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Eric Johnston is an associate editor of The Australian. He has more than 25 years experience as a finance journalist, including a former business editor of The Australian. He has been business editor of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age and financial services editor with The Australian Financial Review. His work has also appeared in The Wall Street Journal.

@ejohnno

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TakeoversBusiness

Time’s up for Nine over its woeful Domain grip

US giant CoStar has timed its Domain takeover pitch to perfection as Nine’s great media experiment is starting to crumble just five years after its merger with Fairfax.

Eric Johnston

MarketsCompanies

20/2/25: BlackRock CEO Larry Fink is the most influential name on Wall Street. He heads up the asset manager BlackRock which has more than $US10 trillion under management that counts an influential stake in most large companies, including in Australia. He is in Sydney meeting BlackRock clients, including the Future Fund and AustralianSuper.

Unlock the capital: Decoding Larry Fink’s next big theme

Financially-stretched governments around the world need to find a better way to drive more private investment in much needed infrastructure. The BlackRock boss says markets can play a role.

Eric Johnston

UpdatedEconomics

The pendulum ‘swung too far left’: BlackRock’s Larry Fink

The most powerful investor on Wall Street tells The Australian that corporate culture is ‘undergoing a reset’ away from its progressive outlook. Larry Fink is moving with the times.

Eric Johnston

CommentaryCompanies

16/2/22: Greg Goodman, Head of Goodman Group ahead of the release of the company's results. John Feder/The Australian.

Why Goodman’s AI pivot has a big message for investors

The veteran property investor is replaying the strategy that turned a small commercial property trust into a $70bn industrial powerhouse.

Eric Johnston

AnalysisCompanies

Premier Peter Malinauskas stands on Hummock Hill Lookout in Whyalla, overlooking Whyalla Steelworks . 17th February 2025 Picture: Brett Hartwig

Whyalla’s forced collapse won’t solve the huge financial mess

Sanjeev Gupta’s opaque empire is built on smoke and debt, but the unprecedented intervention of South Australia will ultimately cause bigger losses for taxpayers.

Eric Johnston

AnalysisEconomics

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos FEBRUARY 18 , 2025: Reserve Bank of Australia Governor Michele Bullock heads out to front the media after announcing the first interest rate cut in 4 years and statement on Monetary Policy Picture: NewsWire / John Appleyard

One and done? RBA cools hopes over fast rate relief

In delivering a long overdue rate cut, the central bank has a sobering message when it comes to more.

Eric Johnston

CommentaryCompanies

BHP Olympic Dam mine location photos. Kelly McPhee, Superintendent Production Labs walks past copper sheets. 6th February 2025 Picture: Brett Hartwig

The $50bn strategic bet that’s set to change BHP forever

The BHP of the future will be less reliant on Australia and even less about iron ore as CEO Mike Henry reshapes the miner. Is it the right strategy?

Eric Johnston

CommentaryCompanies

Hot roll coils are formed in the Hot Strip Mill during the manufacturing of steel at BlueScope Steel Ltd.'s Port Kembla Steelworks, in Port Kembla, outside Sydney, Australia, on Thursday, Sept. 17, 2009. BlueScope Steel Ltd. is Australia's largest steelmaker. Photographer: Jeremy Piper/Bloomberg

Fighting fit: BlueScope CEO’s battle plan to cut $200m in costs

Exposed to a trade war on one side and cheap steel dumping by China on the other, the boss of BlueScope goes for attack as the best form of defence.

Eric Johnston

AnalysisEconomics

Keep up: How CEOs are navigating the Trump frenzy

Some of Donald Trump’s biggest calls are sending financial as well as strategic shockwaves through business. And they’re all unfolding in real time.

Eric Johnston

CommentaryCompanies

16/02/2023. Origin Energy Managing Director Frank Calabria, as the company releases profit results, photographed at their offices in Barangaroo in Sydney. Britta Campion / The Australian

Bigger the better: Batteries giving Origin life after coal

With a brutal bidding war now a distant memory, Origin Energy boss Frank Calabria is opting for an unconventional path in the race to build out clean energy.

Eric Johnston

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/eric-johnston/page/15