☕️ How to vote at the polling stations for first-time voters, refresher for seasoned voters

1. MARKET SUMMARY

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

USD1,000,000,000,000 — that’s a trillion dollars. The amount in market value that Amazon has lost amid the tech stock rout makes it the first-ever public company to lose this much in value. The company’s market cap is now below the USD1 tril level, at USD985 bil.

USD1.5 bil — proceeds from the largest art auction in history from the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s collection, according to Christie’s. It was initially estimated to fetch USD1 bil. The sale included artworks from the likes of Vincent Van Gogh, Georges Seurat, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso etc. and proceeds will be donated to charities supported by Allen.

Watch: A private tour of Paul Allens’ USD1 bil art auction.

222,203 cars - Perodua’s registered total sales of vehicles for January to October this year, breaching the 200,000-unit mark, a 51.2% jump from 146,951 units sold in the same period last year. Its top 3 models sold in October: Bezza (6,768), Myvi (6,130) and Axia (4,989).

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

GE15 daily digest

• PAS and DAP may have something in common as both parties have signalled that their candidates have no obligation to declare their respective assets, unlike PKR’s candidates. Read here about the declared assets of each PKR candidate.

• Batu’s candidate from PH, P Prabakaran, may face legal action under Section 25 (1) of the MACC Act 2009 if he does not lodge a police report following his claim that he has been offered RM10mil to defect to MIC. The independent-turn-PKR member, after he won the Batu seat in GE14, may risk facing a maximum fine of RM100,000 or imprisonment up to 10 years, or both if he fails to report the alleged offer to the authorities.

• Following the footsteps of Selangor and Negeri Sembilan, now Penang has declared Nov 18, the day before the polling day, as a special holiday.

• The Election Commission (EC) has banned mobile phones inside polling stations. The move came after multiple parties, including Tun Mahathir, urged for the mobile phones ban, indicating that it can deter certain political parties from buying votes. Voting can be confusing, especially for first-time voters, so below are the step-by-step instructions for voting.

Parts of Klang Valley are underwater again

Writings are already on the wall and everyone has been warned so it comes as no surprise as some parts of Klang Valley, especially in Shah Alam and Klang, suffered flash floods following hours of heavy downpours. Many voices of the communities have raised concerns about how the current facilities can cope with two major events that will occur at the same time, namely the flash floods and the upcoming general election.

To make matters worse, caretaker women and family minister Rina Harun stated that around 35% of the temporary shelters for flood victims had been designated as polling stations and she hoped that there will be no major flooding on Nov 19. Then what is the purpose of having a bunch of committees to plan for the worse if you leave to dumb luck to save the day?

Kelantan is literally sinking

According to a study published by Dr Yong Chien Zheng, an academician from the University of Otago, New Zealand, Kelantan is sinking at a rate of 4.2mm annually, a rate similar to Jakarta in the 1970s. Dr Yong attributed the gradual sinking of Kelantan to the extensive use of groundwater for residential and industrial use as a result of a lack of sufficient water infrastructures (Salah DAP?) to meet the growing demand. However, the hydro-environmental specialist cum ex-general manager of Air Kelantan Sdn Bhd, the entity responsible for clean water supply in Kelantan, said that there are no incidents of land sinking in the state. Kelantan is not the only city sinking, you can view below why other cities around the world are sinking.

News from the corporate level

• Malaysia Airlines Bhd (MAB) is mulling over adding another 25 narrowbody Boeing Co 737 Max, on top of the existing order of 25 of the same planes, which cost the national carrier about RM5.64bil. Amidst returning demand to the pre-pandemic level, MAB CEO, Captain Izham Ismail stated that the existing aeroplanes could not cope with future demands, thus the consideration to buy more planes.

• Berjaya Food (BFood), a company that owns several prominent brands in Malaysia such as Starbucks and Kenny Rogers Roasters recorded a strong net profit of RM34.7mil for the first quarter ended Sept 30, 2022 (1QFY23), compared to RM11.63mil for the same period last year. BFood attributed the strong financial performance towards huge revenue growth from Starbucks’ cafes and a successful turnaround of Kenny Rogers Roasters’ performance.Read: BFood Bursa quarterly filing for revenue and cost breakdown and corresponding notes and comments

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

How to buy weapons the Russian way - EUR140 mil cash in a plane + western weapons

Sky News reported that Russia sent EUR140 mil in cash along with captured western weapons by plane in a secret flight on 20 Aug to Iran as payment for its deadly unmanned aerial vehicles (aka “kamikaze” drones). Iran and Russia initially both denied that Iran supplied Russia with its drones. In mid-Oct, a Russian defence official was caught on hot-mic that it was an open secret Kremlin imported these drones and just last week, Iranian Foreign Minister admitted that it sent “a limited number of drones” to Russia. 

