October gave us plenty to talk about. Let us organise the chaos.
October gave us plenty to talk about. In this newsletter we’ll organise the chaos.
Here’s a little preview: an Australian company that stole the show (not in the way it hoped), a London job offer that raises a few questions, the US, cryptocurrency… and yes, AI. Apparently, nobody can talk about financial markets without mentioning those two letters.
Ready? Here we go!
🇦🇺 Australia
You’ve probably heard someone talking about this story. And if you haven’t, that’s what Money by Jane is here for.
Firmus, the Australian AI data-centre developer, wanted to go public through an IPO.
Quick reminder: an IPO (Initial Public Offering) is when a company offers its shares to the public for the first time and lists on a stock exchange, such as the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX). It lets the company raise money to grow and lets investors buy a piece of the business.
Sounds like a good plan, right?
Well… not quite.
Firmus was targeting a valuation of around A$44 billion. But when it came time to find investors, demand wasn’t strong enough, and the company withdrew its planned IPO. So, what went wrong? A few things made investors think twice:
The price was ambitious: investors weren’t convinced the company was worth what it was asking.
Future revenue was doing the heavy lifting: Firmus had huge growth plans, but much of the infrastructure needed to deliver them was still being built.
Questions about the process: ASIC, Australia’s corporate regulator, is looking into how the banks involved described investor demand, and how potential conflicts of interest were managed.
To be clear, ASIC has not announced a formal investigation at the time of writing.
Here’s why this matters beyond Firmus: investors are becoming more selective about AI infrastructure. Being in AI doesn’t automatically mean a company deserves any price tag.
Meanwhile, the ASX had a much better month overall, with financials and utilities among October's stronger-performing sectors.
🇬🇧 London
Let’s make a quick stop in London.
City A.M. reported that Anthropic was offering £145,000 for a human personal assistant in its London office.
Yes, you read that correctly.
The company behind Claude, one of the world’s leading AI assistants, wants a human to organise meetings, manage communications and keep everything running smoothly.
The irony? AI companies are building technology that could automate many admin tasks, yet they’re still happy to pay very well for people who do them.
Maybe the lesson is that human judgement, organisation and relationships still have real value.
🇺🇸 The United States
Now across the Atlantic.
Not exactly the American dream this month. More like an American reality check. October was rough for US tech stocks. The Nasdaq had its worst monthly performance since March 2025, falling around 5.3%.
The question troubling investors?
Will all those billions being poured into AI actually generate enough profit?
Imagine a restaurant that's fully booked every night but still losing money because its owner keeps opening new locations before the existing ones become profitable. Every café owner just nodded.
That's the concern surrounding AI.
Now imagine the companies building those restaurants. They’re investing billions in land, buildings and equipment, expecting the restaurant business to keep growing and paying rent.
Companies developing AI models need enormous computing power, which means billions spent on chips, data centres and cloud infrastructure. The companies providing that infrastructure are investing billions too.
And investors are starting to ask harder questions. What if AI companies don’t earn enough to justify all that spending? The whole chain depends on demand continuing to grow. It’s quite circular.
Firmus gave us a local example. Its failed IPO showed how hard it is to raise money for infrastructure when investors start questioning future returns. And it’s not just Australia.
Remember the company behind Claude, which we just mentioned in London? Anthropic has now filed its IPO registration documents in the US, with a listing expected in November.
And the numbers are impressive.
During the first six months of 2026, Anthropic generated US$16.3 billion in revenue, compared with US$1.2 billion during the same period last year. That's roughly 14 times more revenue in just one year.
But there's another side to the story.
Anthropic reported an operating loss of US$693 million for the first half of 2026. Its reported net loss was US$80.7 billion, but don't let that number fool you: most of this enormous figure came from non-cash accounting adjustments linked to the valuation of financial instruments.
So, the business is growing incredibly quickly, but its operating costs and infrastructure commitments remain substantial. How much are investors willing to pay for that future growth?
The market is already showing how sensitive it has become.
On 29 October, Alphabet (Google’s parent company) lost about US$480 billion in market value in a single trading day. That’s a bad day at the office. Even the Monday after a long weekend is easier.
That’s almost half a trillion dollars gone in one day, and its worst day on record after its earnings and concerns about AI spending and future returns.
A rather expensive reminder that even the biggest names in tech aren’t immune to investor expectations.
₿ Cryptocurrency
Finally, let’s finish with cryptocurrency.
First, a quick reminder: cryptocurrencies are digital assets that can be transferred and traded online. Unlike traditional money, Bitcoin and many others aren’t issued by a central bank or government. You can buy and sell them through platforms called cryptocurrency exchanges.
One of the biggest is Binance. And on 29 October, Binance made headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Hackers stole about US$6.3 billion worth of cryptocurrency from its wallets.
Yes, billion. With a B.
According to blockchain analysts, most of it moved in roughly 20 minutes. That’s less time than it takes most of us to choose what to watch on Netflix.
Around US$3 billion of the stolen assets were frozen by Binance and its partners. Thankfully, Binance says it will cover customers’ losses with its own funds.
So, what’s the lesson here?
Holding money in a regulated bank account is very different from holding cryptocurrency on an exchange. Exchanges are not banks, and crypto isn’t covered by the same government-backed protection as eligible bank deposits.
In Australia, eligible deposits with authorised deposit-taking institutions are protected from failure by the Financial Claims Scheme, up to A$250,000 per account holder, per institution. With crypto, protection depends on the asset, the platform, the country and the circumstances.
In Binance’s case, customers are relying on the company’s ability and willingness to replace what was stolen. That’s a very different kind of protection.
The Takeaway
If there’s one thing to remember from October, it’s that the financial world is more connected than ever.
AI spending is reshaping the tech sector, and it also affects infrastructure companies, banks and global markets. Meanwhile, crypto reminds us that innovation comes with risk.
October wasn’t a market simply going up or down. It was a market reacting to every headline, and the sums moving on each one were huge.
So don’t invest just because something is popular. Don’t assume a company is valuable simply because it sits in a fashionable industry. And always understand what risks you’re taking.
Because whether it’s AI, shares or crypto, one rule never changes:
Potential returns are exciting. Understanding the risks is essential.
Information provided by Money by Jane is general in nature and does not take into consideration your personal financial situation. It is for educational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice nor financial product advice in any way. Remember, the value of any investment can go down as well as up. Before acting, you should consider seeking independent personal financial advice that is tailored to your needs from an appropriately licensed or authorised financial adviser. 