Media & Advertising More Twitter officials leave after Elon Musk’s $44bn takeover In an expanding exodus of Twitter’s top management, officials including its advertising and marketing chiefs left the company in the past few days, according to statements and a person with direct knowledge of the matter. The departures come after billionaire Elon Musk’s $44 billion takeover of the company last week, followed by his firing of […] November 2, 2022
Media & Advertising Elon Musk says Twitter will revise how it verifies users Twitter will revise its user verification process, Elon Musk said in a tweet on Sunday, just days after he took over one of the world’s most influential social media platforms. “Whole verification process is being revamped right now”, Musk said in his tweet without giving more details. Twitter is considering charging for the coveted blue […] October 31, 2022
Media & Advertising Musk’s Twitter ownership starts with firing of top executives Elon Musk became Twitter Inc’s owner on Thursday, firing top executives and providing little clarity over how he will achieve the lofty ambitions he has outlined for the influential social media platform. “The bird is freed,” he tweeted, referencing Twitter’s bird logo in an apparent nod to his desire to see the company have fewer […] October 28, 2022
Media & Advertising Saudi MBC Group signs deals with Turkish production companies Saudi-owned MBC Group, the Middle East’s largest broadcaster, said on Wednesday it had signed a five-year partnership with two Turkish production houses, signalling an end to an unofficial boycott imposed on Turkey by Saudi Arabia as the two countries work to improve ties. MBC, which in March 2018 scrapped Turkish programmes including soap operas popular […] October 20, 2022
Media & Advertising Rupert Murdoch starts process to reunite Fox and News Corp Rupert Murdoch has started a process that could reunite his media empire, News Corp and Fox Corp disclosed on Friday, saying they would consider combining at his behest, nearly a decade after the companies split. Both have formed special committees to review proposals of a potential combination, they said. If a deal goes through, the […] October 16, 2022
Energy OPEC+ cuts: the media’s verdict Major stock markets in the Gulf rose in early trading on Thursday, joining the rise in oil prices following the announcement late on Wednesday October 5 that the oil alliance OPEC+ had agreed to cut production by about two million barrels per day, the largest reduction since 2020. OPEC+ agrees deep oil production cuts, Biden […] October 6, 2022
Media & Advertising Elon Musk reverses course, ready to buy Twitter for $44bn Billionaire Elon Musk is proposing to proceed with his original $44 billion bid to take Twitter Inc private, security filings showed on Tuesday, calling for an end to a lawsuit by the social media company that could have forced him to pay up, whether he wanted to or not. An agreement would put the world’s […] October 5, 2022
Opinion Media & Advertising Axing BBC Arabic will weaken UK’s soft power in the Gulf Corporation's decision to axe radio output will affect millions who rely on it as a trusted source of world news October 4, 2022
Media & Advertising Apple, Amazon pass on media rights to Saudi-backed LIV Golf Amazon.com Inc. and Apple Inc have both passed on the media rights to the LIV Golf tournament, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. Critics have said that LIV Golf, backed by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, amounts to “sportswashing” by a nation trying to improve its reputation in […] September 16, 2022
Media & Advertising Gulf states demand Netflix pull content deemed offensive Gulf Arab states have demanded that US streaming giant Netflix remove content deemed offensive to “Islamic and societal values” in the region, Saudi Arabia’s media regulator said on Tuesday. It did not specify the content, but mentioned that it included content aimed at children. Saudi state-run Al Ekhbariya TV, in a programme discussing the issue, […] September 7, 2022
Media & Advertising Former Twitter employee is convicted in Saudi spy case A former Twitter Inc manager accused of spying for Saudi Arabia was convicted on Tuesday on six criminal counts, including acting as an agent for the country and trying to disguise a payment from an official tied to Saudi’s royal family. Ahmad Abouammo, a dual US-Lebanese citizen who at Twitter helped oversee relationships with journalists […] August 10, 2022
