Rep. Haley Stevens (D) was projected to defeat fellow Rep. Andy Levin (D) in the Democratic primary for Michigan’s 11th District.
The Associated Press called the race for Stevens at 10:46 p.m. ET.
Stevens and Levin were both elected four years ago in the 2018 midterm elections that saw Democrats reclaim control of the House. But the redistricting process forced them into a member-on-member match-up that will ultimately determine who will go on to seek a third term in November.
Stevens and Levin occupied different lanes in the primary, with Stevens cutting a more moderate reputation and Levin casting himself as more progressive.
Stevens ultimately went into the primary with a financial advantage over Levin. Their latest federal filings show Stevens with nearly $1.5 million on hand to Levin’s $726,000.
But Levin also had the advantage of name recognition. While he was elected to the House in 2018, his father of him, former Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.), Represented the district for more than three and a half decades, while his uncle of him is the late Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.).
The race drew the attention of pro-Israel groups, with J Street’s PAC supporting the more left-leaning Levin and American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s PAC backing Stevens.
Michigan’s 11th District leans toward Democrats, giving Stevens an easier path to reelection this year after winning twice before in a more competitive district.
WA’s biggest independent food distributor has warned consumers to expect further hikes at their favorite pubs and restaurants – and eventually supermarkets – as supply chain pressures and skyrocketing input costs continue to drive up prices.
The price of vegetable oil supplied by New West Foods to hundreds of eateries across WA has almost doubled since August 2020, with eggs up 75 per cent over the same two-year period.
Salmon has jumped 50 per cent while cheese and bacon are both up around 35 per cent.
Even the humble frozen chip – a staple of takeaway menus everywhere – has climbed 25 per cent.
The scale of price rises over the past two years. Credit: The West Australian
The majority of those price rises have come in the last 12 months as myriad factors combined to create what New West Foods managing director Damon Venoutsos said was the “perfect storm” for food costs.
Mr Venoutsos described distribution businesses like his own as the “canary in the coal mine” for price increases because – unlike supermarkets and fast-food chains – they did not enter into long-term agreements with suppliers.
“Most of the time we get 30 days’ notice from our suppliers that prices are going up whereas your big retailers (such as Coles and Woolworths) and quick service restaurants (such as KFC) can lock in their prices for anything up to six months ,” he said.
“Often we’re using the exact same supplier so while I don’t know when (the supermarkets) are going to catch up, it’s inevitable they will have to.”
Mr Venoutsos said prices had increased “very quickly and very dramatically” in recent months and that practically no food type had been spared, although some – such as fish, meat and dairy – had been impacted worse than others.
The biggest riser – vegetable oil – is in short supply globally, with exports largely cut off from war-torn Ukraine which traditionally produces 50 per cent of the sunflower oil used around the world.
New West Foods clients include Optus Stadium, King Edward Memorial and Sir Charles Gairdner hospitals and hundreds of restaurants and cafes.
New West Foods managing director Damon Venoutsos has warned of more price hikes. Credit: simon santi/The West Australian
Mr Venoutos said takeaway-oriented restaurants such as fish and chip shops and pizzerias were among the hardest hit with practically all their staple ingredients surging in price.
Independent Food Distributors Australia chief executive Richard Forbes listed half a dozen reasons for the escalating costs including clogged ports globally, COVID lockdowns in China, a shortage of sea containers and spiraling domestic energy and transport prices.
Last month, Manjimup-based WA Chips – the State’s only local manufacturer – revealed its gas bill was up $400,000 (60 per cent) compared to the previous year.
Mr Forbes said additional costs were being incurred at every step of the production, distribution and storage supply chain.
“Anyone that refrigerates product in bulk – which would be practically all distributors – have seen those costs go from around $50,000 to $80,000,” he said.
Labor shortages were also a major issue, with Mr Forbes estimating there were 160,000 vacancies between the agriculture, transport, warehousing and hospitality sectors.
