Tag Archives: Middle East
The World is Sinking
It was intended to sink. That is the party line of Nakheel, developer behind Dubai’s manmade island project “The World.” The company issued the defensive statement yesterday in response to a story in Britain’s Daily Mail claiming a satellite image … Continue reading
Filed under Billionaires, Business, Uncategorized, World
Dubai's American Exec Bounced From Sinking Ship
A quick addendum to my earlier post: David Jackson, the bon vivant-in-chief of Dubai’s private equity arm Istithmar World, has been fired resigned. The news comes just one day after regional investment bank EFG-Hermes estimated the emirate’s debt obligations could be … Continue reading
Filed under Uncategorized
What Does Rupert Murdoch Want From Saudi Arabia?
Late last week two of the world’s most colorful, controversial and powerful billionaires met to discuss what could be one of the most interesting media deals of the young decade. Feared, revered and reviled Aussie-American mogul Rupert Murdoch played host … Continue reading
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The Long Shadow of a Little-Known Palestinian Billionaire
Breaking news out of Athens today: Hasib Sabbagh, co-founder of the multi-billion dollar construction firm Consolidated Contractors Company (CCC) has passed away at the age of 90. An uncommon capitalist success story out one of the Middle East’s most troubled … Continue reading
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Yemen Launching Massive Effort [to attract tourists]
Call it a shock-and-awe campaign. Yesterday, in an interview with the Yemen Times, Yemeni Deputy Minister for Tourism Development, Omar Babelgheith stated that in spite of the terrifying headlines his troubled country was inspiring lately, Yemen’s tourism industry (in terms … Continue reading
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2010's Most Awkward PR Moment Happening Now
Thank you Dubai. Just as the holiday-weary populace is returning to work on 2010′s first brutal Monday- chastened by too much reflection on a grim 2009 and freshly-dedicated to thrift, temperance, humility, whatever- we see that somewhere it’s 2006 all … Continue reading
Filed under Uncategorized
Arab Rich List Defies Recession, Logic
Is this what they mean by “green shoots? In the midst of what is easily the most dismal economic environment the Middle East has experienced in recent memory, Dubai magazine Arabian Business unveiled their annual list of the world’s 50 … Continue reading
Filed under Billionaires, Business, Uncategorized
Dubai Saved, Here Comes the Spanking
Well that was exciting. In a suspenseful down-to-the wire countdown, nervous investors and spooked markets got the answer they wanted this morning: Yes, Abu Dhabi would after all bail out their naughty neighbor Dubai to the tune of $10 billion. … Continue reading
Filed under Business, Uncategorized, World
Saudi Billionaire's Libel Legacy
Have you heard? England may be shutting itself to tourists. Not the camera-toting, Big Ben-gawking, bus-riding sort of course, but a different, more controversial subset of regular visitors ignominiously labeled “libel tourists.” Lured by London’s archaic libel law- where the … Continue reading
Filed under Billionaires, Business, World
Did a High-Flying American Take Down Dubai?
The Wall Street Journal finally found its American anti-hero to round out the cast of the unfolding “Goodbye Dubai” drama. Dominating the front page of yesterday’s Money & Investing section was a profile of expat banker David Jackson, one of … Continue reading
Filed under Billionaires, Business, Uncategorized
