☕Firmus withdraws ASX listing

Here’s a fun fact for you: today is a public holiday in Japan. It is a day off dedicated to encouraging people to get active.

Sounds good to me!

The quote: “I suggest they get a new leader who can make a deal because he could have made many deals and for some reason he never does.”
U.S. President Donald Trump speaking about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The stat: $500 million. The amount philanthropist Nicola Forrest is donating to her Coaxial Foundation, including $125 million in cash and 25 million Fortescue shares. The gift is one of Australia’s largest individual philanthropic donations, with the foundation’s first grants supporting female entrepreneurs and Indigenous children.

The big question:

Friday’s results: 24% of you say you eat the same lunch most days, 24% say you mostly do, and 52% say you don’t. Thanks for voting - your responses inform TDA's journalism and research. [2,434 votes].

Together with AAP.

TW: child sexual abuse

A NSW woman has been awarded $461,000 in damages against a former school groundskeeper who sexually abused her as a child.

The woman represented herself in the civil case and cross-examined the man who abused her.

A judge found the abuse occurred in the 1980s, when she was aged between four and seven.

Legal experts say it is rare for someone to represent themselves in a historic child sexual abuse case, with one warning that the odds are stacked against self-represented litigants.

Here’s what you need to know.

The woman, anonymised as VLS3, sued Rex Thomas Osborne over sexual abuse she said he inflicted on her between the ages of about four and seven in the 1980s.

Osborne was a groundskeeper at VLS3’s primary school in NSW’s Central West.

The court heard evidence of sexual touching and assault.

VLS3 told the court the abuse had affected her mental health, earning capacity and future relationships.

She also experienced PTSD, depression and a gambling disorder, as well as a substance use disorder in the past.

Although VLS3 represented herself during the proceedings, she had previously worked with a legal team to prepare evidence for the case.

This meant she was required to cross-examine Osborne herself.

Judge Sirtes said this “caused some difficulties”, noting VLS3 was “required to confront the man she has accused of sexually abusing her when she was a child” – an experience the judge said she found “deeply confronting”.

Osborne denied the allegations.

The case initially involved two defendants: Osborne and the State of NSW.

VLS3 settled her claim against the state for $150,000 in October 2025.

Judge Sirtes ruled in VLS3’s favour, finding the sexual abuse inflicted by Osborne was the main cause of her psychiatric injuries and difficulties in her relationships.

Osborne was ordered to pay VLS3 $461,046 in damages.

The amount covers general damages, interest, past and future loss of earning capacity, and associated superannuation losses.

University of Sydney senior lecturer Sonya Willis, an expert in civil procedure, told TDA that self-represented litigants “generally don’t do well”.

On VLS3 having to cross-examine the man she accused of abusing her as a child, Willis said: “It’s a very, very hard thing to do.”

Willis said VLS3’s success was likely due, at least in part, to the work of her former lawyers, including their preparation of a 2,058-page court book of evidence.

Reporting by Emily Donohoe.

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The Australian data centre operator Firmus will no longer list on Australia’s stock exchange later this month.

The company said the late withdrawal was due to “recent market volatility and prevailing market conditions”.

The listing would have been the second biggest in Australian history, behind Telstra’s in 1997.

Here’s what you need to know.

Firmus is an Australian data centre operator founded in 2019 by Oliver Curtis, Tim Rosenfield and Jonathan Levee.

Curtis was sentenced to prison in 2016 for insider trading.

He is the husband of Roxy Jacenko, a former PR businesswoman.

Firmus’ latest round of funding valued the company above $15 billion.

Firmus currently operates data centres in Melbourne and Singapore, with a Tasmanian site in development.

It has more planned in Malaysia, Indonesia and elsewhere in Australia.

The company has received investments from Nvidia and Blackstone, and its clients include Meta and OpenAI.

Talk of Firmus “going public” has been around since at least June 2025.

When a company goes public, it sells shares to investors and lists them on a stock exchange, where anyone can buy and sell them.

This is called an initial public offering (IPO).

Earlier this month, Reuters reported that Firmus had set an IPO date of 23 October.

It aimed to raise $7 billion at a valuation of $44 billion.

This would have been the second biggest IPO in Australia, after Telstra’s in 1997.

On 9 October, Firmus announced that it would not IPO due to “recent market volatility and prevailing market conditions”.

Firmus initially set a target share price of $11.

According to the Australian Financial Review, not enough investors were willing to buy at that price, and the target fell as low as $8.25.

Firmus said this new price “would not appropriately reflect the strength of the company’s business and long-term growth outlook”, which led it to withdraw its application.

It will instead raise money from “private markets and consider alternative public and private market options.”

Potential investors had previously shared concerns about Firmus’ revenue goals being unreachable and potentially large amounts of debt, amid broader fears of an AI bubble (where financial valuations and investment amounts into a sector no longer align with the actual revenue and growth potential in that space).

Reporting by Adam Wan.

The festival that kick-started the careers of Rebel Wilson, Nash Edgerton and Sam Worthington could do the same for yours.

Tropfest started in 1993 as a screening for mates at a Darlinghurst cafe, and has grown into the world's largest short film festival. Now it's back for 2027: shoot a brand-new short film, seven minutes or less, that includes this year's Tropfest Signature Item, a necklace. The 16 finalists premiere at the Domain this summer.

Entries open Tuesday 1 December. If you’re keen to enter, start working on your breakout film now.

The WNBA is North America’s top professional women’s basketball league. The Las Vegas Aces star has now won a record five MVP awards.

After receiving the award, she said: “I cried harder on this one, because 15-year-old A’ja wasn’t sitting up here dreaming about being a five-time MVP…she was dreaming about surviving this world.”

Reporting by George Finlayson.

A German football club has banned vlogging at its games (specifically any vlogging that the creator is making money from).

Hertha Berlin says fans should be able to enjoy the atmosphere without cameras filming content for profit.

In a statement, it clarified that ordinary fan videos are still allowed, explaining “what matters is the distinction between private fan content and commercial content production”.

Reporting by Pavitra Ravi.