- Exclusive
- Rich List
Australia’s 10 richest people revealed
Gina Rinehart has broken through the $40 billion barrier, topping the Rich List for the fifth time. The 10 wealthiest are worth $223 billion in 2024, up $7 billion from last year.
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Inside BHP’s failed tilt for Anglo – and what comes next
The post-mortems are underway, but two things are already clear: the tight time frame was never going to be enough and BHP’s inability to win over Anglo shareholders eventually killed the deal.
Thames Water’s big stink: Is Macquarie to blame?
The crisis in England’s water sector is coming to the boil. Macquarie, with more than $3 billion invested and its UK reputation on the line, will be feeling the heat.
- Live
- Markets Live
ASX drops as sell-off deepens; Elders rises after beef ban lifted
Australian shares open lower in line with losses in New York. Catapult Sports rallies on results. BHP tracks miners lower. Follow here for more.
- Live
- Need to Know
China lifts ban on Australian beef exports
Five major beef exporters will be able to resume exporting meat to China with immediate effect; Immigration Minister Andrew Giles defends his position; Ukrainian president urges Australia to attend peace summit.
Israel seizes control of Gaza border with Egypt, cutting off Hamas
Israel said it has secured control of Gaza’s southern border with Egypt and discovered numerous smuggling tunnels, in moves that raised tensions with its neighbour.
- Exclusive
- Defamation
Former PwC partner sues firm for allegedly linking him to tax scandal
Richard Gregg alleges people have shunned and avoided him because of an implication by PwC that he was involved in the tax leaks scandal, when he was not.
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rich list
- Exclusive
- Rich List
More than half the 11 new Rich Listers are already billionaires
Two cryptocurrency giants, an under-the-radar mattress mogul, a former mechanic and an ex-NRL player are among 17 new and returning faces on this year’s Rich List.
How the Turner women are creating a legacy beyond Flight Centre
Graham Turner may have turned Flight Centre into a household name, but wife Jude and daughter Jo have a different approach to business.
What Rich Listers think about money – and what they teach their kids
Nine of Australia’s wealthiest people reflect on their journey with money and whether material success leads to a rich life.
Rich Lister Terry Snow steps away from the cockpit
At 79, the Canberra property dynamo behind Canberra Airport is finally stepping down from active roles. His son Tom will now chair the airport board.
- No. 176
- Rich List
Rich Lister Wes Maas’ three rules for business decisions
The former NRL player has built a billion-dollar company through hard work and diversification.
Get the latest business news on the go with the AFR’s new iOS app.
Companies
Kidman Resources boss ‘likely’ source of insider information, court hears
The corporate cop claims Martin Donohue “is the most likely source” of inside information relied on by his brother-in-law Duncan Stewart to buy shares in the firm.
Don’t believe the banks, mortgage brokers are a good deal: Jefferies
Jefferies analyst Matthew Wilson argued that “the proverbial genie was let out of the bottle” and “we doubt banks can successfully in-source this craft”.
Guzman y Gomez co-founder quits board as it pursues IPO
The Mexican-themed chain has recently lured new investors at a $1.73 billion valuation and is backed by TDM Growth Partners and Barrenjoey Capital Partners.
- Exclusive
- Investment banking
Grant Samuel recruits ex-Goldman Sachs banker for Hong Kong expansion
The investment bank’s chief executive, Damien Elias, believes Asia is ripe for disruption because the region houses fewer boutique advisory shops.
News Corp unveils major restructure, with editors shown the door
The restructure is aimed at saving up to $65 million, will likely result in north of 100 redundancies, in one of the biggest overhauls of the Murdoch family’s publishing and broadcast empire in decades.
CEOs to Labor: Cut taxes and tech investment will ramp up
Dennison Hambling of security monitoring company IMG says Australia is five to 10 years behind other countries and a corporate tax rate cut would free up capital to make bolder investments.
Fisher & Paykel leaves pandemic behind as respirator demand grows
Earlier this year, Vertium Asset Management’s Jason Teh put the New Zealand-based group on his list of turnaround prospects. Issues at its rival are helping.
Companies in the News
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Markets
- Updated
- Interest rates
No rate cuts until December 2025 as inflation stops falling
Investors have pushed back the timing for the RBA’s first cash rate cut after inflation edged higher for a second straight month.
RBA ‘one bad inflation report’ away from hiking, say economists
Yields rose and equities sank on Wednesday, after another hot inflation print fanned rate rise worries among Australia’s traders and economists.
What happened overnight? US bond yields rose and hope for rate cuts further faded
All three main US equity benchmarks closed lower though Nvidia extended its rally. A third auction of US debt this week failed to inspire enthusiasm.
Why the big four banks keep wrong-footing the market
Investors are asking whether analysts jumped the gun by advising clients to sell bank stocks, as the lenders continue to defy bearish views on their valuations.
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
How to set up your portfolio for the next decade, according to Goldman
The traditional 60:40 portfolio has rallied off its deathbed thanks to surging stocks and bond yields. But Goldman Sachs says what comes next might look very different.
Opinion
Investors find little to celebrate as focus shifts to US election
Investors are becoming increasingly anxious that massive US government deficits and increasing tariffs represent a dangerous inflationary cocktail.
Columnist
Banks are at war with each other, not mortgage brokers
The major lenders’ market share is not being “taken” by the mortgage broking industry. It is being taken by more than 100 other lenders in the market, writes Anja Pannek.
CEO of Mortgage & Finance Association
Taxpayers are poorer without a carbon tax
Instead of imposing a carbon levy on polluters to fund big personal income tax cuts, governments are gambling taxpayer money on climate and energy projects, writes John Kehoe.
