Welcome to Wednesday. I feel like having Monday off means I’m going to be a day behind myself all week, but if that means the weekend comes sooner that’s not all bad…right?
Anyway, here’s what’s brewing in your Daily Shot:
Labour capital gains tax to fund free GP visits
Amazon cutting 14,000 staff amid AI spending spree
Event: Next Fest 2025
Tauranga startup launches Tinder for Dogs
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Nick and the CAFFEINE team
Labour going there again, confirms capital gains tax policy: It’s the policy that just won’t die, but supporters will say that’s because it’s sorely needed. After losing multiple elections with a CGT pledge previously, Chris Hipkins has confirmed Labour is going again. They’ve dropped plans for a wealth tax, and added the kicker that revenue raised from a 28% tax on investment properties (i.e. not the family home or farm) would be used to fund three free doctor visits a year for every New Zealander.
It’s worth noting that, while Labour hasn’t had much success with the policy in the past, it is reasonably popular. In an RNZ poll last month, more than 42% of respondents said they supported it. But then, nearly 36% said they didn’t.
I looked up when the next election is and it’s not until December 2026. You suspect there’s going to be plenty of chatter about this between now and then so I think we can leave it there for today.
Amazon to cut 14,000 jobs, spends up large on AI: This story was swirling around a bit yesterday, with early reports of up to 30,000 job cuts later watered down…for now. Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has previously foreshadowed how generative AI would reduce their workforce in the coming years, and this appears to be just the beginning. At the time, Jassy said Amazon was building more than 1,000 generative AI services, but that was a “small fraction” of what it planned on building.
The cuts will reportedly affect staff in human resources, advertising and management roles, and will reduce Amazon’s ~350,000 strong workforce by around 4%. The announcement comes in the wake of Amazon confirming tens of billions of spending on data centre, cloud computing and AI infrastructure projects.
I know there’s plenty of nuance to the whole ‘AI is coming for our jobs’ thing, but try telling those 14,000 people they haven’t just been replaced by technology.
Event - Next Fest 2025: Innovation x Sustainability x Scale. The Sustainable Business Network has gathered a serious lineup of heavy hitters for this year’s Next Fest, which is centred around how to make change happen.
There are global perspectives from respected environmental journalist, author and columnist George Monbiot, and a session with one of the world’s leading circular economy authorities, Professor Ken Webster, on turning thinking into reality.
Other names/organisations on the programme include: Daisy Lab, Halter, Lodestone Energy, Mindful Money, NZTE…the list goes on.
It’s happening in Auckland from 18-21 November. Early bird tickets are available up until this Friday - find out more and sign up here.
Tauranga startup builds “Tinder for dogs”: Let this be a lesson for the next few weeks at least - if you send a press release with an x-factor title offering news like “Tinder for Dogs”, I will run it. Congratulations to Tauranga startup Socialdog for building a digital platform to connect dog owners for playdates.
It’s more than a cutesy idea too - the founders are dog trainer Misha Gildenberger and veterinarian Dr. Brett Kirkland, both of whom have seen years of fallout from poor social skills in dogs. Socialdog matches dogs based on things like age, temperament and things they like to do, and also offers online clinics, educational videos and other tools to build the confidence of both dogs and owners. Cool idea.
That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Want to get in touch with a news tip, bit of feedback or just to chat? Email hello@caffeinedaily.co
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