Stories

How Freedom Foods went from ASX darling to a $590m write-down and a rebrand as Noumi, and what the regulators found along the way.

Inside the Plutus Payroll fraud: the second-tier company structure that siphoned PAYG withholding tax, the arrests, and what the courts found.

The High Court found Qantas broke the law by outsourcing 1,700 ground handling jobs. Here's what the courts found, and what it didn't decide.

The Bell review and state inquiries into Star Entertainment exposed years of money-laundering failures. Here's what was found, and what it cost the casino group.

How confidential government tax-policy consultations at PwC were allegedly used to help clients sidestep new anti-avoidance laws, and what the Senate inquiry and fallout revealed.

ARB Corporation turned bull bars, drawers and fridges into a global export business worth billions. Here's how the numbers actually stack up.

Breville went from a Sydney workshop and the Toastie to a premium global kitchen appliance brand. Priya Naidu checks the numbers behind the story.

Sonic Healthcare runs labs across three continents and processes hundreds of millions of tests a year, yet it barely registers in the public imagination. Here's how it got so big.

Paul Ramsay turned a single Sydney psychiatric clinic into one of the world's largest private hospital operators. The Ramsay Health Care numbers explain why.

Altium spent three decades turning circuit-board design software into a near-monopoly before Renesas paid up. Here's how, in numbers.

How a Melbourne car classifieds business became a multinational marketplace operator, and why the ASX still seems to underrate it.

REA Group turned a modest listings site into one of the world's most profitable property portals. Priya Naidu digs into the numbers behind the dominance.

How two Sydney entrepreneurs built buy-now-pay-later into a global habit, and sold it to Block in the biggest takeover in Australian corporate history.

The real story of the Hills Hoist rotary clothesline, the Adelaide firm that built an empire on it, and why the "who invented it" question is messier than the legend.

Bonds built its Australian identity on Chesty Bond and local mills. The Bonds ownership history tells a quieter story of offshoring and foreign takeover.

Weet-Bix is one of Australia's most trusted brands, yet the Sanitarium company behind it is owned by a church and pays no income tax. Here's the story.

Janine Allis opened her first Boost Juice store with borrowed money and no retail experience. Two decades on it's a global franchise. Here's how.

How a Melbourne haircare label built on brown bottles and quiet design became a multibillion-dollar sale to L'Oréal, one of the biggest deals in Australian brand history.

JB Hi-Fi went from a single Melbourne record store to Australia's biggest electronics retailer on a formula of low margins, high volume and no frills.

Flight Centre history, from a London-to-Kathmandu bus route to a store network that survived 2020. Doug Kirby traces the culture and the comeback.

How Foster's became a global punchline for "Australian for beer" while the real brewer, Carlton & United, ended up owned from London.

The Myer history runs from a Bendigo drapery stall to the Bourke Street flagship, the Coles Myer merger and today's tougher retail reckoning.

How George James Coles' 1914 Melbourne variety store became one of Australia's two supermarket titans, surviving Coles Myer, Wesfarmers and a 2018 demerger.

Dick Smith built three separate ventures on cheek, timing and publicity, long before the retail chain bearing his name collapsed under other owners.

The Smorgon family fled Europe with almost nothing, built a smallgoods-to-steel empire in Melbourne, then quietly wound it up on their own terms.

The Myer dynasty began with a Bendigo drapery cart and grew into Melbourne's department store giant, then a family known for giving more than feuding.

Richard Pratt turned a small Shepparton carton maker into Visy, a global packaging group. Here is the full ledger, including the cartel case.

Solomon Lew built Premier Investments from Melbourne's garment trade and spent decades in the Coles Myer boardroom wars. Here's the record, plainly told.

Kerry Packer built World Series Cricket, gambled in millions and told a Senate committee why he wouldn't pay more tax than he had to. A profile.

The Virgin Australia administration of April 2020 was the biggest airline failure since Ansett. Here is how Bain Capital ended up owning the carrier.

The Quindell deal turned Slater & Gordon from a pioneering listed law firm into a case study in acquisition-led corporate collapse. Here is how it unfolded.