Sennheiser has already teased the arrival of Momentum 4 Wireless on August 8. But it does not mean that we will be getting leak-free week until the event. A Canadian retailer has managed to list the upcoming wireless ANC over-ear headphones early which includes the changes to expect including a significant battery upgrade.
TL;DR
Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless leaked by a retailer.
The upcoming over-ear headphones will feature up to 60 hours of battery and a refreshed design.
The price of the Sennheiser Momentum 3 Wireless could be cheaper than its predecessor.
Based on the listing of Canada Computers & Electronics, Sennheiser’s Momentum 4 Wireless will feature a drastic design iteration. The new over-ear headphones will boast a traditional, yet flatter finish compared to the busy and extended foldable design of the Momentum 3 Wireless. Its limited flat folding mechanism means carrying the headphones will require a larger case than its predecessor. It’s unclear if we could also get a lighter form factor this time around.
As for the headphones’ specs, it is mentioned by the retailer that Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless will arrive with up to 60 hours battery rating on a single charge. This is a major improvement considering the previous Momentum 3 Wireless only comes with 17 hours battery life.
This year, the headphones will take advantage of the newer aptX Adaptive Bluetooth codec from Qualcomm as opposed to the original aptX. In addition, Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless will also get an improved audio bit rate of 24-bit at 420kbps compared to the 16-bit 384kbps of the older model.
Surprisingly, Sennheiser’s headphones are listed for CAD $450 which is cheaper than the third-gen headphones that were launched in 2019 at CAD $530 ($400 / £350) in 2019. If the retailer’s pricing is accurate, Sennheiser Momentum 4 Wireless could undercut the current SonyWH-1000XM5. We will all confirm the remaining details next week once the headphones become official.
Stephen Colbert kicked off the month of August recess in Washington with news that Joe Biden tested positive for Covid for the second time days after testing negative, a rebound case after taking the anti-viral drug Paxlovid. “Wow, getting Covid twice in a row because you took Paxlovid? Who could’ve seen this coming?” the Late Show host said, pointing to himself. (Colbert had two bouts of Covid in May after taking Paxlovid.)
“It’s happened to a lot of folks. I don’t know anyone who’s taken Paxlovid who didn’t get it again,” he said. “It’s the hottest rebound since JLo tested positive for a second case of Affleck.”
Experts say the rebound infections are caused by “insufficient drug exposure” – as in, not enough of the drug gets into infected cells to stop all viral replication. “So the Covid pops right back up, which is why the White House is trying to give Paxlovid to Biden’s poll numbers,” Colbert quipped.
Colbert then turned to infuriating news from Washington regarding veterans’ healthcare. “I’ve been making the political jokey make-em-ups for over 20 years now, and I have never seen anything so baldly cynical and pointlessly malicious as this,” he said. “And if there are children in the room, tell them to age quickly and please vote.” Colbert referred to the Pact Act, which would expand healthcare coverage to military veterans exposed to toxic chemicals or burn pits during their service. “That’s something we can agree on – if we’re going to go to war, we have to take care of the warriors,” said Colbert.
Both the House and the Senate initially passed the bill, but due to an administrative issue, the Senate had to revote. Twenty-five Republican senators flipped their votes, blocking the Pact Act’s passage. “Why would Republicans screw over veterans on a bill that they previously voted for?” Colbert wondered. “Well, one theory is that they had their boxers in a bunch after Joe Manchin and Chuck Schumer secretly negotiated a big climate deal.” Jon Tester, Democratic senator from Montana, attributed the vote to “political payback” from people who had “lost their minds”.
“Well, that would be some misdirected anger, GOP,” Colbert fumed. “That’s like a quarterback saying, ‘OK, huddle up, we’re down 20, I just threw an interception and the other team scored. Here’s the play: I’m going to go sucker-punch that old guy at the hot dog stand.’”
Colbert then skewered Ted Cruz, who fist-bumped fellow GOP senator Steve Daines after blocking the bill for veterans’ healthcare he had previously voted for. “I imagine there’s some veterans out there who would also like to bump Ted Cruz with their fists,” said Colbert.
