without adequately informing them, according to a decision dated August 17. The penalty is the second-largest ever issued under Europe's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), underscoring the continent's aggressive enforcement of digital rules against US technology companies.
· 2 sourcesHui Ka Yan, the 67-year-old founder of China Evergrande Group, was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday and ordered to forfeit all his personal property after pleading guilty to fraud and other charges, marking a dramatic fall for a man once hailed as China’s richest person.
· 3 sourcesTikTok and its former parent company ByteDance have agreed to pay $400 million to settle a U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit alleging they violated the Children's Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by collecting personal data from millions of children under 13 without parental consent.
· 5 sourcesTesla is recalling approximately 2.98 million vehicles in China, including Model 3, Model Y, Model X, and Model S, over door handle safety risks, as part of a broader push by Chinese regulators requiring nine automakers to address dangers posed by hidden door handles and their difficult-to-find manual release mechanisms.
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