☕️ PM Ismail Sabri: "Pardon for Najib not up to the government or UMNO"

1. MARKET SUMMARY

2. NUMBERS AT A GLANCE

Rezzadude, an online gaming streamer, earned a cool RM600,000 from the past seven years of content creation — an average of RM7.1k per month! The 26-year-old Malaysian content creator, in an interview with Harian Metro, said it was an unexpected source of income because when he started posting videos, he intended to entertain people with his antics.

USD3.6 bil — the contribution of BTS to South Korea's economy annually, according to a 2018 report by the Hyundai Research Institute, as first reported by The Korea Herald. That's the same as 26 midsize companies, researchers said. In 2017, one out of every 13 tourists came to South Korea because of BTS. Unfortunately, BTS announced they would be doing their military service as required by the country.

Two hours — the amount of time for an item to land on a truck from one of its fulfilment centres, according to Amazon’s 2021 annual report. Two decades ago, that process could have taken up to 18 hours. The efficiency is the result of decades of warehouse innovation, pioneered by Walmart and then turbocharged by Amazon.

3. IN MALAYSIA 🇲🇾

GE15 News

1. Parti Keadilan Rakyat (PKR) will field seven personalities from various backgrounds — from former secretary-general of a ministry to former vice-chancellor. Nik Omar Nik Abdul Aziz, a son of former PAS spiritual leader the late Datuk Nik Abdul Aziz Nik Mat, has also been fielded a seat under PKR in Perak. Another outlier, 28-year-old Fathin Amelina Fazlie, a doctorate holder, will also contest under PKR in Perlis.

2. After days of rumours swirling around, it’s now official — three-term Klang MP Charles Santiago has been dropped as DAP’s candidate for Klang. DAP has named Kota Kemuning assemblyman V Ganabatirau to replace Santiago. Other changes in DAP’s lineup: Tony Pua to sit out, Puchong Gobind Singh Deo to contest in Damansara, Bakri MP Yeo Bee Yin to contest in Puchong, lawyer Syahredzan Johan to contest in Bangi, replacing incumbent MP Ong Kian Ming.

3. Incumbent Bentong MP Wong Tack will defend his seat as an independent after DAP refused to give him the seat. The party offered Wong the Cameron Highlands seat, which the latter declined. DAP confirmed Young Syefura Othman as its candidate there for the 15th general election. Bad move by DAP?

4. Larry Sng insisted today that he was still the president of Parti Bangsa Malaysia (PBM) despite the party previously saying Zuraida Kamaruddin has replaced him. On Oct 8, PBM secretary-general Nor Hiizwan Ahmad announced that caretaker plantation industries and commodities minister Zuraida had replaced Sng as the new president of PBM. Barisan Nasional has yet to accept PBM into its coalition.

5. According to the Election Commission (EC), the number of registered voters for the Tambun parliamentary constituency has increased by about 49% compared to the previous GE. The seat has the highest number of registered voters in the state of Perak, with about 160,000 eligible voters.

Shorts

1. Caretaker PM Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the government and UMNO are consistent in not interfering in court matters involving any individuals in the country, including issues related to the royal pardon of former PM Najib Razak. Remember to save this piece of news. Could be useful after Nov 19.

2. All six victims — a pilot and five members of a medical team — in the helicopter crash near Cameron Highlands are safe, according to Khairy Jamaluddin. The helicopter had to make an emergency landing at 1 pm near Brinchang, Cameron Highlands. The Transport Ministry’s Air Accident Investigation Bureau will investigate the incident.

3. The Malaysian Competition Commission (MyCC) instructed five chicken-producing companies to make representations to deny their alleged involvement in a chicken cartel by Oct 21. However, MyCC has extended the deadline to Dec 19 due to the complexity of the case.

4. Betamek Bhd, which provides one-stop electronics manufacturing services solutions to automotive makers, made a strong debut on the ACE Market of Bursa Malaysia yesterday. The counter ended the day 42% higher, above its initial public offering price of 50 sen per share at 71 sen.

5. Things seem to be turning around for Capital Bhd as the group releases positive figures across its business segments in 3Q2022. During the quarter:

   1. 9.9 mil passengers boarded its flights (load factor: 86%);

   2. airasia Super App has monthly active users of 9.5 mil;

   3. airasia Ride completed more than 550,000 rides;

   4. BigPay users rose to 1.26 mil and;

   5. Teleport transported 26,667 tonnes.

4. AROUND THE WORLD 🌎

Singapore - developing AI talent, top global university

The city-state will be investing USD50 mil to attract and develop talent in the field of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Some of the initiatives include doubling the number of AI apprenticeships in the next five years and creating a new National Research Foundation Fellowship for AI to attract top researchers who can, in turn mentor emerging talent.