How MFS Limited grew into a sprawling Gold Coast financial empire, then collapsed in 2008 into one of Australia's longest-running insolvency sagas.

How a Geelong building society's 1990 collapse left 200,000 depositors exposed, and why Victorian motorists paid it off at the bowser for a decade.

Adelaide Steamship (Adsteam) built a cross-shareholding empire under John Spalvins, then the early-1990s recession exposed the gearing underneath it.

The Centro Properties collapse came from short-term debt and a misclassified balance sheet, and produced a landmark Australian ruling on director duty.

The Sons of Gwalia collapse over gold hedging losses led to a High Court ruling letting misled shareholders rank as creditors until Parliament stepped in.

Rio Tinto destroyed 46,000-year-old rock shelters at Juukan Gorge. Here is what the parliamentary inquiry found and how it ended three executive careers.

The Firepower fuel pill promised big savings and sponsored Australian sport, then collapsed owing hundreds of millions. Here is how ASIC pursued its director.

SEEK began as a Melbourne jobs board in 1997. See how the Bassat brothers and Matthew Rockman built it into a major Asian employment platform operator.

Reece is a plumbing supplier that grew from one Melbourne shopfront into a family-controlled giant, then bet big on America. Here is how the story stacks up.

From a Dunlop rubber offshoot to a global leader in protective and medical gloves, Ansell is one of Australia's least-noticed multinational success stories.

The Blundstone boot has barely changed in a century and a half. Here is how a Tasmanian bootmaker became a global cult brand, and what the 2007 closure cost.

From a Bondi beachside experiment in 1914 to a global licensing empire, Speedo's journey is one of Australian brand history's most revealing stories.

Deckers Outdoor Corporation holds a US trademark on 'Ugg'. Australian sheepskin bootmakers have spent decades fighting back. Here's how it happened.

Andrew Forrest built Fortescue Metals from a shell company into a major iron ore exporter. The record is messier than the tidy keynote version suggests.

The Bell Group litigation began with Alan Bond's 1991 collapse and ran for decades, pitting liquidators against banks across courts and parliaments.

Macquarie Group went from a Hill Samuel offshoot to a global infrastructure force. Here is how the millionaire factory was built, and where the risks sit.

Harris Scarfe traded through two world wars and the Depression before collapsing in 2001. The accounting fraud that accelerated its end took years of litigation to untangle.

Computershare is the Melbourne-born share registry giant most investors never notice. Here is how it came to run shareholder records across the globe.

From Queensland's cane fields to the iconic polar bear, Bundaberg Rum's story is one of industrial necessity, stubborn regionalism, and an unlikely mascot.

How a Townsville financial planning firm built a leveraged investment model that worked brilliantly in a bull market — and then destroyed thousands of ordinary Australian lives when the GFC arrived.

Melanie Perkins and Cliff Obrecht started with school yearbooks in Perth. What they built next reshaped how the world makes visual content.

Vegemite, Speedo, Aeroplane Jelly: iconic Australian brands that feel local, yet the ownership papers tell a different story. Here is who holds them.

Nathan Tinkler went from Hunter Valley electrician to billionaire to bankrupt in about a decade. Here is how one leveraged coal bet unravelled.

In the early 1990s, Compass Airlines twice tried to break the Ansett–Australian Airlines duopoly and twice ended in administration. Here's how it happened.

The James Hardie asbestos compensation scandal, from the 2001 foundation to the Jackson inquiry, court findings and the 2007 funding deal. A public record.

The Dick Smith Electronics collapse left creditors short and raised questions about inventory accounting, supplier rebates and the mechanics of its float.

CSL Limited began as a wartime government serum lab in Melbourne and became a global plasma and vaccine giant. Here is how the privatisation played out.

Crown Resorts was found unsuitable to hold casino licences by three inquiries. Here is what the Bergin Inquiry and its successors found, and what changed.

How a self-taught bushman's saddle-stitched boot became one of Australia's most enduring brands — and how it passed through some of the country's biggest hands.