Trevor Noah
On the Daily Show, Trevor Noah marveled at the pettiness of Donald Trump, who last month had his ex-wife Ivana Trump buried near the first hole of Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, New Jersey, probably for a tax break. The strange burial site would exempt the golf course from New Jersey’s tax code, which does not tax land used as a cemetery.
“Wow. A lot of people say, ‘I’ll pay taxes on my dead body,’ but Trump means it. Over someone else’s body,” Noah said.
“Even for him, this feels like a step too far,” he continued. “I don’t care what anyone says. I wouldn’t even laugh at that as a joke. If someone said to me, ‘Donald Trump’s ex-wife died, he’s probably going to bury her on his golf course de ella to save de ella on taxes,’ I’d be like, ‘yo, that’s not cool, man.’
“But it turns out Trump was like, ‘wait wait, say more. I’m going to send this to my accountant, keep going.’
“What this really shows you is how strange the tax system can be,” Noah concluded. “All this tax break does is incentivize you to be a weirdo. Who came up with this? It almost feels like the law was written by a serial killer – ‘there should be a law, that if you bury a body in your yard, you don’t have to pay taxes any more.’”
Jimmy Fallon
And on the Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon began with Biden’s rebound Covid case. “Right now, Biden’s looking on the bright side,” he said. “He’s like ‘well, at least my Covid got a second term.’
“Usually when a 79-year-old is on the rebound, you’re meeting your new aunt named Barbara,” he joked. “The virus came back so fast the staffers didn’t even have time to take down the Get Well Soon balloons.”
Fallon also wondered about the single Illinois ticket that won the $1.34bn Mega Millions jackpot over the weekend. “The winner hasn’t come forward yet, so either they’re contacting financial experts, or they’re at home being like, ‘crap, where is it, I went swimming, no one turn on the washing machine!’” he said.
And after a trip to Canada using a wheelchair and walker, Pope Francis said that he will need to either slow down or retire. “So I guess we know who won the Mega Millions,” Fallon joked. “Congratulations, your holiness.”
Patrick Dangerfield has urged the AFL and Collingwood to bring an end to the annual debate surrounding the Port Adelaide prison bar Guernsey for the betterment of the game.
The Power’s request to wear the strip in the Showdown against Adelaide in round 23 was recently rejected by the Pies, sparking the latest furious salvo from Port president David Koch.
Koch claimed “good nature (had) been played” by Collingwood president Jeff Browne following a recent phone call suggesting the dispute may come to an end.
Analysis, local footy and the biggest moments, Seven and 7plus are the home of footy shows for every fan. Stream them all for free on 7plus >>
But it will now rumble on through to 2023, when the AFL will have a new chief executive in charge following Gillon McLachlan’s departure.
Whether that development aids Port Adelaide’s cause remains to be seen but Dangerfield, who began his career in South Australia with the Adelaide Crows, believes it is time to move on.
“If we profess to be a national competition then being that means that you have to acknowledge and understand the history,” he said on The Field with JJ and Danger.
“Being a national competition means we should acknowledge what those teams have done, even though it was in the SANFL (in Port Adelaide’s case), I think it’s still really important to acknowledge that history.”
Port Adelaide will not be allowed to wear their prison bars jumper for the derby against Adelaide. Credit: AAP
Port Adelaide under Koch, in a bid to appease Collingwood, have toned down their desire to wear the prison bars on a more regular basis and instead focus on Showdowns.
“For the sake of one game a year, how are we even – what is the point of arguing this? It’s so inflammatory,” Dangerfield said.
“I just think it’s ridiculous that we’re having this debate.
“It is ridiculous that there should be such a cock-a-hoop over Port Adelaide wearing their prison bar Guernsey.
“They’ve made a huge contribution to the AFL within Australia and more specifically South Australian football.
“Is there anything wrong with acknowledging that for a Showdown once a year? No, there’s not.”
