What was it like for Spark CEO Jolie Hodson when half-year profits dived wiping a billion dollars off the company's value? We discuss the telecommunications company’s new five-year strategy, staff cuts, asset sales, as well as leadership in technology and digital transformation.

Feedback, story ideas, comments, all welcome – email simon@nbr.co.nz

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• Rotorua seeks fresh spark and investment to thrive
  
• Chill winds blast Colin Neal’s Polar Capital
  
• One in 10 women resign during menopause: legislation catches up
  
• Aussie Liberals risk oblivion over net zero fight

What are the ethics of investing in technology that has civilian and military applications? Drones, AI, cloud services are all examples of civilian technology with a military application in the "grey zone" of investing. Should New Zealanders take sides or not invest at all?

Feedback, story ideas, comments, all welcome – email simon@nbr.co.nz

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• Trailblazer’s push to close the protection gap
  
• Damien Grant doesn’t do himself any favours
  
• There are still lessons for employers from the Covid era
  
• Matos charts a new course at ANZ

At Xerocon, the 2025 Xero conference, we talk with Xero CEO Sukhinder Singh-Cassidy about Xero cloud accounting software. She is heading a major push into the US, so could the future of Xero possibly be a move to America? 

Feedback, story ideas, comments, all welcome – email simon@nbr.co.nz

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• Special delivery for Auckland’s historic Chief Post Office
  
• Chinese cars continue their conquest of Australia
  
• Move away from US dollar, assets necessary: Amova boss
  
• BNZ and whistleblower Melissa Bowen challenge $506,000 ERA award

Even before the foreign home buyer ban was lifted, the new ‘Golden Visa’ – the Active Investor Plus residency visa – had sparked a big uptick in applications and promised dollars from wealthy foreign investors seeking a New Zealand investor visa and planning migration to New Zealand. The Government has been pushing the growth option but what happens when investors get residency and want their money back? 

Feedback, story ideas, comments, all welcome – email simon@nbr.co.nz

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• How digital identity could free us from big tech dependency
  
• Stark contrasts of NZ’s two-speed economy
• Podcast #72: Where are the Golden Visas at?
• Covert recording of staff working from home illegal in NZ
• Generation fault lines are Australia’s biggest danger

Is there an AI job apocalypse coming? A new survey shows almost half of organisations implementing AI say it is impacting on hiring new people. We talk to the AI Forum about AI job displacement, canvas the opinions of the latest AI startup Aether on Job automation, recruitment agency Robert Walters on impact of AI on hiring trends, and Supahuman – a company building AI solutions for businesses on job automation and AI productivity.

Feedback, story ideas, comments, all welcome – email simon@nbr.co.nz

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• PM concedes running a country is harder than running a business
• Missed opportunity or wise decision? RBNZ could have cut by 50bps
• Employment law reform will create two-tier system: lawyer
• F&P Healthcare investors murmur not shout over pay incentive bump
• Wild ride on the ASX bull market

“Fake pass rates” – that’s how Crimson Education’s Jamie Beaton describes the NCEA. He argues our qualifications need “intensity, ambition, and goal orientation” if New Zealand’s going to compete on the world stage. In a fast-talking episode, we also cover Trump, geo-politics, and whether that $1b unicorn valuation is still valid.

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• Beehive Banter weekly roundup
• Reserve Bank cut the official cash rate by 25 basis points
  
• Australia's high tax on cigarettes
• How should employers deal with difficult employees
• Battle over the boardroom at electronic parts manufacturer Rakon

The law touches all of us, but what do we really know about the people that practise it? In a brand new NBR Focus series, NBR Editor Hamish McNicol reveals how big the sector is, the issues it’s facing, and whether AI-generated legal advice might disrupt this opaque industry.

Feedback, story ideas, comments, all welcome – email simon@nbr.co.nz

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• Gaza debate, polls, pay equity, the Covid-19 inquiry no-show
• Households, businesses and the Government wait for the recovery
  
• Victoria’s WFH law unlikely to catch on in New Zealand
  
• Green hydrogen dreams, hot air, Net Zero
  
• Kōrero with the Continent: the Māori-French trade roadmap

In this episode of The NBR Podcast with Simon Shepherd: The story of the collapse of the Du Val Property Group has fascinated listeners. Raided and placed into rare statutory management a year ago, it’s been revealed a whistleblower helped spark the FMA investigation into the group and its colourful founders Kenyon and Charlotte Clarke. So why haven’t they been charged? 

Feedback, story ideas, comments, all welcome – email simon@nbr.co.nz

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In this episode of The NBR Podcast with Simon Shepherd: Jason Te Brake took over as Zespri CEO a year ago, the same year the Kiwifruit marketer broke $5 billion dollars in annual fruit sales. He says it’s now our 10th largest company. But can Zespri keep up that momentum and is it really contemplating selling unlicensed gold kiwifruit grown in China under the Zespri brand?

Feedback, story ideas, comments, all welcome – email simon@nbr.co.nz

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In this episode of The NBR Podcast with Simon Shepherd: We’re last cab of the OECD rank to have an AI strategy and it hasn’t been well received by the AI industry. The Government’s ‘light touch’ approach has been labelled as ‘wild west’ and ‘severely lacking’. Innovation Minister Shane Reti defends his new strategy but admits there’s more work to do. 

Feedback, story ideas, comments, all welcome – email simon@nbr.co.nz

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• Coalition Government’s challenge to shift economic perceptions
• How not to breach the NZ-EU free trade agreement
  
• The RBA and the dark art of monetary policy
• Four-day workweek improves worker wellbeing, new research shows
• Land lease communities an Australian phenomenon

In this episode of The NBR Podcast with Simon Shepherd: Obesity. Conservatively, it's a two-billion-dollar problem. But the latest weight loss drugs are either here or on their way. Are they everything the marketing says they are? And how will sectors like fast food and medical care cope with this so-called revolution?

Feedback, story ideas, comments, all welcome – email simon@nbr.co.nz

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• The great data centre goldrush
  
• Government’s last opportunity to address skills training concerns
  
• The tricky business of casual vs permanent part-time employees
  
• No clear path in Australia’s China dilemma