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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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CommentaryCompanies

MELBOURNE, VICTORIA - January 29, 2025: Chemist Warehouse - From this low rise pub in an industrial strip in Preston a new top 20 ASX company is born. The historic meeting of the founders and shareholders of Chemist Warehouse will tonight vote on a merger with pharma Sigma creating a retail giant worth $30bn. That's twice the size of Qantas and bigger than global names like Brambles and James Hardie. We are aiming to get co-founders founders Mario Verrocchi and Jack Gance who will be at the meeting. Jack Gance middlePicture: The Australian / Nadir Kinani

How Chemist Warehouse passed the pub test

The founders of the retail juggernaut have got bigger by sticking close to their market. Now Chemist Warehouse faces the ultimate test.

Eric Johnston

CommentaryCompanies

Star Casino Queen's Wharf Thursday September 5, 2024. Picture, John Gass

ASIC prepares to bet it all on casino legal fight

The regulator’s blockbuster action against the casino’s former directors is about to start. And the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Eric Johnston

Bank dealFinancial Services

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA - NewsWire Photos December 11, 2020: Commonwealth Bank Signage at a branch in the Sydney CBD. Picture: NCA NewsWire / James Gourley

CBA’s China sale delivers $1bn windfall

After two decades, the banking major calls time on one part of its ambitious Chinese expansion.

Eric Johnston

CommentaryLeadership

TOPSHOT - US President Donald Trump throws pens to the crowd after signing executive orders during the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena, in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)

The day Donald Trump took an Aussie billionaire to Tokyo

Australian retail supremo Solomon Lew had a first-hand view of how the now two-time US President tackled business deals and it offers plenty of lessons for leaders.

Eric Johnston

CommentaryCompanies

Myer executive chair Olivia Wirth and Premier Investments chair Solomon Lew. Picture: Supplied.

Myer can be a $5bn retail power: Inside Lew’s merger vision

The $800m merger represents an all or nothing bet on the longer term future of Myer. And the retail billionaire Solomon Lew has big ambitions.

Eric Johnston

CommentaryCompanies

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 21: U.S. President Donald Trump, accompanied by (R-L) , OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, and Oracle CTO Larry Ellison speaks as he leaves a news conference in the Roosevelt Room of the White House on January 21, 2025 in Washington, DC. Trump announced an investment in artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure and took questions on a range of topics including his presidential pardons of Jan. 6 defendants, the war in Ukraine, cryptocurrencies and other topics. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

Trump launches AI into a new space race

The new Trump administration’s massive spending plan will certainly flow through to a handful of Australian companies already enabling artificial intelligence.

Eric Johnston

CommentaryCompanies

NETWORK SPECIAL. MUST TALK WITH NETWORK PIC DESK BEFORE PUBLISHING. Woodside Energy CEO Meg O'Neill portraits at Woodside Perth HQ. Picture Marie Nirme

Woodside at front line of Trump’s energy emergency

After a billion dollar bet, the Australian producer will deliver the first financial test of the new president’s pledge to ‘drill baby, drill’.

Eric Johnston

CommentaryEconomics

US President Donald Trump speaks during the inaugural parade inside Capital One Arena, in Washington, DC, on January 20, 2025. (Photo by Jim WATSON / AFP)

Trump offers the best chance for business to reset

There’s plenty of volatility to come, but by playing under Donald Trump’s new world order, business is poised to thrive.

Eric Johnston

CommentaryCompanies

NAB has rails run in HSBC’s great Aussie bank sale

With everyone else too big or distracted, HSBC is NAB’s for the taking if the global giant decides to walk away from the local retail banking market.

Eric Johnston

CommentaryCompanies

A sign stands outside The Star casino and event centre in Sydney on September 2, 2024. Troubled resort and casino operator Star Entertainment was temporarily delisted from the Australian Securities Exchange on September 2 after failing to post its annual financial results. (Photo by DAVID GRAY / AFP)

NSW can’t hide from the mess of Star

Even if Star gets through its current issues, NSW is playing with fire over the casino’s longer-term future.

Eric Johnston

Original URL: https://www.theaustralian.com.au/author/eric-johnston/page/17