http://www.thepunch.com.au/author-bios/clive-mathieson/ Clive Mathieson started journalism at The Advertiser in Adelaide in the same 1992 cadet intake as the editor of this esteemed organ (which goes some way towards explaining how he became a Punch contributor). Quite by accident, he ended up in the business section, just in time for the start of 17 years of economic sunshine. In 1996, he moved to The Australian in Sydney, covering, among other things, the privatisation of Telstra and the early flush of the dot-com boom. In 1999, he moved to the business section of The Times of London. Using a plummy Adelaide accent to help disguise his antipodean roots, he covered The City and the spectacular rise and fall of the dot-com crowd - surely the biggest financial calamity he was likely to experience in his lifetime. By 2002, he was back at The Australian in Sydney, working first as business editor, then deputy night editor and night editor. As fate would have it, by the middle of 2008 he was back in the financial world as the newspaper’s deputy editor (business), just in time for the end of 17 years of economic sunshine. en Copyright 2012 The Punch penberthyd@newsltd.com.au penberthyd@newsltd.com.au Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:00:13 +0000 Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:00:13 +0000 Politics, opinion, world news, sports news, latest news, views, Barack Obama, Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Nathan Rees, Malcolm Turnbull, Peter Garrett, Barnaby Joyce, Australian, federal politics, opinion polls, election, The Punch, thepunch, punch ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss 15 http://www.thepunch.com.au/images/punch-logo-rss.png http://www.thepunch.com.au/ 144 70 Politics, political opinion, world news, sports news and the latest news and views updated live, daily on The Punch - Australia's best conversation. Search The Punch keywords http://www.thepunch.com.au/search/ http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-rare-sighting-of-the-lesser-spotted-kerry-stokes/ Like a teenage son with busted car or a call centre operator who rings at dinner time, you only hear from Kerry Stokes when he wants something. Billionaires - real ones, not the fly-by-nighters who appear suddenly on the BRW rich list and disappear just as quickly one year later - are notoriously private people. But years can pass without a significant public performance from Stokes. Sure, he pops up every six months to deliver another set of opaque accounts from the Seven Network. But you know he only does that much because he has to. (Seven, being a listed company, has a few shareholders other than Stokes himself.) feedback@thepunch.com.au (Clive Mathieson) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-rare-sighting-of-the-lesser-spotted-kerry-stokes/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/a-rare-sighting-of-the-lesser-spotted-kerry-stokes/#item2517 Mon, 01 Mar 2010 18:35:03 +0000 Clive Mathieson | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pigs-the-acronym-that-might-fry-your-portfolio/ There’s quite a menagerie in the stock market petting zoo. You’ve got your bulls, your bears and the occasional stag. Until now, though, you’ve never had PIGS. In the past week, the PIGS have run rampant, trampling markets and joining CDO and CDS as acronyms guaranteed to strike fear into the hearts of investors. Like collateralised debt obligations and credit default swaps – those complex financial instruments that fuelled the GFC – anyone with shares needs to keep an eye on the PIGS. Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain – collectively, and unkindly, derided as the PIGS – are in a fair degree of financial pain. All of them have budget deficits of more than 10 per cent of GDP, which experts reckon they will struggle to finance on wary international bond markets. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Clive Mathieson) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pigs-the-acronym-that-might-fry-your-portfolio/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/pigs-the-acronym-that-might-fry-your-portfolio/#item2346 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:46:22 +0000 Clive Mathieson | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/call-for-entries-updating-the-punch-business-dictionary/ Following the success of my colleague Paul Colgan’s call for entries to the Punch Political Dictionary, today we’re launching a parallel appeal for entries to the Punch Business Dictionary – those words and phrases that tripped off the tongue during the corporate gyrations of the past year. The good folk at Macquarie Dictionary have offered six suggestions. Here are ours. Over to you - and please give generously. Float-model: A beautiful woman used to attract investors to your listing on the stock market. Pioneered, and possibly perfected, by Myer with Jennifer Hawkins during its $2.4bn float. Investors, some no doubt encouraged to open their wallets by the presence of the former Miss Universe, are still waiting for the shares to reach their issue price. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Clive Mathieson) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/call-for-entries-updating-the-punch-business-dictionary/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/call-for-entries-updating-the-punch-business-dictionary/#item2129 Sun, 10 Jan 2010 18:45:07 +0000 Clive Mathieson | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Abbott-will-make-Rudd-own-interest-rate-increases/ There were lots of memorable lines in Tony Abbott’s first press conference as Liberal leader yesterday but there was one you can expect to hear repeatedly ahead of the next election, whenever that might be. ``Each and every interest rate rise over the next 12 months is due to the irresponsible spending spree of the Rudd government,’’ he said. There you have it. Kevin Rudd is going to be made to own each and every 25 basis point rise in interest rates between now and the next election - including the latest one yesterday. