Is Telecom New Zealand destined to suffer
the same fate as Telstra in Australia?
asks Michael Sainsbury in The Australian.
Recent comments by NZ Prime Minister Helen Clark and Communications Minister
David Cunliffe have cast a shadow over its position as the country’s
near-monopoly fixed-line provider and caused shareholders to jump ship.

Multiplex’s British sell-off has begun with British
billionaire brothers Simon and David Reuben bailing out the troubled
construction giant by agreeing to buy out its share of a huge building
portfolio in a deal estimated to be worth more than 100 million pounds, reportsThe Australian.

And the internet’s effect on the business models of old
media extends from newspapers to Australia’s TV networks, says Jane Schulze in The Oz.

Today’s Financial Review
reports that Treasurer Peter Costello has announced a review into how
Australia’s taxes compare with those of other countries. And Colleen
Ryan reports that Chinese manufacturers are angry that they’re “making
the goods, but not the money.” And on the back page, Robert Guy says
expertise in managing investor expectations should be a key
consideration for headhunters scouting for a new chief of struggling
gold miner Newcrest.

In The Sydney Morning
Herald, Jane Martinson meets Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, chairman of the Dubai
state-owned ports company DP World, that will soon be running P&O’s ports
around the world.

Meanwhile, uranium’s seemingly relentless price rise has
produced a predictable response in a country that hosts more than 40% of the
world’s known economic reserves of the stuff, says Barry FitzGerald in The Age – uranium exploration floats
are mushrooming.

Also in The Smage,
Malcolm Maiden says the latest market share figures for Australian stockbrokers
confirm that UBS is in a dogfight with Macquarie
for the top position, and that the three-year-old alliance between Goldman
Sachs and JB Were has lost momentum.

And worth a look from the weekend, Alan Kohler talks with Alinta
CEO Bob Browning about how he plans to take control of a company three times
the size of his own, on the ABC’s Inside
Business. (See the front page of today’s Fin for
a word from the other side: AGL’s chief executive in waiting, Paul
Anthony, who says if the two companies merge, he should be boss.)