Collingwood’s issue with Port Adelaide and president David Koch (right) has continued long after Eddie McGuire left the Pies. Credit: Getty Images
Listen to the full episode of The Field with JJ and Danger below as the guys dive into:
– Dangerfield’s return and how players over 30 are treated
– The AFL’s response to racial abuse against Adam Saad
– Mark McVeigh’s bombshell press conference
– Collingwood’s stunning form in close games
– Aussie domination at the Commonwealth Games
– Mirror on the Media, Three Votes and Joe the Goose
Listen and subscribe to The Field with JJ & Danger via iTunes and Spotify
The standoff between public sector unions and the McGowan Labor government is set to escalate after unions decided to continue their campaign for better pay in a rejection of the government’s latest wage offer.
Key points:
The WA government has offered a 3 per cent pay rise this year and next
Unions say this does not offset rises in inflation and cost of living
They want a wage rise of at least 5 per cent a year
They described the latest offer as inadequate and said it did not offset inflation, declaring they would go ahead with a mass rally outside state parliament on August 17.
Unions WA Secretary Owen Whittle warned the government it had “entrenched industrial strife through the rest of their term of government.”
A joint meeting of public sector unions representing police, firefighters, prison officers, teachers, child protection, health and other public sector workers decided to press on for a “fair pay” deal for the public sector workforce.
Police are among the workers represented by the unions fighting for a better deal.(ABC News: Kenith Png)
Mr Whittle said the government’s revised offer was an acknowledgment the workers deserved a pay rise but it was not good enough, as interest rates and cost of living soared.
Unions want at least 5 per cent a year
The McGowan government has offered a three per cent increase in salaries this year and next, plus a $2,500 one-off payment. The unions wanted the government to come to the table with an offer of at least five per cent a year.
“The three per cent is a low wage offer in the current economic environment, it doesn’t recognize the hard work of the public sector through the pandemic and doesn’t recognize the extremely high cost of living pressures that workers are currently facing,” Mr Whittle said.
Owen Whittle says the offer does not offset the skyrocketing cost of living. (ABC News: Tabarak Al Jrood)
“The new policy does not adequately offset inflation over the two years it covers.
“Further, it comes off the back of pay going backwards in real terms for most over the past five years.”
The government upped its pay offer to public sector employees on Sunday following the ongoing campaign by unions and in acknowledgment of rising cost of living pressures.
Premier Mark McGowan said the $2,500 payment was to reflect current pressures, which he expected to ease over the next year.
Mark McGowan says the payment would help workers cope with the “temporary” spike in inflation.(ABC News: Keane Bourke)
Perth currently tops all capital cities with a whopping 7.4 per cent inflation rate.
Unions also said the one-off bonus was just that, a one-off, and would be gone in a year. What was needed instead, the union argued, was a further percentage increase to base salaries.
Mr Whittle today granted the revised offer may be approved by some groups of union members “as the one-off payment does deliver benefits to low wage public sector workers”.
But for others, he said, real wage cuts will continue in the second year of the agreement.
“There is a serious problem in the second year when the one-off payment that is not on the base wage is long gone and the three per cent rise fails to keep pace with inflation.”
The ad offensive was the most public part of a year-long, behind the-scenes campaign to stop Greitens from winning the GOP nomination for retiring Sen. Roy Blunt’s (R-Mo.) seat, which was described to POLITICO by more than a dozen people involved in the race.
Party higher-ups from Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel to National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Rick Scott to GOP megadonor Steve Wynn repeatedly pressed former President Donald Trump to not back Greitens. The lobbying effort would extend to the eve of the primary, when McDaniel advised Trump to resist giving a late, full-throated endorsement to the former governor, who had been aggressively courting him.
At the same time, a small group of Republican strategists corralled donors like Sinquefield and Anheuser-Busch scion August Busch, who shared a visceral desire to block the former governor. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell’s political machine, meanwhile, weighed its options until near the end of the contest, when it quietly contributed around $6.7 million to the anti-Greitens TV blitz, a previously unreported investment that helped seal the ex-governor’s fate.