The National University of Singapore is ranked No.2 in Asia and No. 29 worldwide in the 2022 edition of Best Global Universities rankings. For comparison, Universiti Malaya is ranked 226, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia at 379 and Universiti Sains Malaysia at 504 globally. See the entire list here. 

Russia crying to UN, accusing Ukraine of its plan to use ‘dirty bomb’

Russia has formally written to the UN Security Council alleging without providing any evidence that Kyiv ordered 2 organisations to create a “dirty bomb” on its own territory, then to blame Moscow for radioactive contamination as a pretext to escalate the war. A dirty bomb combines conventional explosives with radioactive materials but is not considered a nuclear weapon and is nowhere as destructive. France, the UK and the US said the allegations were “transparently false”, part of it Russian misinformation campaign that has been witnessed many times. 

In Australia - Qantas nearly collapsed, another massive data hack

• During the worst of the Covid-19 pandemic, Australian carrier Qantas Airways saw its runway shortened to a mere 11 weeks before the financial collapse, according to CEO Alan Joyce. The airline was bleeding cash with no revenue due to the travel lockdowns but managed to lengthen the runway to two years by raising capital, selling land, and cutting expenses, including about 8,000 staff since March 2020.However, Qantas’ troubles are not at an end as travel rebounds, with the carrier now plagued by flight cancellations, lost bags, and delays due to its smaller workforce, not to mention supply chain issues with getting spare parts for its planes.

• Australia’s largest health insurer Medibank says a cybercriminal hacked the personal data of all its four mil customers instead of just limited to its subsidiary and international students as initially thought. The hack has exposed all customers’ personal data and “significant amounts of health claims data”. The hacker has demanded a ransom and threatens to expose the diagnoses and treatments of high-profile customers. This incident follows a massive data breach at Optus, Australia’s second-largest telco, late last month, where the personal data of nearly 10 mil customers were stolen. 

MrBeast, the billionaire unicorn

MrBeast, the YouTube megastar turned entrepreneur, is seeking to raise USD150 mil at a USD1.5 bil valuation, according to Axios. If you have not heard of MrBeast — whose real name is Jimmy Donaldson — he has turned his YouTube influence into a business empire expanding into restaurants (MrBeast Burger), consumer goods (Feastables) and merchandise. He’s only 24 years old. With 107 mil followers on YouTube, his main channel is the fifth most-subscribed YouTube channel globally (Cocomelon ranked #2 - take that MrBeast!), and across his other five channels and Spanish language channels, that’s another 115 mil followers. 

Forbes estimates he makes USD54 mil a year. Earlier in the month, MrBeast said he spends USD8 mil a month creating his elaborate videos and just in September, he said in another interview he spent USD4 mil a month — that’s a huge jump. 

MrBeast’s most-watched video is the remake of “Squid Game” with 295 mil views. He spent USD3.5 mil to produce it, including a prize money of USD456k. The 9-episode “Squid Game” cost Netflix USD21.4 mil to produce.

Shorts

1. Beauty pageant organiser Miss Universe Organisation has found its first female owner. The organisation has been acquired for USD20 mil by Thai celebrity media tycoon Jakapong “Anne” Jakrajutatip, a transgender woman and a transgender rights advocate. Former US President Donald Trump once owned the organisation. According to Forbes, she is the third-richest transgender person in the world, with an estimated net worth of USD210 mil. 

2. Warner Bros Discovery Inc will take a USD2.5 bil hit from cancelling and scraping content, including “Batgirl”, “The Not Too Late Show With Elmo”, and 36 titles from its HBO Max Streaming in its post-merger financial restructuring.

3. Hong Kong Customs made its biggest money-laundering case bust with the arrest of 2 men for laundering USD446 mil by reselling precious metals. Precious metals can be traded anonymously in Hong Kong and are attractive to criminals because of their high value, small size and ease of transportation. 

5. FOR YOUR EYES 👁👁

1. Fahmi Reza’s explanation on party lines is an apt one! Are you on the left or right?

2. How Facebook parent Meta creates long-term shareholders’ value

3. Also Meta — created an AI-powered speech-to-speech translation system. The video below shows how it translated Hokkien, a Chinese dialect, into English.