Steeling themselves

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1:19Hello, welcome to Wake Up To Money. So Mexico are in store for the winners of England and Del Congo. Yesterday's show we heard about the spending habits of some England fans getting to the game. Today we're going to take the opportunity we don't often have the opportunity do we to have a look at the DR Congo economy and we'll be chatting to a fan of DR Congo as well. The defence spending plans are in. Questions though about where the money will come from for it meanwhile. Restrictions on how much steel we can import kick in today. We're told it should help British steel makers but we're going to hear what an importer has to say about that and is the UK about to stick its oar into paramount blockbuster$110 billion takeover of Warner Brothers.

2:05The culture secretary says she's minded to intervene. Wake Up To Money with Sean Farrington. Good morning. Welcome to Wake Up To Money. It's Wednesday morning, the 1st of July. Here we are in July, just after five o 'clock, not far off, ten past five now. Thank you for being with us this morning. We hope you are minded to intervene in Wake Up To Money today. 85058, the number as ever. Get in touch with all we are discussing. We've got lots to talk about. Employment rights changing today as well. Lots going on around the world of unfair dismissal. And remember, we've spoken so much in recent years about the changes that have been on the way for employees and what employers need to do about that.

2:52So we've got a bit of that coming in as well. and plenty to talk about. Donald Trump, crypto profits making headlines this morning. Trump made more than a billion dollars from cryptocurrencies in his first year back in office. We'll check in, see how Sainsbury's have been getting on as well. We cover the lot on Wake Up To Money. As you well know, you get in touch about the lot on Wake Up To Money. So we want your thoughts about this and everything else as we're going to be putting all of it to Harriet Hastings as well. Founder of Biscuteers with us this morning. Harriet, very good morning to you.

3:26Morning. Whenever there's a big event, we always seem to speak to you. I mean, there's probably big events all year round. Does the World Cup come into play for Biscuteers at all with your gifting that we talk about, people? You having corporate tie-ups in that realm? No, absolutely. We are in the middle of our busy summer season, which is very much around corporate hospitality gifting. So World Cup, but also Wimbledon, F1, the golf and the cricket. We're doing quite a lot of events with businesses who are having hosting parties, for instance. Oh, interesting. So what would it look like? What do you have to think about if there's a World Cup hosting party?

4:09Actually, ideal day, maybe is it going to be the only time we get an England game at five o 'clock in the evening, in the middle of the week? It's a perfect opportunity for a bit of corporate hosting this evening. So what would that mean for Biscuteers? Well, we have collections of biscuits for all of these events. So tennis biscuits, football biscuits. And obviously it enhances your event to have some wonderful kind of theme biscuits that people can share. Of course it does. A photograph and yeah, exactly. So do you have to have sort of designs? Are you plotting designs for all of these different events months ahead?

4:47have you had to be thinking about you know we need we need england boxes we need scotland boxes we're not sure how far each are going to go but we'll we'll sort of gamble on that a little bit it sort of divides into we we have kind of collections that that we're running that we sell online but the we do a lot of bespoke work as well so if you know if we were doing something and they wanted stuff with the scott scottish team or whatever we would do that but otherwise it's more it has to be more generic so tennis themes you know and how much yeah and how much of you know the business is sort of sport related and and reliant not reliant but you know it works alongside major sporting events every year because so many of those you mentioned are annual events is does it become quite a key part of the business i think it's a very key part of the business through the summer the summer of sport and the big kind of uh kind of british occasions are really important to us um so probably a bit less so you know in the kind of uh seasonal gifting at the end of the year but i mean the key with gifting is to have different focuses you know throughout the whole year at the moment for us it's it's sport and end of term gifting what for the for the parent for the teachers really important right right well yes is a good reminder in those last couple of weeks if you haven't already thought about what um you're getting for your parents at your school We've got to get on to that.

6:09There's so many to think about these days. 85058, join in the chat with Harriet this morning. Harriet, I've got lots to ask you about with employment rights and the like as well. Will Walker-Arna also with us, Director of Private Client at Raymond James. Will, you going to be in the office sweating away at five o 'clock this evening? Morning, Sean. Yeah, well, it's a bit of a debate because I've got young children who are finally showing an interest in football and this is probably the first game at five o 'clock which they could potentially watch. So I don't think I'll get home for that, but I might get home for the second half of them, which would be nice.