Manufacturing Kuwait sovereign wealth fund invests in Italian ATM operator Italian fund FSI, the main investors in which include state lender CDP and the sovereign wealth funds of Kuwait and Singapore, has signed a preliminary deal for an investment in payments card and cash machine operator BANCOMAT. FSI and BANCOMAT have agreed the terms under which FSI is set to invest in BANCOMAT “to sustain […] July 27, 2022
Media & Advertising Netflix lost 770,000 users in Europe, Middle East and Africa Netflix Inc on Tuesday averted its own worst-case scenario of subscriber losses, posting a nearly 1 million drop from April through June, and predicted it would return to customer growth during the third quarter. Shares, which have fallen roughly 67 percent this year on concerns about the company’s long-term prospects, rose 8 percent in after-hours […] July 20, 2022
Media & Advertising Twitter tells Musk no deal obligations were breached Twitter Inc fired back at Elon Musk on Monday, accusing the world’s richest person of “knowingly” breaching an agreement to buy the social media firm, days after the Tesla Inc chief sought to back out of the $44 billion deal. In a letter sent to Musk, dated Sunday and filed with regulators on Monday, Twitter […] July 12, 2022
Media & Advertising Twitter says it removes over 1 million spam accounts each day Twitter removes more than 1 million spam accounts each day, executives told reporters in a briefing on Thursday, providing new insight into efforts to reduce harmful automated bots as billionaire Elon Musk has demanded more details from the social media company. The briefing comes after Musk threatened to halt a $44 billion deal to purchase […] July 8, 2022
Media & Advertising Snapchat paid version launches in Saudi Arabia, UAE Snap Inc on Wednesday launched a paid version of the Snapchat app in the US, priced at $3.99 a month, and a few other markets, in a major step away from a revenue model dependent mostly on advertising. Snap, which had teased the subscription version, Snapchat+, earlier this month, said it would be available in […] June 30, 2022
Media & Advertising BBC News controller heads for Saudi’s Al Arabiya News A former senior news editor at the BBC left the corporation to take a position at Saudi Arabia’s state broadcaster. Jamie Angus stepped down from his role as BBC News’s senior controller of output and commissioning in April. He is expected to take a senior role at Al Arabiya News. Sources were uncertain about Angus’s […] June 30, 2022
Media & Advertising How stars can impact a business Prior to basketball legend Michael Jordan’s Nike association, which started in the mid-1980s, rival Adidas was 50 percent larger revenue-wise. With about $100 million in sales from the first year working with Jordan, Nike now stands above competitors in basketball sneaker sales with player endorsements continuing to support the brand’s growth. Jordan remains synonymous with […] June 25, 2022
Manufacturing 25 years of Harry Potter: From rejection to 500m global sales When Bloomsbury Publishing founder Nigel Newton brought home a manuscript for “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone” by a then unknown J.K. Rowling, his daughter Alice described it as “possibly one of the best books an 8/9 year old could read”. Twenty-five years later, it is one of the biggest selling novels of all time […] June 24, 2022
Media & Advertising Samsung fined over ‘water-resistant’ smartphone ad Australia’s competition regulator said on Thursday a court has ordered the local unit of Samsung Electronics to pay a penalty of A$14 million ($9.65 million) over misleading claims about a water-resistance feature in some of its smartphones. Samsung Australia admitted to misleading buyers of some of its ‘Galaxy’ phones about the water-resistance level, the Australian […] June 23, 2022
Media & Advertising Naomi Osaka and LeBron James launch new media company Japanese tennis player Naomi Osaka is launching a new media company in partnership with four-times NBA champion LeBron James aimed at telling stories that cross cultural barriers, the former world number one announced on Tuesday. Hana Kuma, which translates to “flower bear,” will produce stories that are “culturally specific but universal to all audiences” and […] June 22, 2022
Internet Explorer gravestone goes viral in South Korea For Jung Ki-young, a South Korean software engineer, Microsoft Corp’s decision to retire its Internet Explorer web browser marked the end of a quarter-century love-hate relationship with the technology. To commemorate its demise, he spent a month and 430,000 won ($330) designing and ordering a headstone with Explorer’s “e” logo and the English epitaph: “He […] June 17, 2022