Economics editor
Why we commemorate D-Day 80 years on
The Red Army did most of the dying and killing necessary to smash Hitler’s Wehrmacht but the Normandy landings were the decisive military event of war in the West.
Contributor
Three reasons the Trump train is unstoppable
Halting the former US president is proving very difficult for Joe Biden as the rivals head towards November’s election.
Columnist
Global expansion vision survives Lendlease exit
It’s a myth that Australian companies don’t do well overseas. Yet, it is hard not to be disappointed at this ebbing of an Australian company with vision in its blood from the start.
Editorial
Reports
The future of financial advice
This special report looks at options to make financial advice more accessible and affordable, including robo-advice, as well as tips for the new financial year.
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China drops most Australian beef export bans
Just two Australian beef exporters remained locked out of the Chinese market, the latest thawing in the long-running trade dispute between Beijing and Canberra.
‘Radical, illogical’ cap on super ASX stakes would cost savers
Instead of helping Australians buy ASX shares, a cap as proposed by Andrew Bragg would just help foreign capital own more of the market, industry experts warned.
Greens will demand Palestinian statehood if there’s a hung parliament
As political skirmishing over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict continued, immigration officials revealed more than 60 per cent of visa applications by Gazans are being rejected.
Chalmers wrong on Husic’s corporate tax call: experts
Business leaders and tax watchers say overdue changes to corporate rates could be a good place to start a major reform push.
- Analysis
- Company tax
Competitive tensions abound on policy and ambition
Jim Chalmers wants to be Labor leader one day. Cabinet colleague Ed Husic’s public intervention on company tax policy this week shows he’ll have to work for it.
SPONSORED
World
Trump trial jurors end first day of deliberations without verdict
The former president compared himself to a saint as he left the court earlier in the day: “Mother Teresa could not beat these charges. These charges are rigged.”
Trump mulls ‘advisory role for Musk’ if he wins White House
The pair have held talks on a possible advisory role for the Tesla billionaire in a Trump presidency, a sign their once-frosty relationship has thawed.
The disease detectives trying to keep the world safe from bird flu
Frontline work in low-income countries is increasingly vital to a global system to detect viruses that jump between animals and humans, the way COVID-19 did.
IMF lifts China growth forecast but warns on trade war
The International Monetary Fund said it was raising its forecast for the country’s gross domestic product growth in 2024 to 5 per cent from 4.6 per cent.
Key clients desert PwC China as big four rivals circle
The accounting firm is under a cloud over audits of the distressed property developer Evergrande, and it faces severe penalties.
Property
Interstate buyers drive $600k rise in new Gold Coast apartment prices
Interstate investors drove the average price of a Gold Coast apartment purchased off-the-plan to $1.73 million in the March quarter.
Lendlease sells US construction business days after strategy reset
The development giant had on Monday outlined plans to progressively offload its international construction and property assets as investor unrest mounted.
Home construction activity nears two-year low amid tradie shortages
Builders are struggling to find tradies to complete homes as new ABS data shows a second successive quarterly fall in the value of completed residential work.
Rising house prices, mortgage stress spark short-term resale
Recent home buyers are selling up their properties in droves to cash in on the recent windfall or to get out of financial trouble.
- Opinion
- Commercial real estate
Why Lendlease couldn’t grow like Westfield or Goodman
The developers’ mantra “think global, act local” makes sense but too often the offshore investments, by Lendlease and many others, have lacked discipline.
Wealth
- Opinion
- Super Q&A
I’m a high earner about to encounter Division 293 tax. What can I do?
The best strategy is to reduce your taxable income below $250,000 by claiming allowable deductions such as donations to charity.
- Opinion
- Shopping centres
Why shopping centres are a good investment prospect
Population growth, a robust employment market and rising incomes will stoke retail spending, and much of the extra money will end up in shopping centres.
Baby Boomers are loaded. Why are they so stingy?
Recent evidence has cast doubt on the notion that a spending splurge by those born between 1946 and 1964 is on the way.
Technology
Why fake women are a popular use of our powerful new tech
The author of a new book about artificial intelligence says AI is not evil, but has no moral compass.
Here are all the best AI uses from a day talking about it
Will it be useful or “just cool”? Executives and industry insiders spent the AI Summit discussing how they are already using artificial intelligence in their work.
OpenAI is training a model with human brain power
The start-up said it expected the new model to bring “the next level of capabilities” as it strove to build a machine that can do anything the human brain can do.
Work & Careers
Why dads take less time off than mums
Gender stereotypes are discouraging men from taking paid parental leave, a survey has found, making it harder for Australia to close the gender pay gap.
CFMEU redundancy fund push sparks call for worker choice
Builders are calling for workers to have the right to choose their own redundancy fund in response to a CFMEU push to oust a fund that returned thousands of dollars to workers.
Life & Luxury
Seven shows you don’t want to miss in June
From the original ‘Evita’ to Coppélia set in the Adelaide Hills, here’s our pick of the top performances and exhibitions around Australia.
How this spiky sculpture got the fashion world swooning
Among those stopped in their tracks by Mexican ceramicist Andrés Anza’s indefinable work was Pharrell Williams. But, in the end, it’s nothing, says the winner of the Loewe Craft Prize.
Movie review: High & Low – John Galliano is a breathless ride
This documentary tracks the rise and fall and rehabilitation of the acclaimed fashion designer, whose grotesque extravagance was no impediment to success.
The CEO who’s also a seriously elite World Masters sprinter
He’s 42 and took up sprinting only recently, but Hyper Capital’s Gabriel Jakob recently clocked 6.70 seconds over 60 metres.
Do you have ‘portion distortion’? Here’s how big your dinner should be
Our appetites and waistlines have been growing at an alarming rate over the past few decades. But there are ways to bring your dinners back under control.