6:41Very good. Yeah, we're thinking, do we ditch swimming lessons on a Wednesday evening? You spend all these years drumming it into your kids that, you know, come rain or shine, you've got to get to these classes. You know, it's what it's all about, keeping the consistency, learning these life skills. And then an England game comes along. Actually, maybe that's the one reason for excuse. I'd like people's thoughts on whether that is OK or not, please. Right, let's get on to employment rights, Harriet, because there's been steadily various sort of deadlines and key dates when a lot of the stuff that this government has been wanting to get through has been kicking in.

7:19We've seen over recent years as well, a lot of the stuff the government wanted to get through initially hasn't actually made it to the start line for changes in employment rights. But what's happening today is employees starting a new job from today in England, Scotland and Wales will qualify for unfair dismissal rights after six months instead of two years. So this is all part of the changes brought in as part of the Employment Rights Act. What do you reckon to this one? Does it change? Have you had to make some prep yourself, Harriet, as a boss to plan for this eventuality? Well, it has an impact on kind of probationary periods, I think.

7:58I mean, we've worked to a kind of standard six months, but my understanding is that if you factor in the notice period, actually, it's going to have to shorten to more like five to kind of protect employers. So that's one thing that we're looking at is whether we make that change. I mean, my concern around this is that it's just going to make employers more cautious. And I think that could be to the detriment of employees, you know, where you would have taken a risk, because actually, five months is not a lot of time, in effect. So, you know, to find out whether someone's going to be a good fit within your organisation.

8:32Have you found out over the years, have you had to sort of use that ability to dismiss somebody within a certain period of time because you just don't think they're a good fit for Biscuteers? I mean, look, no one wants to get to an unfair dismissal. I don't think we have actually claim. It's the risk to employers really as much as anything. I mean, you know, that's not how we want to run our business. No, I'm not necessarily saying the unfair bit. I am just saying, you know, when you talk about the flexibility and, you know, if somebody doesn't fit, five months isn't a long amount of time to be able to do that.

9:11But is that the kind of thing businesses do ordinarily? Are you making sort of relatively regular decisions about the fit of people who join your business? Well, I think, I mean, obviously you want to get it right first time because employing people and everything is an expensive and time-consuming business. So that's the main aim is to really work on that up front. But the reality is, yes, of course, that's what a probation period is for. What I think is difficult about this is that I don't think, I think it kind of rushes the employer to a decision because of all of the additional rights that now come in so quickly.

9:50Will, have you heard much about this? with all the businesses that you speak with, has it changed habits at all of companies who may have been recruiting and now finding that anybody who starts from today will have these unfair dismissal rights effectively kicking in on the 1st of January next year, so people starting to work will have that period of time. Have employers been changing what they're doing in the run-up to this date? Yeah, certainly. And I'm sure lots of listeners won't have that much sympathy for C-suite leaders who are earning lots of money. But they are definitely a trend in the city amongst finance firms and technology sectors that they're looking at their senior leaders and thinking this is we've got a finite window now where we could actually remove any perceived dead wood.

10:40And before a very large compensation claim could come through because they're removing the cap. So you're definitely seeing that trend where there is reviews of senior leaders within executive teams. And they're using this opportunity to, I suppose, improve and refine their leadership. But I guess, of course, you're able to qualify for fair dismissal rights after two years anyway. So these would have been senior leaders appointed relatively recently in the grand scheme of things. Yes, yes. But you're definitely seeing, I mean, lawyers are always banging the drum for a bit of business. and you're definitely seeing them going around and encouraging people to make use of this window.

11:18The other thing which is worth talking about, Sean, is actually in the SME world, small and medium-sized companies, when companies are looking to take over potential targets, they're now having to do a lot more due diligence on how the employment rights bill might affect and maybe that might cause some tribunals in the future when they take over a company. So it might be putting a little bit of friction in the gears of M &A, which is not really great for the UK economy. 85058, your thoughts if these employment rights as an employer, as an employee are crossing your mind at all. Big thanks to Katie Nottingham who's been in touch saying hi, Sean.