“There can be no question that Greitens’ candidacy threatened Republican control of this Senate seat. Nominating him would have put in play a seat that Republicans absolutely shouldn’t have to worry about,” said Peter Kinder, a former Missouri lieutenant governor. “There was a clear need for someone to assemble the resources to tell the truth about him that had never been told.”
holding off trump
While a number of powerful Republicans were aligned against Greitens, there was still one figure who could have given his campaign a huge GOP primary boost: Trump.
This spring, McDaniel and Scott went to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate to meet with the former president. The three talked about the 2022 electoral landscape — and McDaniel and Scott took the opportunity to argue that backing Greitens would be an error, according to a person familiar with the discussion.
The GOP chairwoman felt that Trump should remain neutral in the primary and believed Greitens would be a weak general election nominee. Scott had the same message, and he spoke with Trump roughly a half-dozen separate times to reinforce it, oftentimes presenting polling to make his case that Greitens would jeopardize the party’s hold on the seat.
McDaniel and Scott were part of a broader group of Republicans trying to ward off a Trump endorsement for Greitens. They were joined by Trump allies like South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and Trump White House adviser Kellyanne Conway, who also relayed their concerns to Trump.
But they faced strong opposition from an array of MAGA loyalists who promoted Greitens, a roster that included conservative megadonor Bernie Marcus and Kimberly Guilfoyle, the fiancée of Donald Trump Jr., both of whom lobbied the former president on Greitens’ behalf. The former governor also became a frequent guest on “War Room,” the popular podcast hosted by former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon.
Trump at first appeared cool to idea of an endorsement. During one meeting with advisers last year, he poked fun at Greitens, who stepped down as governor in 2018 amid accusations that he had tied up and blindfolded his hairdresser de ella before sexually assaulting her.
“You know what I call him? ‘Whips and chains,’” Trump said, according to one person familiar with the meeting, adding that the alleged incident would make it hard for Greitens to be elected.
But the ex-president never appeared to fully rule out an endorsement — and Greitens had been spotted at Mar-a-Lago, alarming Republicans. Early this year, I landed a meeting with Trump.
Schmitt, the Greitens rival who ultimately won the primary, also moved to block a Greitens endorsement. He became a visitor to Mar-a-Lago and the former president’s Bedminster, NJ golf club, where in meetings with Trump he highlighted Greitens’ past scandals and called him a “quitter,” a word Trump viewed as an insult, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
Whenever Schmitt’s team heard that Greitens was at Trump’s South Florida resort, they passed along polling information and memos to Trump’s aides aimed at undermining the ex-governor. When Schmitt’s supporters were taking trips to Mar-a-Lago, they were supplied with similar anti-Greitens materials to share.
And Schmitt became a regular guest on TV networks Trump was known to watch, like Newsmax and One America News. His campaign even booked appearances on Fox News that were timed to when they believed Trump would be returning from his regular golf outings.
The St.Louis meeting
In early May, David Polyansky, a strategist for a super PAC supporting Schmitt, flew to St. Louis to meet with Busch, the former brewing company executive. The 85-year-old had been a major contributor to Greitens’ 2016 gubernatorial campaign — but like many one-time backers, he was no longer a fan and wanted to see Greitens lose his Senate bid.
But Polyansky told Busch, a Schmitt supporter, that his super PAC was primarily focused, for the time being, on elevating Schmitt and targeting another candidate, Rep. Vicky Hartzler. The strategist argued that it made more sense for another group solely focused on attacking Greitens to take the lead.
At around that time, word began to percolate through Missouri’s tight-knit Republican donor world that DeStefano was interested in forming such a PAC.
DeStefano, a Kansas City native who spent years as a Republican political operative before serving in the Trump White House, saw that no outside group had yet emerged to take on Greitens, and believed that unless someone stepped up he would win the party’s nomination.
Whether an anti-Greitens blitz would work was unclear: DeStefano’s initialpolling, like surveys elsewhere, showed the former governor with a lead over a splintered group of rivals. But as he talked with donors, DeStefano presented a game plan and made the case there was a path.
