Super Retail CEO sacked; social media ban rules; Google hits $US3 tr
Published: September 16, 2025
Super Retail CEO sacked; social media ban rules; Google hits $US3 tr
News in brief
The government has told the social media giants to have systems in place by December that detect underage users and stops them bypassing the ban. Canberra isn’t telling the tech companies how they should comply, leaving that up to them.
More than 90 per cent of home sales make money for the seller and the amount of nominal profit – the dollars in the pocket – has reached a record level. The median nominal gain from resales rose to a record $315,000 in the June quarter, and the median loss declined to $42,000.
The federal government will lower annual fees charged to offshore wind developers in an attempt to reverse the slowdown of investment in the sector. Offshore wind does not play a central role in the government’s plan to generate 82 per cent of the country’s electricity from renewable energy sources by 2030, but it is expected to contribute to the next phase of emissions reductions by 2035.
Wall Street hit a new record yesterday and Google's parent Alphabet continued its September rally with the company’s market value topping $US3 trillion for the first time. Nvidia remains the largest company, worth $US4.3 trillion, following by Microsoft at $US3.8 trillion and Apple at $US3.5 trillion.
US President Donald Trump has filed a defamation lawsuit against the New York Times, seeking $US15bn in damages from the media organisation that he accused of being a “mouthpiece” for the Democratic party. Lawyers for Trump accused the NYT of “spreading false and defamatory content” about the president.
Fear-o-meter
It’s a case of poor CEO behaviour, again. The sacking of Anthony Heraghty from Super Retail is less about his alleged relationship with the former head of Human Resources, and more about what he did and didn’t tell the board.
Based on what Super Retail released yesterday, Heraghty didn’t tell the board the full story. When court dates got closer, it appears the CEO came clean, and the board sacked him.
The lack of disclosure has echoes of what Chris Ellison did at Mineral Resources (although this was in relation to alleged tax evasion, not a personal relationship), and what Richard White did at WiseTech Global, though as founders of companies they came through the process better off than Heraghty.
Stuff happens in the office, and while a CEO relationship in the office is probably ill-advised, the cover-up is often the real problem.
Fear & Greed Q+A today
On McGrathNicol's new Risk and Security Report, which found over two thirds of Australian business respondents ranks cyber among their top five business challenges. Almost half expect cyber risk to increase in severity over the next 12 months:
"We do see a...growing threat landscape that organisations need to deal with. We see the prevalence of AI and AI-driven attacks being particularly more sophisticated these days. We see more sophisticated phishing campaigns, both as individuals, as consumers of technology, and also as organizations. And business email compromise particularly is one of the key areas of concern for organisations now, where people are convinced to click on a malicious link that opens up a door for the cyber criminals.
In terms of what organisations should be doing, we've spent a lot of time helping organisations at the front end of being able to protect themselves and respond and prepare for an incident. We're now at a point where I think organisations understand that no matter how well they do, they're likely to be subject to a compromise or an issue at some time. So we're now spending a little bit more time in the resilient space, helping organisations be ready to respond and recover to an incident."
It's Wednesday, the 17th of September 2025. Today, Super Retail, the owner of Rebel Sport, BCF, and Supercheap Auto, has fired chief executive Anthony Heraghty after claiming he misled the board about his alleged secret relationship with the company’s former head of human resources. The listed retailer said the decision followed new information provided by Heraghty at the end of last week.
Greed-o-meter
| Market | Median profit |
|---|---|
| Sydney | $381,000 |
| Melbourne | $289,550 |
| Brisbane | $400,000 |
| Adelaide | $390,000 |
| Perth | $324,000 |
| Hobart | $297,000 |
| Darwin | $104,000 |
| ACT | $294,000 |
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Nearly 95 per cent of property resales saw a profit in the June quarter, according to Cotality's Pain & Gain report. This is the median profit for each of Australia's capital cities in the quarter:
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Source: Cotality
Business By Numbers
The top 3 numbers to know for the week, brought to you by Xero
$315,000: the median nominal gain on house prices in Australia.
66.75 US cents: the new ten month high for the Aussie dollar.
$US14.6 trillion: the combined value of Nvidia, Microsoft, Apple and Alphabet.