Analysis Stars and strife: rebuilding UAE-US relations The passing of UAE President Sheikh Khalifa has prompted an outpouring of condolences and support from around the globe, with heads of state being hurriedly dispatched to Abu Dhabi. Particularly notable among these was the high-profile delegation sent by the US; headed by Vice-President Kamala Harris, it included nearly all of the administration’s top national […] May 19, 2022
People & Lifestyle A history of music streaming Napster and BitTorrent initially changed the way people thought about music in 1999 before being taken down for unauthorised use of copyright material. iPod launched in 2001 and by the mid-2000s, Pandora and Spotify had both launched. Make some noise for Anghami’s Elie Habib The music industry shunned the new platforms at the start, with […] May 18, 2022
Science & Technology Mobility tech firm Optibus valued at $1.3bn after raising $100m US-Israeli mobility technology company Optibus has raised $100 million in a private funding round that values the company at $1.3 billion. The funding came from new and existing investors including Insight Partners, Bessemer Venture Partners, Verizon Ventures, Pitango First & Pitango Growth, Tencent, SOMV Momentum, and others, said Optibus, which has raised $260 million to […] May 16, 2022
Sheikh Khalifa Remembered Messages of sympathy pour in from around the globe Leaders from the Gulf, the wider Middle East and around the world have offered their heartfelt condolences after the death of Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the President of the United Arab Emirates and ruler of Abu Dhabi. Here are some of the messages of sympathy The UN offices in the UAE said: “In this […] May 13, 2022
A modernising leader who moved UAE closer to US Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, who died today, was a pro-Western moderniser whose low-key approach helped steer the United Arab Emirates through a tense era in regional politics by aligning the Gulf oil producer with Washington and its allies, including Israel. Khalifa, who was born in 1948, had been ruler of the richest emirate, Abu […] May 13, 2022
Energy Aramco takes bite out of Apple as world’s most valuable company Saudi Aramco overtook US tech giant Apple as the world’s most valuable company yesterday, fuelled by a rise in oil prices The same global economic drivers that are buoying the energy company’s profits are adding to an inflation surge, dampening demand for technology stocks. Aramco traded near its highest level on record, with a market capitalisation […] May 12, 2022
Finance & Banking CD&R hires Amr Nosseir, CVC’s top Mideast dealmaker Private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice (CD&R) has hired CVC Capital Partners’ top dealmaker for the Middle East as it seeks to bolster its presence and expand relationships with investors in the region. CD&R said yesterday it had appointed Amr Nosseir as senior advisor to the firm. Nosseir previously served as managing director, chairman […] May 12, 2022
Finance & Banking Mubadala posts record $33bn income in 2021 Abu Dhabi state investor Mubadala posted a record income of 122 billion dirhams ($33 billion) in 2021, citing strong investment returns, the monetisation of some assets and new partnerships. “2021 was Mubadala’s strongest financial year in its 20-year history,” Group CEO Khaldoon Khalifa al-Mubarak said in a statement. The 2021 result for so-called total comprehensive […] May 12, 2022
Media Musk incurs regulators’ wrath with late Twitter stake disclosure US regulators are investigating Elon Musk’s delayed disclosure of his stake in Twitter Inc last month, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday, citing people familiar with the matter. Musk disclosed a 9.2 percent stake in Twitter to the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) on April 4, a delay of at least 10 days since […] May 12, 2022
Business of Sport Abu Dhabi nets its first NBA games The Atlanta Hawks and 2021 NBA champions the Milwaukee Bucks will play preseason games at Etihad Arena on Yas Island in October May 10, 2022
Opinion Technology Will Dubai win the Web3 race? The co-founder of Tahseen Consulting, one of the MENA’s top tech policy firms, rates Dubai’s chances of becoming a hub for the decentralised web and crypto exchange May 10, 2022