He focused his outreach on Missouri-based contributors, believing that a home-grown effort would have more potency than a Washington-based one, and would insulate it from the inevitable charge from Greitens that he was the victim of a Beltway-orchestrated plot. DeStefano, who was one of the few operatives involved in Missouri who had n’t picked sides in the primary, stressed that the new super PAC would zero in on Greitens rather than boosting one of his rivals from him.
Before long, he got commitments from Sinquefield and Busch — signaling to other funders that it was safe to get off the sidelines.
“Missouri donors were in, and they finally had a vehicle,” said Christian Morgan, a Missouri-based GOP strategist who helped introduce DeStefano to the state’s donors.
Show Me Values would publicly launch in late June, with hard-hitting TV ads highlighting the sexual assault allegations, which Greitens has denied. The former governor responded to the barrage by declaring that he was being targeted by “Never-Trump, RINO politicians from all over the country.”
The McConnell machine engages
From his office in downtown Washington, Steven Law, who runs the McConnell-aligned super PAC Senate Leadership Fund, saw a Greitens nomination as potentially cataclysmic for the party. He recalled that in 2012 a similarly tarnished GOP nominee, Todd Akin, had lost a Missouri Senate race, and he was aware that the state had a history of ticket-splitting, meaning that Republican voters could end up ditching Greitens for another candidate, even while they supported other GOP candidates on the ballot.
Pushing Greitens over the finish line in a general election, Law believed, could cost the party as much as $40 million, funds the party needed for other races.
In June, Law caught wind that DeStefano was planning something. He liked that the Show Me Values super PAC was Missouri-based, wasn’t aligned with a candidate, and had received a large financial commitment from Sinquefield, a prominent GOP donor. And he had a preexisting relationship with DeStefano, who was wired into Missouri politics.
On June 20, Law reached out to the super PAC and said he would be making a financial commitment. Senate Leadership Fund ended up being the biggest donor to Show Me Values, contributing $6.7 million of the $8 million-plus it raised.
“Ultimately, the consideration that really made us look very long and hard about intervening was purely financial,” Law said. “That’s tens of millions of dollars that could be better spent to help another Senate race, and we concluded that it would just be much more cost-effective if it were possible to ensure that Greitens wasn’t the nominee.”
In just over a month, the super PAC became the biggest-spending outfit in the race. Greitens saw his support from him almost instantaneously collapse: The super PAC conducted a poll 10 days after it launched which showed Greitens falling to third place.
“What happened was Greitens had more of a glass jaw than a lot of people thought,” Law said.
The ‘ERICs’
In late July, Greitens connected by phone with Trump and made his final pitch.
During the conversation, according to one person briefed on the call, Trump asked him, among other things, what his poll numbers looked like and how he would respond to criticisms over his past.
The fight for Trump’s endorsement would reach a climax during the final weekend of the campaign, while Trump was hosting a golf tournament at Bedminster. The Greitens and Schmitt campaigns squared off in a lobbying blitz that both would later describe as political hand-to-hand combat.
Greitens’ most forceful advocate that weekend was Guilfoyle, who pressed Trump to get behind her candidate, according to people familiar with what transpired at the tournament. Greitens’ campaign also sent Trump aides a series of documents presenting the former governor in a favorable light, including polling data aimed at pushing back on the idea he would be a weak nominee.
The Schmitt forces responded by forwarding their own favorable polling data and news coverage. Each campaign kept close tabs on the other, getting updates from on-the-ground supporters in New Jersey about what the other side was doing.
Late Sunday evening, Trump initiated a flurry of speculation that he was leaning Greitens’ way with a social media post. Trump linked to a story from the conservative outlet Breitbart, which accused Remington Research — a polling outfit run by Schmitt operatives — of publishing a survey that understated Trump’s support for him in Missouri. Rumors of an imminent Greitens endorsement intensified Monday morning, when Trump said he would be making an announcement on whom he would support later in the day.