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Clive Mathieson) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Abbott-will-make-Rudd-own-interest-rate-increases/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/Abbott-will-make-Rudd-own-interest-rate-increases/#item1894 Tue, 01 Dec 2009 19:00:10 +0000 Clive Mathieson | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/getting-more-women-on-boards-is-good-business/ I don’t have the research in front of me but, anecdotally, I have noticed that women use phones, fly on planes, shop and withdraw cash from ATMs. If my analysis is correct, you’d think the top brass at Telstra, Qantas, Westfield and the Commonwealth Bank would need to know a fair bit about women – a hefty chunk of their customer base and their workforce – and what makes them tick. I’ve no doubt that these organisations employ many fine strategists, marketeers and consultants who can provide the kind of research that backs up my casual observations. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Clive Mathieson) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/getting-more-women-on-boards-is-good-business/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/getting-more-women-on-boards-is-good-business/#item1837 Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:40:03 +0000 Clive Mathieson | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/on-the-pay-divide-opinion-counts-as-much-as-coin/ Nowhere is the disconnect between the business fraternity and the wider community greater than on the issue of executive salaries. Forget trying to explain a $10m-plus pay packet with references to “international benchmarks” and “long-term incentives”. The public simply doesn’t accept that anyone, no matter how brilliant, is worth $190,000 a week - or 150 times the average salary. Given this depth of anger among voters towards the occasionally obscene salaries received by our corporate leaders, the Rudd government has shown remarkable restraint on the issue. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Clive Mathieson) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/on-the-pay-divide-opinion-counts-as-much-as-coin/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/on-the-pay-divide-opinion-counts-as-much-as-coin/#item1355 Wed, 30 Sep 2009 03:21:54 +0000 Clive Mathieson | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/cooperation-with-telstra-give-us-a-break/ “It is the government’s clear desire for Telstra to structurally separate, on a voluntary and cooperative basis.” - Communications Minister Stephen Conroy. Let’s cut to the chase. There is nothing “cooperative” about what the government wants to do to Telstra. This morning’s announcement from Stephen Conroy, fulfilling his veiled threats to the giant company pretty much since winning government, is the end of Telstra as we know it. The 600-pound gorilla of the telecommunications industry will never be the same again. The government’s new laws, flagged late last year when it spectacularly locked Telstra out of the national broadband network project, are designed to break up the company and prevent it from undermining the NBN. In short, Telstra can’t continue to be the dominant force in all corners of the market. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Clive Mathieson) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/cooperation-with-telstra-give-us-a-break/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/cooperation-with-telstra-give-us-a-break/#item1210 Mon, 14 Sep 2009 23:31:10 +0000 Clive Mathieson | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-recession/ What a lovely recession we’re having. Or not having. This morning’s GDP numbers were supposed to reveal the recession was a close run thing, with only a handful of flat-screen TVs and school gyms keeping the economy going in the right direction. But 0.6 per cent growth in one quarter would be pretty tidy in a normal year, let alone the year after the greatest global financial meltdown in generations. feedback@thepunch.com.au (Clive Mathieson) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-recession/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/what-recession/#item1090 Wed, 02 Sep 2009 01:05:16 +0000 Clive Mathieson | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/They-rule-foodgrog-and-petrol-now-its-hardware-woolworths-coles/ Were you so inclined, you’d have to work pretty hard to boycott Woolworths and Wesfarmers. For a start, it would be tough to eat. Woolworths and Coles (owned by Wesfarmers for the past two years) pocket 70c of every dollar spent in supermarkets in this country. It would also be difficult to get drunk. Buying booze means handing over an average of 45c of every dollar to the big two, which own Dan Murphy’s, BWS, Liquorland and Vintage Cellars. Picking up petrol on the way home delivers another 44c of every hard-earned to a service station owed by Coles or Wesfarmers. Think you’re safe in a department store? feedback@thepunch.com.au (Clive Mathieson) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/They-rule-foodgrog-and-petrol-now-its-hardware-woolworths-coles/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/They-rule-foodgrog-and-petrol-now-its-hardware-woolworths-coles/#item1034 Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:55:19 +0000 Clive Mathieson | Author bios | The Punch http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-barbarians-are-back-at-the-gate-private-equity-raiders/ Kohlberg Kravis Roberts, Texas Pacific, Blackstone, CVC, Carlyle, Pacific Equity Partners, Apollo. Until two years ago, these fearsome private equity predators stalked the planet, preying on the weak and growing fat. National icons trembled before them. In Australia, they devoured Myer, Bonds, Harvey World Travel, Repco, Cleanaway, the Nine Network and half of Seven. They almost got Coles and, most spectacularly, Qantas. Overseas, household names such as Chrysler, Reader’s Digest, Burger King, Toys-R-Us, Tommy Hilfiger and Madame Tussauds fell to the private equity money men. (Some have since escaped.) feedback@thepunch.com.au (Clive Mathieson) Article http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-barbarians-are-back-at-the-gate-private-equity-raiders/#comments http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/the-barbarians-are-back-at-the-gate-private-equity-raiders/#item826 Wed, 05 Aug 2009 18:50:51 +0000 Clive Mathieson | Author bios | The Punch