11:54Absolutely fine to skip kids activities tonight and for other special events. They don't come along often. And as important as the consistency and always turning up to a lesson is it's a rare big occasion to enjoy as a family. We've said no to Aikido tonight. And instead, it's picky tea. in front of the TV. Yeah, right, great. I'm going to embrace that, Katie. Thank you very much. Does it count if Wolves are playing sort of crew Alexandra on a Tuesday night, Katie? I wonder where does that rank in the special events list? But England in the World Cup, knockout stages. We'll take that. We'll be talking more about that before the show is up.

12:25We'll be talking a lot about that over the course of Five Live. Today, as ever, you don't need to switch it off overnight during the day. Just keep it on. You'll just be absorbing the very best World Cup content and analysis and commentary and the build-up, whatever you want, on Five Live. I reckon a top ten story of the last year or so for us has been what's been going on with the streaming giants, the media giants, Paramount and Warner Brothers Discovery. So Paramount, got loads of businesses worldwide, of course, owns Channel 5 here in the UK, but major movie arm, major live TV arms in the United States.

13:05It's won that battle, didn't it, with Netflix to get that takeover of Warner Brothers Discovery in that$110 billion deal. Warner Brothers owns CNN as well. So that is where perhaps it comes under the consideration a little bit more than some of those other streaming companies because of the news arms that those Paramount and Warner Brothers have in the UK. And the Culture Secretary has said she's minded to intervene in this blockbuster global deal. So this is Lisa Nandy saying she's concerned about the deal's impact on the plurality of views in news media in the UK. Warner Brothers got CNN, Paramount got Channel 5.

13:47They have, of course, between them, got TNT Sports, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, Paramount Plus, HBO Max streaming services as well. So all of those things coming under one roof as well. But the news media in the UK, is it under question? Tom Smith is a former legal director at the Competition and Markets Authority, now a competition lawyer at Gerardine Partners. Tom, good morning. Morning, Sean. Were you surprised Lisa Nandy has these concerns? Yeah, a little bit. I think it was quite a surprise to the market that she issued her kind of minded to decision that she's going to intervene. So what's it really about?

14:26Well, so she says she wants to look at news and children's channels and a diversity of kind of viewpoints there and then also streaming and broadcasting. So it's quite wide-ranging what she might look at. So when we say children's channels, is that Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon? Are we talking about those kind of channels and maybe what Channel 5 brings as well to the UK? Yeah, exactly. Paramount owns Nickelodeon and Warner owns Cartoon Network. Yeah, so it's looking at things like that. And is anybody really thinking, has anybody ever thought before about those two channels and the services they provide?

15:06They need to be separate to continue children's TV, you know, at the standards we want it to be in the UK? Yeah, I mean, you have to look at YouTube in there, which a lot of children watch. So she'll refer the thing to Ofcom, the media regulator, and they'll have to report on all this stuff. She'll set the deadline for that. So it's a big complication for the deal because they want to finish the deal certainly by the end of September. Otherwise, Paramount has to spend this ticking fee, give an extra ticking fee to the selling shareholders of Warners, and that will be$650 million per quarter. So they'll be very keen to get it done as soon as they can.

15:46So do you see some of the sense of Lisa Nandy's approach here? As much as it might be a surprise to you, do you see why she's doing it? Yes, yes. And she's only deciding to look at it, of course. She hasn't decided to kind of block it or anything like that. So she could be looking for some commitments from the merging parties to keep editorial independence or something like that. But is it fair to say, even just expressing that she's minded to intervene and not just maybe having these conversations with the businesses directly sort of makes the UK stand out a little bit compared to how the rest of the world has approached this deal?

16:27Yeah, it's a big global deal, isn't it? So the DOJ, the Department of Justice in the States, has cleared it, but then the state attorney generals are now threatening to sue to block the merger, so it's a bit of a complicated view in the States. In the EU, in Brussels, they have to make a decision soon and there are reports that they're going to impose commitments there as well about film distribution, joint venture that the parties have with Universal. So it's not just the UK, although this is quite unique. The story in terms of some of the headlines it's generated with Lisa Nandy's interest, are we a little bit more sensitive to UK involvement in big deals after what happened with, was it Microsoft and Activision Blizzard?

