Trump Tariffs
TikTok US spin-off stalls as China pushes back
Plans to hive off TikTok’s US operations have been shelved, with Beijing signalling it won’t sign off on the deal after President Trump ramped up trade tensions with fresh tariffs this week.
As ABC News reports, The proposed restructure would have seen ByteDance offload its American arm of the app to a new, majority US-owned entity.
The deal was nearly locked in, with backing from ByteDance, current and incoming investors, and a green light from Washington.
ASX faces $115 billion hit as Trump tariffs spark global market turmoil
Australia’s sharemarket is bracing for a $115 billion wipeout today as Donald Trump’s sweeping new tariffs send shockwaves through global markets. The ASX 200 is expected to plunge more than 4% at open, tracking international losses triggered by what experts are calling a “systemic shock” to global trade, reports news.com.au’s Natalie Brown. SPI Asset Management’s Stephen Innes warned the fallout will touch every Australian, from household budgets to job security, while economists say the nation’s China-reliant economy and federal budget are especially exposed.
Tech
How The Atlantic’s editor got added to the Signal chat
It’s been revealed that US national security adviser Mike Waltz accidentally added Atlantic editor Jeffrey Goldberg to a Signal chat discussing planned US strikes in Yemen, after wrongly saving his number months earlier.
As Hugo Lowell writes in this Guardian exclusive, the revelation, uncovered during an internal White House probe, exposed a cascade of overlooked errors dating back to the 2024 campaign.
While Trump was fuming, it wasn’t the breach of protocol that lit the fire, it was the mere mention of Goldberg, whose publication the former president loathes.
Cannon-Brookes to Canberra: skip the subsidies and clear the runway
Australia’s tech heavyweights are calling time on government handouts, arguing the real boost would be fewer barriers, not more budget lines.
As Jared Lynch reports in The Australian, Atlassian co-founder Mike Cannon-Brookes says the local sector doesn’t need subsidies, it needs government to step aside and let the industry compete globally on its own terms.
Despite a federal budget that largely ignored artificial intelligence and left the tech sector out in the cold, the government has launched a review into R&D incentives, led by Tesla chair Robyn Denholm.
Television
Endemol Shine tests YouTube waters with direct-to-consumer reality push
Australia’s biggest TV producer is stepping off the broadcast grid and into digital territory.
Endemol Shine Australia, the Banijay-owned studio behind blockbuster formats like Survivor, Married at First Sight and Lego Masters, is trialling a direct-to-consumer model with original reality shows made specifically for YouTube.
As James Manning writes in The Australian, the new venture, called Resay, is led by ESA’s Sydney-based content director Amelia Fisk, who’s assembled a cross-network creative team to develop fresh IP designed purely for the platform.
TV industry pays tribute to Gai Reid, a quiet force behind beloved local content
Gai Reid, the producer behind some of Ten’s most enduring children’s and documentary programs, is being remembered by colleagues as a creative powerhouse and generous mentor whose legacy shaped a generation of Australian screen content.
As Kyle Laidlaw writes in TV Blackbox, Gai was best known for her long stint at 10’s Mt Coot-tha studios in Queensland, Reid spent nearly 20 years crafting stories for Totally Wild, a staple of Australian kids’ TV.
Radio
Radio’s pitch at NAB: drive reach now, build demand for later
At NAB 2025 in Las Vegas, Westwood One’s chief insights officer Pierre Bouvard made a sharp case for radio’s enduring value in the media mix, positioning it as the ultimate reach extender.
While social platforms dominate digital attention, Bouvard argued they often miss swathes of the target market, and radio is the bridge to fill those gaps.
As Radio Today reports, Bouvard told the crowd that “radio gets the people Facebook, Instagram and TikTok don’t” encouraging advertisers to think beyond digital-only buys.
Retail
Target rewrites its fashion playbook as Wesfarmers doubles down on dual-brand retail
Target is making a fresh play for style-conscious shoppers, with $99 lambskin jackets and $90 linen sets flying off shelves, but don’t expect to find them at Kmart.
That’s by design, as Target’s merchandising boss Carrie Kirkman pushes to reposition the retailer as a destination for affordable fashion and elevated homewares.
As Carrie LaFrenz write in The Australian Financial Review, long overshadowed by Kmart’s unstoppable rise and the success of its Anko range, Target is carving out a distinct space within the Wesfarmers portfolio.