INSEAD Day 4 - 728x90

Business

EasyLease H1 profit $12.2m

Revenue rises on stronger operations.

FAB profit edges higher

Income growth supports steady earnings.

UAB H1 profit climbs

Income, lending drive first-half growth

Sanad posts record revenue

Growth driven by global demand for services.

Bank of Sharjah profit up 39%

Bank's total assets grow 10% to $14.4 billion.

Pfizer poised to buy Metsera

The pharma giant improved its offer to $10bn.
  • The Danish firm said Saturday that it "does not intend to make an increased offer to acquire Metsera."
  • The company "will continue to assess opportunities for business development and acquisitions that... further its strategic objectives," it said.

Ozempic maker lowers outlook

The company posted tepid Q3 results.
  • It marked the latest bad news for the pharmaceutical giant, which has recently changed its CEO, announced plans to lay off 9,000 employees and replaced more than half of its board.
  • The group now expects full-year sales in 2025 to grow by eight to 11 percent, versus the eight to 14 percent range it had expected previously, the company said.

US AI firm Palantir announces joint venture in Dubai

Dubai, United Arab Emirates -- US software firm Palantir launched a joint venture with the Dubai government's investment arm on...
  • The joint venture, named Aither, was unveiled a day after Microsoft announced $15.2bn in AI and cloud computing investments in the UAE, which seeks to become a global AI leader.
  • Palantir has a reach that spans the global economy, with banks, hospitals, the US government and the Israeli military among its ever-expanding client roster.

Microsoft unveils $15.2 billion AI, cloud computing investments in UAE

The deal sent US chip-maker Nvidia shares up 2.6 percent, buoyed by hopes the AI juggernaut could see access for...
  • "This is not money raised in the UAE. It's money we're spending in the UAE," Smith wrote in a blog post published during a visit to Abu Dhabi.
  • Smith said the investments had been encouraged by both the US and UAE governments and had involved a partnership with the country's G42 sovereign artificial intelligence company.

Kimberly-Clark to buy Kenvue

The deal is valued at $48.7 billion.
  • Kenvue's Tylenol painkiller has faced Trump administration allegations of links to increased autism risks.
  • Texas-based Kimberly-Clark makes a wide range of paper and cloth products, with brands such as Huggies, Kleenex and Kotex.

OpenAI signs $38 bn infrastructure deal with cloud giant AWS

Under the seven-year agreement, OpenAI, which is partly owned by AWS's archrival Microsoft, will gain access to computing resources including...
  • The deal will also give access to tens of millions of more conventional CPUs that will be used for the everyday deployment of so-called agentic AI.
  • OpenAI will immediately begin utilizing AWS computing, with all capacity targeted to be used before the end of 2026, and the ability to expand further in the coming years.

Death becomes a growing business in ageing, lonely South Korea

Busan, South Korea -- Rows of coffins line a university classroom in the South Korean port city of Busan, ready...
  • Single-person households now account for around 42 percent of all homes in Asia's fourth-largest economy.
  • A new profession has emerged reflecting that statistic: cleaners who are called in to tidy up homes after their occupants, most of whom lived alone, have died.

High price of gold inspires new rush in California

El Dorado Hills, United States -- Matt James has collected gold nuggets for years from the hills and riverbeds of...
  • Though the value has fluctuated, it has effectively doubled in the last two years, reaching an all-time high of more than $4,380 an ounce in October.
  • The Gold Rush transformed California, known as the Golden State, and many towns in the Sierra Nevada are working to keep that moment in history alive.

Deloitte unveils Middle East Center of Excellence for Oracle AI agents

Dubai, UAE - Deloitte Middle East has announced the launch of its Middle East Centre of Excellence for Oracle AI...
  • The center offers a dedicated regional hub to develop and deploy Oracle AI Agents across public and private sectors
  • It combines global expertise with local industry experience to advance agentic AI in the Middle East

AI giants turn to massive debt to finance tech race

New York, United States -- Meta raised $30 billion in debt on Thursday, as tech giants flush with cash turn...
  • Meta raised $30 billion in debt and demand for its bonds was reportedly four times greater than supply.
  • The $30 billion in bonds scheduled to be repaid over the course of decades is intended to provide money to continue a breakneck pace of AI development.

PIF-backed SURJ launches venue venture radia with Live Nation, OVG

Dubai, UAE -- SURJ Sports Investment Co, owned by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF), has launched a joint venture...

Latest News

Saudi Arabia’s residential market weakens in Q1 despite price gains

The slowdown was most pronounced in Riyadh, where transaction volumes and values dropped 82% from a year earlier. Activity also...

Etihad enters largest summer season with more than 300 daily flights

Dubai, UAE -- Etihad Airways is entering its largest summer season on record, operating more than 300 flights a day...

Dubai to award $15bn of Al Maktoum Airport projects by end-2026

Dubai, UAE -- Dubai plans to award strategic contracts worth more than AED55 billion ($15 billion) for the expansion of...
INSEAD Day 4- 300x600
INSEAD Day 4- 300x600

Most Read

China’s LNG ambitions take shape

The 344-meters-long QC-Max vessel, being built by Hudong-Zhonghua Shipbuilding, is designed for a major Qatari LNG expansion project.
  • It will carry substantially more cargo than conventional LNG carriers while reducing losses during transport.
  • Compared with standard 174,000-cubic-metre LNG carriers, the new design offers around 57% more cargo capacity.

Gold heads for weekly loss as Wall Street gains on easing Iran tensions

Dubai, UAE -- Gold prices fell on Friday and were headed for a weekly loss, while major U.S. stock indexes...
  • Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq rose after President Donald Trump withdrew threats of military action against Iran.
  • Palladium gained about 5% this week, outperforming other precious metals despite broader weakness across the sector.

AI success in life sciences depends on people as much as technology: Bain

Organizations creating the most value from AI are not necessarily those deploying the most technology. Instead, they are redesigning workflows,...
  • Organizations achieving the strongest AI outcomes prioritize a handful of enterprise-wide initiatives rather than dispersing resources across numerous experiments.
  • Workforce adoption remains the biggest challenge, prompting successful companies to invest heavily in change management, skills development and leadership engagement.