But what ensued over the next chaotic seven hours at Bedminster would rob Greitens’ of his long-held hope of receiving Trump’s exclusive endorsement. During a wild day of deliberations, Trump heard from Guilfoyle, who made a forceful case for Greitens. But others pushed back on the idea — including McDaniel, who was there for a previously-scheduled meeting.
Trump settled on a compromise, drafting a statement in which he declared his support for “ERIC” — delivering, in essence, a dual endorsement for Greitens and Schmitt in the form of a pun. Just after the statement went out, Trump called Greitens and congratulated him — without mentioning that he was also backing Greitens’ rival.
It was the last gasp of a fading campaign. On Tuesday — weighed down by a multimillion-dollar TV ad campaign and lacking the exclusive Trump endorsement he so coveted — Greitens’ hopes for a political comeback were extinguished.
The separation of InfraCo Fixed has the potential to create a business worth at least $30 billion, given it is seven times the size of InfraCo Towers. Chanticleer’s $30 billion estimate assumes a conservative 20 times EBITDA valuation.
Those who want to judge Penn on the share price plunge since his appointment in May 2015 should not ignore the brutal external environment in the telco sector over that period.
Fight over mobile market share
In the past decade, the economics of the industry have been awful. Capital investment in fixed line and mobile infrastructure has doubled, but revenue has remained the same.
Some observers will blame this on Penn and his peers, who engaged in a fight over mobile market share. Penn made a conscious decision to hold on to Telstra’s mobile share and this helps explain why average revenue per user plunged in the four years leading up to 2020.
It is only in the past 18 months to two years that industry dynamics have improved. ARPU has been increasing at Telstra and at its rivals. The entire mobile industry is now in an upward pricing cycle.
Penn admits in a valedictory interview ahead of the release of the 2022 financial results next week that Telstra severely underestimated the impact of the roll-out of the government-owned wholesale broadband provider, NBN Co.
He says there was a period leading up to his T22 strategy in 2018 when the company’s response to the looming loss of profits caused by NBN Co was to seek growth in areas outside the company’s core capability.
“We knew NBN was going to have an economic and operational impact, but we were looking too much to external sources of growth to offset it,” he says.
Penn lists a number of investments that failed to deliver, including the purchase of video streaming analytics company Ooyala. It cost about $500 million and was later written down to zero.
Other forays into so-called growth assets were investments in software companies and in health.
Penn says that while Telstra Health is “in a great place now”, it and other investments “distracted the company from really tackling the core issue, which was we had to fundamentally transform the core telco business”.
His wake-up call about the importance of the core telco business came with a succession of outages in fixed-line and mobile services culminating in the May 2016 outage.
The outages prompted Penn to invest $3 billion in the network.
His T22 strategy fundamentally changed the way in which Telstra approached technology investment. Also, as shown by the creation of InfraCo Towers and InfraCo Fixed, Penn recognized the need to unlock value.
More efficient structure
His tenure was accompanied by a cost-cutting program that slashed the number of employees. In 2015, there were 36,000 full-time employees and 38,000 contractors. Now, there are 26,000 full-time employees and 19,000 contractors.
The move to a more efficient corporate structure was essential, given that NBN Co’s arrival wiped out $3.6 billion from Telstra’s EBITDA.
Penn says the magnitude of the hit to Telstra’s profits was even greater when seen through the lens of net profit. This halved because Telstra retained the capital-intensive assets which required depreciation and amortization.
Penn joined Telstra as chief financial officer in March 2012 and in May 2014 he added the role of group executive international.
One of his lesser-known achievements was renegotiating Telstra’s commercial relationship with the Murdoch-owned Foxtel. This was a masterclass in deal-making.
Telstra owned half of Foxtel, a business with lots of debt and little earnings, while Murdoch enjoyed the profits from Fox Sports. He swapped that for 35 per cent of the combined Foxtel and Fox Sports while forcing Murdoch to take on the debt.
Penn will maintain his role as chairman of the federal government’s Cybersecurity Advisory Committee.
His tenure at Telstra includes one of the most significant moves by Australian business into diplomacy and government policy, through the purchase of Digicel, a mobile provider in the Pacific.
