Corporate Travel’s brutal return; trust changes watered down; Uber cuts jobs
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What happened to Corporate Travel Management’s share price on its ASX return?
Welcome to Fear and Greed, Business News You Can Use. Today, corporate travel management returns to the ASX and its share price crashes in seconds. The federal government waters down its changes to trusts, and Uber cuts thousands of jobs after accumulating too many managers. Plus, Australia and the US plan to expand America's military presence on our soil, and one of the country's best-known startups sold in a Cut price deal. It is Friday, the 4th of September, 2026. I'm Michael Thompson and good morning, Natalie McDonald. Good morning, Michael. Natalie, the main story this morning, an extraordinary return to the share market for corporate travel management. This is a company that we've been talking about really for much of the last year.
But its shares crashed more than 85% yesterday. That's where it closed. Trading resumed for the first time in more than a year and within seconds it was down eighty, eighty-two percent. Corporate travel management was s suspended from the ASX in August of last year after auditors uncovered some serious problems in its accounts.
So if you're not across this, where have you been? But also don't worry, we've we've got the details. The company ultimately revealed that it had overcharged customers across the UK, Australia, and New Zealand by as much as two hundred and seventy two million dollars. Part of the problem stemmed from a refugee accommodation program that corporate travel ran for the UK government. In 2021, the company was contracted to find 1.4 million nights of accommodation across about 60 UK hotels and to do it very quickly. It's believed the company overcharged as much as $100 million to the government, including in one case invoicing more rooms than a hotel actually had. A forensic review also uncovered revenue that had been incorrectly recognized and forced the company to.
restate years of accounts.
Yeah. Uh the fallout to this has been significant. The head of its UK operations was sacked after allegedly uh forging agreements to repay customers, while founder and longtime chief executive Jamie Ferris uh stepped down earlier this year uh as the crisis just got deeper and deeper.
How did the over‑charging scandal affect Corporate Travel’s customers and leadership?
The company, as we mentioned, has been suspended from the ASX for a year while it worked through Really what has been a debacle. So the big question is what's left of the business after all of that? And there are actually some signs that corporate travel has weathered this crisis better than you might expect.
Last week it finally released its accounts and says it retained ninety seven percent of its customers and returned to profit in the latest financial year. The cleanup is not over, however, with millions in customer refunds still to be finalised and its governance overhaul continuing. Investors, though, have taken an enormous hit. The shares last traded at $16.07 before the suspension. They reopened below $3, sending the company's market value from about $2.35 billion to $460 million. And for founder Jamie Ferris, one of the company's biggest shareholders, that collapse has slashed the value of his stake from about $305 million to $60 million.
Yeah, it really is quite an extraordinary story, that one. And uh funnel enough, yesterday corporate travel wasn't the only company that was hammered by investors. There was one other uh example, certainly not to the same extent as corporate travel. I don't think we see an an eighty five point six percent drop uh every day. I'd actually love to I'd actually
love to know the last time we we'll find a chart um for for the newsletter. I'd love to know the last time we did see um a stock fall by just anything comparable to that.
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, I know that we talk about some big some volatility during uh earnings season, but God, nothing like that. Uh but r uh aged care provider Regis Healthcare plunged around thirty percent yesterday after it warned that a new government funding increase won't come close to covering its rising costs.
The federal government is increasing the main residential aged care funding rate by just over two and a half percent from October.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What happened to Corporate Travel Management’s share price on its ASX return?
0:06–2:23
2
How did the over‑charging scandal affect Corporate Travel’s customers and leadership?
2:23–4:56
3
What are the key changes to the discretionary trusts tax and why were they watered down?
4:56–7:10
4
How are Australia and the United States expanding the U.S. military presence on Australian soil?
7:10–9:22
5
What is the KPMG Australia scandal involving confidential client documents?
9:22–12:04
6
Why did ING Australia receive a $50 million capital penalty and what are the new liquidity rules?
12:04–13:47
7
How was the startup Expert360 sold in a cut‑price deal and what does it mean for its founders?
13:47–15:54
8
Why is Uber cutting more than 3,000 jobs worldwide and what does the restructure target?
15:54–17:19
Speakers
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