The most senior US general estimates that around 100,000 Russian and 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been killed or injured in the war and 40,000 civilians have died being caught in the middle of the conflict. 

Ransom demand rejected, hackers released personal and medical data

Ransomeware group REvil has demanded nearly USD10 mil from Medibank, Australia’s largest private health insurer caught up in one of the country’s worst cyberattacks. The hackers are demanding USD1 for every of the 9.7 mil customers affected. Following Medibank’s refusal to pay, supported by the Australian government, the hackers have started releasing some of these stolen records, separating it into “naughty” and “good” lists with the former including records on drug addiction, alcohol abuse and HIV.  

Corporate news in China:

1. There’s Boeing, there’s Airbus and now meet Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac). China’s homegrown plane maker has secured orders of 330 for its planes at China’s biggest air show and raised its 20-year aircraft demand forecast, estimating that China needs 9,284 new aircraft to meet market demand, 200 more than it forecasted in 2021. Boeing, being a US company, is pretty much shut out of the China market amidst the US-China trade tensions. Boeing’s archrival Airbus (France) is faring a lot better - it secured 300 planes from Chinese airlines. 

2. Li Shufu, the billionaire behind Proton owner Geely, automotive empire is expanding further. It entered into a deal with Renault SA to pool combustion-engine assets to forge a company with EUR15 bil in revenue with 19,000 employees. This arrangement builds scale for combustion engine operations and frees up funds, and reduces costs for Renault to focus on its EV arm. Geely’s other automotive holdings: Aston Martin, Lotus, Daimler (Mercedes-Benz owner) and Volvo. 

3. Previously a hater, now a lover - Snow Lake Capital, who previously secretly exposed Luckin Coffee’s accounting scandal in 2020, is now a fan of the company, calling it “a miracle in China’s business history”. The investment firm published an 81-page bullish investment case for the 5-year-old coffee chain and said that its position in Luckin now represents 15% of its assets managed, declining to disclose the value invested.Luckin is bigger than Starbucks in China in terms of outlet count (7,195 vs >6,000) but revenue-wise, it is closing in on the US coffee giant (USD493 mil vs USD775.7 mil in latest reporting quarter). Read: Luckin Coffee accounting fraud case study

FTX — what’s happening so far:

1. Less than 48 hours after its announcement, Binance decided not to proceed with the acquisition, saying that “the issues are beyond our control or ability to help”.

2. US regulators have been investigating FTX months ago over the mishandling of customer funds. WSJ reported that FTX loaned Alameda USD10 bil using funds that customers had deposited n the exchange, which it was not supposed to do so. 

3. Prominent VC Sequoia Capital informed its investors that it has written off its USD213.5 mil investment in FTX to 0. Read their letter here.

4. FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried in a tweet blamed the issue on “poor internal labeling of bank-related accounts” — a pathetic reason for a company that was once worth USD32 bil not too long ago. Read whole thread here.

Shorts:

1. Twitter might consider offering a banking feature — high-yield money account. Elon Musk said during a Twitter Spaces session that it might consider this feature for money earned through paywalled content monetised on the platform. 

2. Adidas intends to release more Yeezys without Ye (fka Kanye West) as its CFO reiterated that the company is the “sole owner” of all design rights registered to Yeezy products. Adidas’ bottom line is expected to take a hit of USD247 mil following the termination of its relationship with Ye. Ezys doesn’t sound too bad, actually.Weekend Read: A failed war helped bring down the Soviet Union. Now Putin’s failing war in Ukraine might set Russia up for a bleak future.

5. FOR YOUR EYES 👁👁

1. Following the deadly crushing crowd incident in Seoul, this is how to survive one if for whatever bad luck star you were standing under that day leading you to such situation. Also, there’s a difference between crowd crush vs stampede.

2. Feudal practices and mentality in Malaysia that should be eliminated by politicians3. Stop-motion animator @KevinParry created a video of him breaking himself into half. Weirdly satisfying to watch.