Telstra contributed $US270 million ($385 million) of equity to the $US1.6 billion purchase price.
the Spider-Man Remastered PC price has been reduced on Steam, with Sony telling players they’ll need to cancel and re-order pre-orders to take advantage of the discount.
The title was originally listed on Steam for $109.95 AUD before its reduction yesterday to $94.95 AUD.
Sony took to Steam to say that the title was priced incorrectly in Australia, New Zealand, Israel, Norway, Poland, Switzerland and the UK.
“Other markets have not been affected,” Sony wrote. “If you pre-purchased the title AND are from any of the above markets, you will want to follow the steps below to ensure you receive the correct lower price.”
As reader Picotrek notes, the game is still priced at its original $109.95 price point over on the Epic Games Store.
We reviewed the original title on PS4, saying, “spider-man is a heroic masterpiece, and one certainly worth playing.”
Players can expect Spider-Man Remastered on PC from 13 August 2022. It’s already available on PS5 consoles, and on PS4 as simply spider-man. to sequel, spider man 2, is in the works on PlayStation consoles.
This article may contain affiliate links, meaning we could earn a small commission if you click-through and make a purchase. Stevivor is an independent outlet and our journalism is in no way influenced by any advertiser or commercial initiative.
In 2013 French electronic duo Daft Punk released their Grammy Award-winning album Random Access Memoriestheir first studio album after nearly a decade. Random Access Memories leans heavily into disco and funk music, and the third track on the album, Giorgio by Moroderis a nine-minute-long tribute to Italian music legend Giorgio Moroder, often referred to as the “Father of Disco”.
Donna Summer’s 1977 track I Feel Love gets a new life on Beyonce’s new album Renaissance. Credit:Casablanca Record and Filmworks; AP
A significant portion of the track consists of a monologue delivered by Moroder, where he discusses his life and approach to producing music, edited from a long interview he conducted with Daft Punk. Just before his voice cuts out and is replaced with Daft Punk’s synths, keys and guitars, he describes the creative process behind one of the most influential records ever released: Donna Summer’s 1977 disco concept album, I Remember Yesterdayproduced by Moroder and English musician Pete Bellotte.
“I wanted to do an album with the sounds of the ’50s, the sounds of the ’60s, of the ’70s, and then have a sound of the future,” Moroder recounts in his monologue. The story he’s telling is the story of how I Remember Yesterday came together. Each track combined disco elements with popular musical elements of each decade, before culminating in I Feel Lovethe final song on the album.
I Feel Love was the “sound of the future” Moroder was referring to. He goes on in his monologue to explain how his pioneering use of an early-era Moog synthesiser helped the song find its futuristic sound. I Feel Love went on to top the charts around the world, including here in Australia. It inspired David Bowie and Blondie, and is generally accepted as the song that created modern electronic dance music. Once you realize the impact this track, and Moroder more generally, had on the development of electronic music, you can understand why Daft Punk dedicated a full nine minutes to him on Random Access Memories.
You can also understand why Beyonce, herself one of the most influential artists of her generation, decided to pay her own tribute to Moroder, Donna Summer and I Feel Love on her latest album, renaissance. The whole album is a dazzling, thoughtful and cohesive love-letter to house music, disco and techno – genres pioneered by black and queer artists in the second half of the 20th century. By collaborating with artists like the Chicago-born DJ Honey Dijon and sampling an eclectic mix of music including tracks by Right Said Fred, James Brown, Robin S., and Kelis, Beyonce is taking listeners on a history tour of some of the most important and influential dance music ever released.
But it’s her interpolation of 1977’s I Feel Love that masterfully ties the whole project together. Summer Renaissance is the closing track on Renaissance, just like that I Feel Love was on Yo Remember Yesterday. Beyonce’s track starts with a driving bassline and synth chords that immediately evoke Moroder’s iconic production on the original song, and when we hit the chorus we get to hear one of the world’s greatest pop singers replicate Donna Summer’s masterful croon of “It’s so good, it’s so good, it’s so good”.
