BotD: Domain deal into extra time; Jackie No Show; Facebook signs off another low tax bill; Welcome to the Lamestream
Welcome to Best of the Day on a day Facebook’s low local tax bill was revealed, Kyle Sandilands had to fly solo because his co-host was still in the air, and the Domain deal blew out by a fortnight but remained on the tracks.
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The Day Today: Facebook keeps tax bill to $44m; Jackie O in the air, not on the air; Media critique Lamestream unveiled
Kyle goes solo
The TV and radio industry returned to the official ratings period. Listeners to the Kyle & Jackie O Show on Kiis got an unplanned insight in to how the program would sound with just Kyle Sandilands at the helm. Jackie Henderson was still on a delayed Emirates flight home from her Italian holiday as this morning’s show went to air.
Yellow fellow trumps the mainstream parties
Clive Palmer’s yellow-loving Trumpet of Patriots party has significantly outspent the major parties during the Federal election campaign so far, analysis by The Australia suggests. According to estimates provided to the Oz from Nielsen and RCS Media Monitoring, Trumpet of Patriots spent $16.3m over the last six weeks; the Liberals $5.9m and Labor $5.5m.
Facebook pays $44m in tax on ‘$5bn in revenue’
Facebook paid just $44m in tax on its Australian business last year, newly filed accounts with ASIC revealed. Reporting the numbers, the Australian Financial Review pointed out that most of parent company Meta’s estimated $5bn in revenues from Australian businesses are funnelled offshore to the low tax rate haven of the Republic of Ireland. That would amount to an effective local tax rate of 4.4%. Local businesses pay 30%.
Going Lamestream
Journalists Osman Faruqi and Scott Mitchell launched a new newsletter and podcast deconstructing legacy media. Produced in conjunction with podcast hub Acast, Lamestream will offer weekly analysis.
Faruqi has worked at outlets including the Sydney Morning Herald, the ABC and Schwartz Media. Mitchell has worked the ABC, Schwartz Media, SBS and Vice Media.
He said in a press release: “Lamestream is the result of Scott and me spending the last decade watching the media industry crumble from within, and realising we wanted to build something to try and course-correct.”
The duo kicked off their first podcast with a recommendation from Mitchell for Star Wars spinoff Andor.
Hubble ‘under review’
Foxtel’s streaming navigator Hubbl is under review by the company’s new owner DAZN, the Australian Financial Review reported.
Domain deal talks go the distance
The price of Nine and Domain both crept upwards today. It came after Domain announced that CoStar’s due diligence period has been extended until the end of Monday, May 12.
Domain said it has agreed to the fortnight extension after CoStar confirmed that it still plans to offer $4.43 per share to buy Domain. Since the offer was made, Donald Trump’s tariffs roiled the markets and Domain’s share price sank in a signal that the market was sceptical about whether the deal would be completed. It closed today up 1c at $4.17.
Domain said: “The additional two weeks will enable CoStar to finalise its due diligence enquiries and allow the parties to finalise negotiation of definitive transaction documents.” However, CoStar is currently still free to walk away from the deal at any moment.
Nine was up 1.8%
Meanwhile, Seven West Media’s market capitalisation finished the day below $200m for the first time since the early months of Covid in 2020. SWM’s share price lost 3.7% to land on $193m.
Pureprofile rose by 7.9% today, taking it to its highest price since February.
The Unmade Index closed up slightly for the day on 490.6 points, an improvement of 0.06%.
More from Mumbrella…
Google’s cookie backflip was never about privacy – it was about power;
Dutton media bus stuck in Sydney as campaign reaches final week
The University of Technology Sydney unveils new strategic positioning and brand platform
Time to leave you to your Monday night.
We’ll be back with a post exclusively for Unmade’s paying members tomorrow.
Have a great day
Toodlepip…
Tim Burrowes
Publisher - Unmade + Mumbrella
tim@unmade.media
