CSL and ASX rocked by chief executive exits

Good morning. Here's what happened overnight and what you need to know today.

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1.

Rampant resignations: ASX Limited CEO Helen Lofthouse will step down from the bourse operator in May 2026 after more than three years in the top job. When she departs, Lofthouse will have spent 11 years at the ASX. This included stints as group executive markets and executive general manager derivatives and OTC markets. She leaves as the ASX prepares to deliver its first phase of the CHESS project, which is targeting go-live in April 2026. The predecessor program to replace the CHESS system with a blockchain-based alternative was canned shortly after Lofthouse was appointed CEO in 2022. During Lofthouse’s tenure as CEO, the ASX has been heavily scrutinised by regulators ASIC and the RBA amid concerns of governance failures and suffered a spate of trading outages due to long-running tech issues. A successor to Lofthouse has not yet been appointed. Earlier on Tuesday, embattled biotech giant CSL announced the retirement of CEO and managing director Paul McKenzie, effective immediately, one day prior to the company reporting half-year results. Meanwhile in media, editor of Guardian Australia, Lenore Taylor, also resigned after 10 years in the role, with the publication set to run an open process to appoint a new editor. (Capital Brief)(ASX)(The Guardian)

2.

Mixed signals: US stocks were mixed on Wall Street as weak retail sales and rising household debt delinquencies raised fresh questions about the strength of consumer spending. The Dow climbed further above 50000, heading for a third straight record close, buoyed by broad gains including a rebound in software stocks. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq, however, edged lower. Wealth management stocks including Charles Schwab, Raymond James and LPL Financial fell sharply after Altruist launched a new AI tax-strategy tool, triggering concerns about disruption to traditional advisory models. Meanwhile, Commerce Department data showed retail sales were flat in December, missing forecasts for a 0.4% rise. And the Federal Reserve Bank of New York said 4.8% of household debt was delinquent in Q4, the highest share since 2017. Credit-card delinquencies hit 12.7%, the most since 2011, and student-loan delinquencies surged to a record 16.3%. In corporate news, Spotify shares surged after the company added a record 38 million monthly users in the fourth quarter, taking its total to 751 million. Ferrari jumped after upgrading its outlook for 2026 and unveiling details of its first electric vehicle, the Luce. Target edged lower after announcing it would cut about 500 jobs as part of efforts by new CEO Michael Fiddelke to address falling sales. (Bloomberg)(WSJ)(FT)

3.

Telecommunicating Wells: Telstra officials met with Anika Wells amid a fight over the telecommunications regulator's proposed fees for spectrum, which could see the telecommunications giant slugged with billions of dollars more in charges. But the Communications Minister appears unconvinced she needs to intervene. The $55 billion ASX-listed telco lodged complaints with Treasury in a pre-budget submission late last week, arguing the Australian Communications and Media Authority’s preferred price point for spectrum risks stifling productivity, holding back infrastructure upgrades and increasing price pressures on Australian households. A source speaking to Capital Brief confirmed that officials from Wells’ office were lobbied by Telstra representatives this week. Wells on Tuesday morning backed ACMA’s efforts to reach a fair value estimate for the cost of renewing spectrum licences and chose to respect the independence of the regulator’s process. Optus and TPG Telecom, the other mobile network operators with upcoming spectrum licence expiries, have not sought to meet with Wells this week. (Capital Brief)

4.

Paramount sweeteners: Paramount Skydance added new sweetened terms to its hostile USD108 billion ($152.7 billion) bid for Warner Bros Discovery in a fresh attempt to disrupt the company’s agreed deal with Netflix. The revised offer includes covering Warner’s USD2.8 billion breakup fee to Netflix. It eliminates up to USD1.5 billion in potential debt refinancing costs and introduces a “ticking fee” of USD0.25 per share for every quarter the deal isn’t closed after 31 December 2026, to compensate shareholders for any delays in regulatory approvals (roughly USD650 million per quarter). Paramount’s offer, however, remains at USD30 per share, all cash. The enhancements, it said, show its confidence in gaining swift regulatory approval. CEO David Ellison said the proposal gives shareholders “certainty in value, a clear regulatory path, and protection against market volatility.” RedBird Capital’s Gerry Cardinale, whose firm is backing Paramount’s bid, told The Wall Street Journal the new terms aim to “address all of the concerns Warner’s board has raised.” The offer is financed through USD43.6 billion in equity from the Ellison family and RedBird, and USD54 billion in debt from BofA, Citigroup and Apollo. Paramount said it has progressed with regulatory reviews, while Netflix and Warner continue to make the case for their deal to US and European authorities. Warner said in a statement it will review the revised offer. (Capital Brief)(Paramount)(Bloomberg)(WSJ)(FT)

5.

