September
Why these tech companies’ M&A plans have stalled
It’s a tough environment for tech companies wanting to buy assets and grow. The disconnect between public and private markets is making it worse.
- Tess Bennett
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
Westpac’s accidental CEO hands successor a potential booby trap
Outgoing boss Peter King has been impressive turning the bank around after a scandal. But his replacement Anthony Miller has one tricky repair job to execute.
- James Thomson
- Opinion
- Chanticleer
How Blackstone and AirTrunk plan to build a $100b business
The deal of the year? That’s old news for Robin Khuda, who is already thinking much bigger. It’s music to the ears of his new deep-pocketed backer.
- Updated
- James Thomson
August
Chip challengers try to break Nvidia’s grip on AI
Cerebras, d-Matrix and Groq are among a group of smaller companies aiming to take a slice of the multibillion-dollar artificial intelligence hardware market.
- Michael Acton and George Hammond
- Analysis
- Government Observed
The $340m government IT disaster no one cared about
The idea was simple enough: one back-office system to better co-ordinate all government departments. A decade later, the plan has been abandoned at big public expense.
- Tom Burton
Atlassian founders $3.8b poorer as market punishes revenue miss
Slowing revenue growth has dampened Scott Farquhar’s final showing as co-CEO of Atlassian.
- Tess Bennett
July
- Analysis
- Government Observed
Tech meltdown revealed a fundamental flaw in plain sight
The global CrowdStrike breakdown revealed just how much of the global IT system is built on inherently unsafe code.
- Tom Burton
Google’s biggest acquisition falls over as $35b offer rejected
Cybersecurity firm Wiz has turned down a mammoth takeover bid from Google’s parent company, Alphabet, sticking with an IPO plan.
- Lynn Doan and Julia Love
Why investors see an opportunity in CrowdStrike shares
Australian stock pickers say a plunge in CrowdStrike’s shares after it caused a global outage represents a buying opportunity, with slim cyber pickings on the ASX.
- Tess Bennett
Huge cyber fines to be ‘Ford Pinto’ moment Australian business needs
The threat of business-crushing penalties could change the economics of storing sensitive data and cybersecurity investment.
- Paul Smith
- Exclusive
- Cyber security
Cyber is our fastest growing national security threat: O’Neil
The Home Affairs Minister says Labor’s plans to boost Australia’s defences against increasing online risks are already delivering results.
- Tom McIlroy
Big tech domination leaves Canberra, states ‘highly vulnerable’
According to some estimates, Microsoft’s Windows and its 365 suite of office software run on more than 80 per cent of federal and state government computers.
- Tom Burton
CrowdStrike failure raises billion-dollar compensation question
Insurers could bear the brunt of costly fallout from the global IT outage on Friday, as techies at companies worked over the weekend to get services back up and running.
- Paul Smith and Ronald Mizen
- Exclusive
- Business IT
ASX cuts back on overpaid tech contractors who were ‘taking the p---’
The company’s tech boss is reducing reliance on contractors and consultants after insiders blew the whistle on temporary staff.
- Paul Smith
- Exclusive
- Business IT
The ASX faces a ‘ticking time bomb’ as technology upgrades delayed
The market operator is attempting to simultaneously upgrade several major systems, one of which is at an early stage and already seven months behind schedule.
- Paul Smith
- Opinion
- Governance
Regulator needed as ASX techies tinker with critical infrastructure
The ASX has a glut of big tech upgrades to deliver, on top of its CHESS debacle ‘do-over’. If it stuffs them up, then everyone in the market suffers.
- Paul Smith
- Exclusive
- Funding
Ex-Atlassian insiders pull in millions for AI development start-up
Redactive has raised $11.5 million from local and US-based investors after convincing financial services clients to use it to help software engineers develop AI tools.
- Paul Smith
May
If AI can do the work of a grad lawyer, what does a grad lawyer do?
As tech increasingly takes on the legal grunt work, MinterEllison is trying to rethink the work and skills of its young lawyers.
- Hans van Leeuwen
March
Sydney family behind McDonald’s app worth more than $100m
A US-based rival has offered to buy ASX minnow Task Group, which was founded by Sydney’s Houden family in 2000.
- Tess Bennett
- Analysis
- Analysis
How Metcash’s $80m tech upgrade blew out by $200m
A plan to replace nine IT systems with one Microsoft platform is a case study in how not to manage a large-scale tech project.
- Tony Boyd