17:10That was a blockbuster global deal in the world of tech and gaming. And the regulators here in the UK raised big questions about that. And, you know, there were big concerns from the likes of Microsoft. No surprise that, you know, the UK wasn't open to deals being done that would advance the world of innovation in a certain area. Is this a similar type of thing? Yeah, there's a big tension, isn't there, between these global deals, between these powerful companies and national regulators that can only look at stuff on their turf. And yeah, you're right, the CMA intervened in the Microsoft Activision $70 billion deal a couple of years ago and got into political hot water.

17:54Obviously, a company like Microsoft doesn't like regulators trying to block its deals. So the CMA has been a little bit more cautious since that case. But it does have the legal remit to look after consumers in the UK. Well, yeah, Harriet, I wonder your thoughts on this. Harriet Hastings, founder of Biscuteers. When you see what the deal is being done and actually a lot of what we discussed because it's such a blockbuster global deal worth hundreds of billions of dollars has been about changing the world of streaming and content making. but now we sort of get to the small print. When you see that our culture secretary saying, hang on a minute, we might need to have a look at the impact on the news environment here in the UK, on kids' TV here.

18:43Is it right that our culture secretary is doing something like that on a deal like this? I mean, I don't know to what degree she can influence it but I do understand the concern. I mean, I think that the concentration of news into ever fewer players is obviously kind of worrying. So, yes, I think on balance, I do think that she should be expressing a view on it. Will Walker, sorry, Harriet, Will Walker on from Raymond James, speaking to those in the city and investors as you do, Will, all sort of fair path for the course? Because it seems to have come as a surprise to some. Yeah, I suppose the surprise is that the deal is passed through in the United States as far as I'm concerned.

19:32So there's no concerns there. And also the deal is currently being reviewed by the EU and they've got until July 22nd to decide whether to refer the transaction. But there's always a concern that we're in the UK compared to the US. The culture here is, I suppose, less conducive to deals getting done and that can impair economic growth. So there is a concern there. Tom, have you seen a change in approach, not just from the regulator, but from the government and those in charge of the nation about their view of big deals like this, where a certain part of it impacts the UK? Yeah, I mean, the government wants economic growth and doesn't want to be seen as not business friendly.

20:18But then again, of course, if you want a growing economy, you also want open markets with plenty of competitors. So if you let markets move to oligopoly or monopoly where there aren't enough competitors, then you wouldn't expect economic growth there either. So there is a bit of a balance. This one going to get done in the end, do you think, Tom? Well, I suspect so, but one way or another, yes. Tom, thank you. Tom Smith, a former legal director at the Competition and Markets Authorities. And now how this stuff works. He's now a competition lawyer at Gerardine Partners. Will, let's talk about Donald Trump and his cryptocurrency profits.

20:58Is it fair to say they're his profits? So when we see that Donald Trump has made more than a billion dollars just in the last year from dealings in cryptocurrency. So he's got a load of royalties from a Trump meme coin that then plunged in value since he launched it days before taking office. Can we almost just first explain what has gone on there for him to make that much money? Yeah, I mean, his family has basically, I won't get into too much detail here, but his family set up their own crypto company called World Liberty Financial. And as you quite rightly point out, they took advantage of minting new coins just after his inauguration, really.

21:40And at the same time, Trump, you'll remember, was rolling back sort of Biden era restrictions on the whole sector. encouraging people to invest in the crypto world. And he even ended lawsuits against some of the biggest companies in the sector. I mean, Coinbase comes to mind as well. So there's always, as you can imagine, it's a fine balance from Trump in terms of encouraging business, but also moving into a world of conflicts of interest where he could be seen as supporting his own family's interests by unleashing a huge wave of investment in the crypto arena. A conflict of interest is one thing.

