Telstra will make one of its most important announcements in
years tomorrow morning, when new chief executive Sol Trujillo
unveils what is supposed to be a company-transforming blueprint to
streamline the telecom and position it for growth, reports The SMH. The fate of thousands of Telstra employees is expected
to hang on the announcement, with analysts estimating that up to
9,000 jobs could go. And when Trujillo presents his new strategy by Sydney harbour tomorrow morning, it will signal an effective
relocation of the company’s headquarters from Melbourne to Sydney, reports The Australian. The move will be a psychological
blow to the Telstra traditionalists and a critical step in his plans to
push culture change through the former monopoly and government
bureaucracy.

Rinker chief executive David Clarke has reason to believe that
this market still doesn’t completely understand the nature of the
business he has created in the US since Rinker was spun out of CSR
in March 2003, says Malcolm Maiden in The Smage. The classic mistake our companies make when they enter the US is
to see it as a monolithic market. In practice, it is what it says
it is: a union of states with different demographics, different
roles, different politics and bureaucracies, and different growth
profiles.

The Australian reports that potential buyers of the Myer department store
chain are complaining bitterly about an
extensive confidentiality agreement, with some arguing it gives Coles
Myer an effective veto power over their choice of adviser.

Sluggish consumer spending, erratic business confidence, higher petrol
prices and the fear of interest rate increases will squeeze the $12
billion media sector next year, as marketers rein in their advertising
spending plans, reports The Fin Review. Two and a half years of
strong growth in advertising expenditure came to an abrupt halt in
September and October, when most media companies experienced flat ad
revenue or a sharp drop in the rate of growth in advertisers’ spending.

And British stockbrokers will be offered a stake in the London Stock
Exchange as part of a joint bid being prepared by Macquarie Bank
and its adviser, Goldman Sachs, reports The Age. This broker equity plan is designed to quell mounting concern in
the City about Goldman’s participation – it will take an equity stake worth several hundred million
pounds, which some brokers fear may
give Goldman undue influence over the exchange.