Budget 2018-19

  The work is a non-fungible token (NFT) – a new type of virtual asset that has its ownership status and authenticity verified by blockchain LONDON (Reuters) – What do you do with a $69 million artwork that doesn’t physically exist? That’s the question faced by the Singapore-based investor calling himself Metakovan, who made headlines last month when he bought the digital artwork “Everydays: The First 5000 Days” by the American artist Beeple at Christie’s. The work is a non-fungible token (NFT) – a new type of virtual asset that has its ownership status and authenticity verified by blockchain. NFTs have exploded in popularity in 2021, with prices skyrocketing. Metakovan, real name Vignesh Sundaresan, plans to put the artwork on display in four virtual world environments. He is working with architects to design gallery complexes that the public can enter via web browsers or virtual reality technology. But art is just one part of a new economy of blockchain-based virtual worlds where...

  The management change at Virgin, to be effective soon after its sale to Bain Capital is completed next month, will set the stage for a battle with unions SYDNEY (Reuters) – Virgin Australia Holdings Ltd CEO Paul Scurrah will be replaced within weeks by Jayne Hrdlicka, the former head of Qantas’ budget offshoot Jetstar, as new owner Bain looks to draw in more travellers with a “hybrid” strategy. The management change at Virgin, to be effective soon after its sale to Bain Capital is completed next month, will set the stage for a battle with unions, who support Scurrah’s vision for the full-service carrier and are concerned it will be taken downmarket under the U.S. private equity group’s ownership. Scurrah had clashed with Bain over wanting to maintain a more premium offering than desired by the U.S. firm, two people with knowledge of the matter said on condition of anonymity. Administrator Vaughan Strawbridge of Deloitte said he had reaffirmed with Bain that Australia’s No.2 airli...