22:19Big debate to be had about that. Another, Will, is the way this money has been made. So this Trump meme coin. So if we can, between us, trying to explain a little bit what's tried to happen here. So in the world of cryptocurrencies, we've got the likes of Bitcoin, the most famous one, probably the most traded one. And even though the price of that moves around quite a lot, it's been around quite a long time and people are familiar with it. And, you know, in theory, you at the moment, and it has been the case that you're sort of able to buy and sell it whenever you might want to. You might lose a lot of money on it, but there's enough people involved in it around the world.

22:57So others have created their own coins, haven't they, along the way, just sort of saying, hey, you know, we're going to create our own coin and you can buy some of it. Is that effectively what this Trump business did, created a Trump coin that then loads of people around the world piled into? And I was just looking here, you know, at one point it was trading around 70 odd dollars for a Trump coin and now worth just over a dollar. Does that mean a lot of people have lost a lot of money while Donald Trump's and his family's business have been making a lot of money? Yeah, I mean, I'll be careful of my wording here.

23:37But you do get in financial sector something called pumping and dumping, where effectively this used to happen in the city in the old days before regulation came in, particularly in sort of small cap stocks where people would buy a company, a lot of promotion, buy some of the stock, get the price moving, and then really encourage other people to get a bit of FOMO, fear of missing out. And then once you think that the price has peaked, then you get out and bank your profits. Now, I'm not saying that this is going on here with the Trump administration, but there's definitely something for regulators to have a look at because pumping and dumping is something which obviously ends up hurting the people who were lost into making those acquisitions.

24:19Yeah, and I should say that the statement from the White House says neither the president nor his family has ever engaged or will ever engage in conflicts of interest. The White House repeatedly emphasised that Trump has placed his business in a trust managed by his sons, denying any conflict of interest there. Harriet, this world of cryptocurrencies and how people are making money from it, when you see a sort of story like this about Donald Trump just even making that much money while being president, does that jump out to you as a surprise? I'm not sure about a surprise, but I'm not sure really what I can say about it.

25:01I mean, the idea of creating your own currency when you become president strikes me is just extraordinary. But I, you know, it is what it is, isn't it? Yes. And there's been other earnings from Donald Trump throughout that time as well. So 77 million dollars made from his Mar-a-Lago club, 122 million dollars from a golf club in Florida, elsewhere, and more from other golf clubs around the world, including in Scotland as well. A small amount of royalties relatively, just a few million dollars from Trump branded watches. There's a long list. It's quite a fascinating article. I go onto the BBC News website.

25:35Our correspondent, Kelly Hayes, has written about that on the BBC website there. 85058, your thoughts, please do let us know. We're going to be getting into the world of defence, making a lot of headlines this morning. We've got that defence investment plan. We can see what it is now. Do we know where all the money's coming from for it and what other cuts are needed elsewhere to be able to pay for some of this stuff. What's going to be on the intray of the next Prime Minister, who looks set to be Andy Burnham, but we will see, about where they need to find the money for the promises made by the current Prime Minister.

26:15So we'll talk more about that as well. The ultimate cookout starts with the ultimate ingredients. At Whole Foods Market, no antibiotics ever, burgers and kebabs are prepped and ready to throw on the grill. Fire up a juicy ribeye. Grab creamy potato salad and savory flatbreads from the prepared foods department and round it all out with 365 brand condiments, chips and dips at everyday low prices. Whole Foods Market, make your summer sizzle. Wake up to money with Sean Farrington. Good morning to you. Wake up to money on BBC 5 Live. Thank you for all of your messages. We've had a long one in about the new rules of unfair dismissal, which mean you only need to be working somewhere for six months to be eligible to claim for unfair dismissal compared to two years before today.

27:14So if you started work today in six months' time, if you felt that was a scenario that you wanted to pursue, you'd be able to do that, whereas previously it needed that time period to be two years. And for this message we've had in, I say, I have to sum it up a little bit for you, but somebody saying that regarding unfair dismissal, the recruitment of staff is so much more difficult for businesses, given the lack of validity of exam results these days. Harriet, I just wanted, excuse me, to put that one to you. Harriet Hastings, who's the boss of Biscuteers, founder of Biscuteers, who's with us this morning.