Travel & Hospitality Leasing giant AerCap says Boeing will ‘bounce back’ The head of the world’s largest aircraft leasing company threw his weight behind Boeing on Monday, saying the jetmaker would overcome a spate of industrial and certification problems. “I think Boeing will bounce back. There are a few scenes in this movie to be played out yet,” Aengus Kelly, AerCap’s chief executive, told the Airline […] May 9, 2022
Opinion Development The US must come to Lebanon’s aid The upcoming elections on May 15 present an opportunity for real change but this can only materialise with outside help May 9, 2022
People & Lifestyle Netflix drops Meghan Markle’s animated series Streaming platform Netflix Inc said on Sunday it had decided to stop work on Meghan Markle’s family series “Pearl” as it reviewed animated content. Dropping several projects, including Markle’s, was part of strategic decisions on production of animated series, the company said in a statement, without providing further details on its decision. Archewell Productions, the […] May 6, 2022
Banking & Finance Buffett says inflation an issue for Berkshire, it ‘swindles almost everybody’ Warren Buffett said on Saturday that inflation “swindles almost everybody” and that it was “extraordinary” how much inflation had been seen in Berkshire Hathaway Inc’s own businesses. Inflation has surged in the United States, hitting a new 40-year annualized high of 6.6% in March, and U.S. Federal Reserve policymakers appear set to deliver a series […] May 6, 2022
Science & Technology Cisco unveils technology to predict network issues Cisco Systems Inc on Wednesday unveiled a technology that it says can predict issues on enterprise networks before they happen to help prevent problems and increase reliability. The predictive software engine will gather data from various sources within a company’s network, learn the patterns and help engineers find hardware issues, bandwidth spikes and app configuration […] May 4, 2022
Travel & Hospitality Airlines forecast higher fares after energy price spike Airlines will pass on rising oil prices to passengers through higher fares relatively quickly, but the spike in energy costs will worsen the industry’s overall outlook in 2022, according to the head of the International Air Transport Association. Speaking after JetBlue launched a counter-bid for US budget carrier Spirit Airlines, director general Willie Walsh also […] May 4, 2022
Science & Technology Microsoft partners with Epic Games to bring ‘Fortnite’ to Xbox Cloud Gaming Microsoft Corp is partnering with Epic Games to make “Fortnite” available with Xbox Cloud Gaming, Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella said in a tweet on Thursday. The software behemoth has been looking to bolster its firepower in the booming videogaming market and earlier this year unveiled a $68.7 billion takeover of “Call of Duty” maker […] May 3, 2022
Analysis Energy Saudi Arabia leads OPEC move to drop energy watchdog’s data A decision driven by Saudi Arabia that OPEC+ should stop using oil data from the West’s energy watchdog reflected concern about US influence on the figures, said sources, adding to strain on ties between Riyadh and Washington. The Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries and allies including Russia, a group referred to as OPEC+, has […] May 3, 2022
Science & Technology Facebook-owner opens access to AI large language model Facebook-owner Meta Platforms Inc is opening up access to a large language model for artificial intelligence research, the social media company said on Tuesday. Meta said its model was the first 175-billion-parameter language model to be made available to the broader AI research community. “Large language models” are natural language processing systems which are trained […] May 3, 2022
Saudis ‘let down’ by US over Houthi security threats, says royal Saudi Arabia feels “let down” by the United States in tackling security threats to the kingdom and wider region by Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi movement, a senior member of the Saudi royal family and former intelligence chief said. Traditionally strong ties between Riyadh and Washington have been shaken under U.S. President Joe Biden by the 2018 […] May 3, 2022
Manufacturing $3bn IPO of Coca-Cola’s African bottler delayed Coca-Cola’s estimated $3 billion initial public offering (IPO) for its African bottling unit will likely take place in the third quarter after market turmoil linked to the war in Ukraine upset plans to list earlier, three sources have said. The flotation of Coca-Cola Beverages Africa (CCBA) would be the biggest on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange […] May 3, 2022
