The Mike Hosking Breakfast

Russian President Vladimir Putin is rejecting an initial ceasefire deal with Ukraine, and instead proposing direct talks to start in Istanbul this week.  The leaders of Britain, France, Germany and Poland visited Ukraine over the weekend, setting tomorrow as a deadline for Russian to accept a 30 day ceasefire or face additional sanctions. The Trump Administration said it will impose additional sanctions on Russia if they don't comply.  US Correspondent Richard Arnold talks to Mike Hosking about the deal, the new royal jet for Washington and the latest on China-US trade talks.  LISTEN ABOVE.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The Prime Minister says the Government is making work on restrictions to social media for New Zealanders under the age of 16 part of its official programme. It will sit with Education Minister Erica Stanford, whose portfolio will be expanded to allow her to commission advice and direct officials from a range of departments on reducing social media harm for those under 16. As it’s a Member’s Bill, it needs to be drawn from Parliament’s ballot before proceeding.  Education Minister Erica Stanford talks to Mike Hosking about the bill.  LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Developments are being made in the US and China trade talks.  A top Trump economic adviser says about two dozen trade deals are in the works with the country.  Talks took place in Switzerland over the weekend.  Greg Smith of Devon Funds Management talks to Mike Hosking about the negotiations, British Airways buying billions of dollars worth of planes and why BP's in the crosshairs of a takeover suiter.  LISTEN ABOVE. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

At the end of each week, Mike Hosking takes you through the big-ticket items and lets you know what he makes of it all.    Anthony Albanese: 8/10  Better than anyone, and I suspect even he, expected.    Nigel Farage: 8/10  Better than anyone, and I suspect even he, expected.    Donald Trump: 6/10  Between the redecorating tips, the movie move, the GDP going backwards, Mark Carney, whatever the Middle East announcement is, the deals he wants to do, the deals he doesn’t want to do, his withdrawal of another nomination, defunding of public broadcasting, his outrage over the Emmy nod for the interview he's suing over, plane loads of illegal's to Syria, Lord knows how many court cases - and that’s just this week! Have you ever seen a more omnipresent international player?    Erica Stanford's email: 2/10  The biggest time-wasting nonsense of the week.    Adrian Orr's farewell: 4/10  The saddest thing you ever heard. $6,000 for water, juice and biscuits.    LISTEN ABOVE FOR MIKE HOSKING'S FULL WEEK IN REVIEW See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Two entrepreneurs are bringing Kiwi ingenuity to the world stage.  Dan Wallace and Anthony Clyde, co-founders of Velduro, have won gold at the 33rd Annual China International Bicycle Fair.  Their ‘super light carbon’ e-bike beat out 600 other bikes for the prize.  Wallace told Mike Hosking they entered the bike in February in the hope they would get some recognition and to put New Zealand on a bit of a stage.  He says they found out the day they arrived that they’d won an award – and he got to stand up on stage surrounded by some pretty big leaders in the industry.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In the NZR press release yesterday, Chairman David Kirk and CEO Mark Robinson did their best to infer that life financially for the sport is sensational.  Despite the fact it isn't.  They lost money, almost $20 million. And they lost money the year before that as well.  Kirk ran the line that it was not a cash loss and that they had $170-ish million in reserves.  They also spruiked the fact that they were pulling in record revenue.  Now, I am a conservative when it comes to money. The fact they pulled in record revenue and still lost money is your real news, because if you can't make dough when you're raking it in, your model is broken.  Mark Robinson admitted as much by saying "there was further work needed to achieve a sustainable financial model".  This is no different to your household budget.  You had a pay rise, brought some good coin into the house, but you are still not getting ahead. Then you reassure yourself that although you got a pay rise, but spent it all and then some, don't worry – we still have the savings account.  The trouble for people like Kirk and Robinson is everyone is an expert. We all run rugby and, in a way, that is a good thing. We are not short of interested parties.  But what you can't argue with is the market rugby plays in. The global sports market is booming. The money out there for elite sport is eye-watering and NZR's revenue uptick indicates they might be seeing a bit of that.  But the simple truth is if you can't bank the buck in the golden years, you will be killed in the lean ones.  The experts who text me will tell you Robinson is a fool, women's rugby is a drain, and the provincial unions are run by people called Bruce who still drink handles of beer every Friday night with their shirt fronts hanging out.  But what all of that florid verbiage from the well-intentioned doesn’t address is the really big important question.  If you can't make money from your national game, either no sport can make money (which we know not to be true), or something is wrong with the way the national game is run.  If you're still in the red when it's raining money and your press releases have a desperation about them, someone needs to be held to account. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast for Friday 9th of May, we got the white smoke, and the cardinals have elected Robert Prevost to become the next Pope. He's the first American Pope and will take on the name Leo XIV.  NZ Rugby have had their third full year financial loss in a row, despite record revenue. CEO Mark Robinson is on to explain whether the model, or something else, needs to change.  Kate Hawkesby and Tim Wilson play a fun new game that Mike invented and discuss the new radio station that launched today as they Wrap the Week.  Get the Mike Hosking Breakfast Full Show Podcast every weekday morning on iHeartRadio, or wherever you get your podcasts.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Kate Hawkesby and Tim Wilson are back with Mike Hosking to Wrap the Week that was.  New Zealand finally has a radio station that caters to Mike’s taste in music, with iHeartCountry NZ launching this morning.   Plus, Kate and Tim played a game of Mike’s invention for the chance to win a cash prize.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Zealand Rugby has posted a $19.5 million loss for 2024.  Since NZR brought US fund manager Silver Lake on as an equity partner in June 2022, the national body has posted total accumulated losses of around $76 million over three years.  NZR is trumpeting record income of $285 million dollars against the loss.  CEO Mark Robinson told Mike Hosking that much of the deficit is as a result of investment, and putting all those aside, the deficit is just under $6 million over the last four years.   He says that they’re making choices to fund investment and growth for the future, and you can see some green shoots coming through.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

New Zealand banks are being asked to pay up in the next few months.  Kiwibank, BNZ, Westpac, ANZ and ASB will need to repay around $9.2 billion in cheap Covid-era loans to the Reserve Bank.  Infometrics Principal Economist Brad Olsen told Mike Hosking that they have variety of options they can use to repay the money.  He says the banks knew when taking out these loans they’d have to pay them back eventually.  Olsen told Hosking that if they’re not ready to pay them back, they probably don’t qualify to be called bankers at this point.   LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.