Starting small: Former Optus streaming boss Clive Dickens launched a USD3 million ($4.2 million) investment fund targeting CTO-led, AI-focused startups in the telco, media and technology sectors. The fund will be run by Dickens’ advisory firm Meliora, established last year, and aims to make between 15 and 20 investments over the next 20 months. “It will hopefully be one of five funds over the coming years,” he told Capital Brief. “They will start small, with a fund at under $5 million, then hopefully, over time, we’ll put more zeros on that. Because we put all of our financial services licences in place, it allows us to really get that fast start.” Meliora has been pitching to sophisticated wholesale investors, targeting first close before Easter and a final close by June. The fund has already participated in pre-seed rounds for Australia-based Springboards.AI and StoryDesk.AI, but the majority of its future investments are expected to be outside Australia. (Capital Brief)

6.

Costly case: The Federal Court ordered Sydney-based VC EVP to lodge $750,000 as security before it can continue pursuing claims against entities linked to businessman Divesh Dipak Sanghvi, as it seeks to recover $10.4 million from the collapse of Strong Room Technology. According to documents lodged on 4 February, the court directed EVP to pay the money as security for legal costs relating to three defendants — Sanghvi personally along with his associated companies, Morton Court and Pharmarix. The money is not a fine, not damages, and not a finding of wrongdoing. It is held by the court while the case plays out. If EVP loses against Sanghvi and his companies, the funds may be released to cover their legal costs. If EVP wins, the money is returned. No funds have been paid to any defendant at this stage. A source close to the matter told Capital Brief EVP’s willingness to pay the security demonstrates it is serious about recovering its funds. (Capital Brief)

7.

Debt haul: Alphabet raised USD31.5 billion ($44.5 billion) through bond sales across US dollars, sterling and Swiss francs, including a landmark 100-year sterling bond that attracted strong demand. The Google parent received GBP9.5 billion in bids for a GBP1 billion century bond, nearly ten times the amount on offer, Bloomberg reported citing people familiar with the matter. The bond was the most heavily ordered of five sterling tranches and is the first with such an extreme maturity sold by a technology company since the dot-com era. Final pricing was set at 120 basis points over gilts and it is expected to be rated AA+. Ultra‑long corporate debt is rare, particularly in fast‑moving sectors such as technology, where long‑term outcomes are difficult to forecast. “It’s quite difficult to predict what the AI ecosystem will look like in five years’ time, let alone in a hundred years,” Song Jin Lee, European and US credit strategist at HSBC Bank told Bloomberg. “The sector as a whole will be there. But the relative pecking order is quite unpredictable.” (Bloomberg)(WSJ)

8.

Lutnick’s admission: US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick acknowledged during a Senate hearing that he visited Jeffrey Epstein’s private island in 2012 with his wife, four children, nannies and another couple, despite having previously claimed to cut off all contact with Epstein after a disturbing encounter in 2005. The admission came after documents released by the DOJ included emails in which Lutnick arranged the lunch during a family vacation, and later signed a 2012 stock purchase agreement with Epstein involving stakes in defunct adtech firm Adfin. Lawmakers from both parties questioned Lutnick over what Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen described as a “total misrepresentation” of his relationship with Epstein. Lutnick told the committee he had “barely had anything to do with” Epstein and insisted, “I have done absolutely nothing wrong in any possible regard.” DOJ records also showed Epstein received a resume for one of Lutnick’s nannies in 2013 and was invited to a fundraiser hosted by Lutnick in 2015. Separately, Democrats introduced “Virginia’s Law” to eliminate the statute of limitations for trafficking, unveiled alongside Epstein victims and the family of the late Virginia Giuffre. (Reuters)(FT)(Bloomberg)(WSJ)