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Good morning.

Six months after DroneShield's former CEO, chair and a director quietly sold their entire stakes for $66.8 million while a dud contract announcement was still live on the ASX, ASIC has finally confirmed it is investigating.

The shares tanked on the news, which given the market had largely moved on, tells you something about how much uncertainty still hangs over this one. But as Capital Brief’s Hugo Mathers writes, the bigger question is what took so long.

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Market movers

Shares in family tracking app Life360 plunged on Tuesday after the company downgraded its user growth guidance for the full year, citing a technical issue in the first quarter that suppressed new sign-ups and which management said would not fully recover until the third quarter. Even as the company raised its full-year earnings and revenue guidance, the market focused squarely on the user growth miss.

The quick sync

• Labor's broken promise on property tax will define the political battleground heading into the next election. (Capital Brief)

• Government adopts Denholm R&D review to reassure startups rattled by CGT changes. (Capital Brief)

• Treasury models worst-case USD200 oil and 7% inflation as Chalmers says Australia avoids recession. (Capital Brief)

• Chalmers' ambitious budget fails to fix Australia's growing reliance on personal income tax. (Capital Brief)

• With closing arguments expected this week, prediction markets have turned against Musk in his OpenAI trial. (Capital Brief)

Trading floor

M&A

• Byron Allen acquires a 52% stake in BuzzFeed for USD120m and becomes CEO. (Bloomberg)

• GoPro reviews potential sale or merger options after receiving takeover interest. (WSJ)

• Bain Capital and LY Corporation reportedly bid for Kakaku.com against EQT. (Bloomberg)

• Siemens considers acquiring rail technology firm MERMEC. (Bloomberg)

• ClearBridge opposes IFM’s takeover bid for Atlas Arteria, saying the offer is too low. (AFR)

• InfraRed joined Bain and PEP in the bidding for Infratil’s Qscan imaging business. (AFR)

• GameStop rejects a takeover offer from eBay. (WSJ)

Capital Markets

• CBA books $316m provision hit citing economic uncertainty. (Capital Brief)

• IFM Investors warns it may abandon a USD3b fuel project without regulatory changes. (Bloomberg)

• Victoria's Secret alleges a major shareholder used spying tactics to obtain confidential sales data. (WSJ)

• Insurance Australia Group outlines its strategic ambitions and growth targets for 2030 at an investor day. (Capital Brief)

• Santos approves final investment for a Papua New Guinea gas project. (Capital Brief)

• Elevra Lithium prepares a $200m equity raising. (AFR)

• Dimon says JPMorgan would scrap UK HQ over higher bank taxes. (Bloomberg)

• Unsecured creditors prepare to challenge restructuring plans tied to Sydney’s Halo Tower development. (AFR)

• Anthropic signs an AI infrastructure deal with SpaceX linked to growing AI compute demand. (WSJ)

• Regal Partners and Thorney Investment Group back an Israeli drone supplier ahead of its ASX debut. (AFR)

• Former IFM Investors private equity executives pursue deals through Black Kite Capital. (AFR)

• Life360 raises full-year guidance after strong first-quarter performance. (Capital Brief)

• Australian Taxation Office alleges JB Hi-Fi overvalued The Good Guys brand assets by ten times their worth. (AFR)

• JPMorgan reports booming markets business performance following a record quarter. (Bloomberg)

• DHL signs a sustainable aviation fuel supply agreement with SAF One in Bahrain. (Reuters)

• ASIC is investigating DroneShield over its governance controversy and insider share sales. (Capital Brief)

• Fortescue is ordered to pay USD108m in an Aboriginal rights legal case. (Bloomberg)

• On Holding raises its outlook as strong demand boosts sales of Cloudtilt shoes. (Bloomberg)

• Amcor beat synergy targets from its Berry Global acquisition but lowered full-year guidance. (The Australian)

• Pop Mart reports slowing sales growth due to weaker overseas demand. (Bloomberg)

• Ingenia Communities secures funding support from Hostplus. (AFR)

• Orora shareholders are agitating for board changes over its underperforming Saverglass acquisition. (The Australian)

• Robyn Denholm restructures branding for her family office operations. (AFR)

• Intel adds USD440b in market value over six weeks, drawing renewed attention from short sellers. (Bloomberg)

• Predictive Discovery may pursue expansion into ASX 100, with Turaco Gold seen as a potential future merger target. (The Australian)

• Under Armour shares plunge after weak sales guidance and disruptions linked to Middle East tensions. (Bloomberg)

• Google is in talks with SpaceX to explore building orbital data centers. (Bloomberg)

• Senate confirms Warsh to Fed board, with chair vote likely Wednesday. (Reuters)

• Anthropic in talks to raise USD30b at USD900b valuation. (Bloomberg)

VC 

• The Bitcoin Society, a startup backed by French NBA star Tony Parker and entrepreneur Éric Larchevêque, dropped its Bitcoin reserve strategy after weak crypto market conditions. (Bloomberg)

• Wispr AI is raising USD260m led by Menlo Ventures at a potential USD2b valuation. (Bloomberg)

• Kevin Hartz’s early-stage firm, A-Star raised a USD450m early-stage fund, smaller than big AI-focused VC megafunds. (Bloomberg)

People moves

• GitLab plans job cuts to redirect spending toward AI and agentic technology growth. (Bloomberg)

• AUB Group appoints former National Australia Bank CFO Gary Lennon to its board. (Capital Brief)

• Josh Frydenberg joins Airwallex to support its global expansion strategy. (AFR)

• Helloworld Travel appoints former Australian treasurer Peter Costello as a director. (Capital Brief)

• Westpac cuts jobs in its BT Panorama platform as part of an ongoing simplification program. (AFR)

The watercooler