CEO INSIGHTS – Week Ending 15 August 2025

Pilbara Region

"Australia is probably one of the most expensive places in the world to build something, and certainly the Pilbara is probably the most expensive place in the world to build something.” Mark Davies, Chief Technical Officer, Rio Tinto Ltd

Shipping Containers

“A lot of it [strong container demand] is driven by a manufacturing boom in China and strong export growth pretty much everywhere in the world except for the U.S. during this quarter, where the tariff-on, tariff-off has had some dampening effect...But overall, I think outside of the United States, we see a continued very strong demand, and that is fuelling the earnings and the upgrade that we were able to do today." Vincent Clerc, CEO, A.P. Møller–Mærsk A/S

Cultural Attractions

"As we look ahead, we see an opportunity to build on our momentum by sharpening our focus on experiences, the fastest-growing category in travel. Exploring cultural attractions, local tours and outdoor experiences has become the most important part of the trip." Matthew Goldberg, CEO, Tripadvisor Inc

Challenges

"Airlines will continue to face immense challenges, whether that's climate change, customer expectations, technology, cost pressures or geopolitics." Dame Therese Walsh, Chair, Air New Zealand Ltd

Digital Infrastructure & Sovereignty

“Australia owning its own critical digital infrastructure assets is really important. There are only a very small number of data centre companies that are truly Australian owned…so in the geopolitical environment in which we operate, in nations increasing desire to have sovereignty over their own data, it’s incredibly important.” Chris Maher, CEO, Digico Infrastructure REIT

Families

"Today, peace of mind isn't a luxury, it's essential. Families are budgeting for it just like WiFi or electricity, and that shift is fuelling durable value-driven growth." Chris Hulls, CEO, Life360 Inc

SMEs & Cash Flow

“Managing payments out and getting paid faster is the most critical thing to surviving. Late payments continue to be a big issue, because if you get paid late, it’s very hard to manage your cash flow." Sukhinder Singh Cassidy, CEO, Xero Ltd

Institutional Capital

“The scale of under-supply across our cities is arguably Australia’s biggest economic challenge. We need offshore and domestic capital to invest to boost supply. The majority of institutional capital investing in our rental housing markets including build-to-rent and PBSA [Purpose-Built Student Accommodation] are offshore.” Andrew Purdon, Regional Director, CBRE Australia

Banks & Lending

“The resilience of both households and businesses has been aided by the reduction in interest rates and the moderation of inflation. This is reflected in lower levels of customer stress. It should also underpin a recovery in private sector activity and support lending growth.” Anthony Miller, CEO, Westpac Banking Corp.

Bitcoin / Currency

"Bitcoin still stands alone in it being entirely net new, and it has properties that none of these stablecoins have, which make it a better form of currency than the rest of them. It's certainly proven the case over 16 years as a store value. But our intention is to make sure that Bitcoin becomes the native currency of the Internet and that's used as everyday money. And we think it can get there very quickly." Jack Dorsey, CEO, Block Inc.

New Technologies

“I think you've seen this commonly over time with new technology as you first see fragmentation and then you see consolidation.” Alesia Haas, CFO, Coinbase Inc [one of the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange trading platforms]

Childcare Construction

“So, that environment hasn't changed. It continues to escalate. In fact, this idea of development costs coming off. It hasn't been the case to date, still higher construction costs, high development costs across the country.”  Robert de Vos, CEO, Arena REIT Ltd

Music & Digital

So that's the great opportunity on a global basis. It doesn't matter, pretty much every country in the world, maybe less China. But other than that, every country in the world from India onward, that consumer has been let loose with demand now and wants to see the live show, sees it on TikTok, sees it on YouTube. So you name the country from Singapore to Thailand to many other countries we're looking in, in Africa, they all know right now what culture is on the airways and want to be part of it. So it's a great, great opportunity." Michael Rapino, CEO, Live Nation Entertainment Inc

Watches

We're definitely seeing a comeback of the traditional watch. I would say it's really different by region…From what we see, it’s exciting because you see this new generation coming, and the relevance of the smart watch for them is not quite there. The traditional watch becomes an accessory, a way to express themselves. They really don't need to take the smart watch approach in general as I've done over the years or many other consumers have done over the years. So we're excited about the traditional watch coming back.” Franco Fogliato, CEO, Fossil Group Inc.

Wine Export Demand

“I think we're being quite transparent in terms of what we're seeing in the market there. But if you think about retail channels, e-commerce channels, other channels within China are still performing very, very well right?” Tim Ford, CEO, Treasury Wine Estates Ltd

Employment & AI

“If you’re not integrating Al into your daily workflow, you’re putting your role at risk.” Jack Zhang, CEO, Airwallex