Harley-Davidson electrifies Wall St

This week Harley-Davidson spun off its electric motorcycle division, LiveWire, into its own publicly traded US$1.8 billion company, the first of its kind on Wall Street. These are the five big stories from the week that was.

1. New Hog

Harley-Davidson (HOG) has spun off its electric motorcycle division, LiveWire, into the first publicly traded company of its kind on Wall Street.

Valued at US$1.8 billion, the float marks the biggest expansion of the EV market since companies began toying with trucks.

It also shows EV momentum hasn’t abated as Tesla redeploys staff to deal with “a very high volume” of sales.

2. Who goes there?

Amazon will integrate its Ring surveillance cameras with its home-helper robot, turning the Astro into a mechanical security guard.

The bot will be able to patrol homes and facilities and film and investigate any disturbances and let the owners yell at intruders.

3. New home

Auction house Christie’s is launching ‘Department X’, a new section focused on the boom in collectible sneakers, sports history and streetwear.

Placing US$10 million Michael Jordan jerseys next to Dutch Masters may help legitimise the segment and capture the new generation of collectors.

4. Britain pounded

Financial markets weren’t kind to Britain this week, sinking the sterling after the country unleashed its largest financial package ever.

It dampened confidence with its central bank releasing emergency measures to prop up the world’s sixth largest economy.

5. Optus fallout

The Optus hack that exposed 10 million Australians continues to reverberate, with future data breaches risking multi-million dollar fines.

While the hacker now says they have deleted the information permanently, it’s a stark reminder of the threats companies and consumers face.

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