Bloomberg Southeast Asia’s booming internet economy is set to double to $363 billion by 2025, eclipsing the previous forecast of $300 billion, research from Google, Temasek Holdings Pte and Bain & Co. shows. E-commerce, travel, media, transport and food are driving the region’s digital growth, with online spending rising 49% in 2021 to $174 billion, the companies said in their ...

Bloomberg Spotify Technology SA agreed to acquire Findaway, an audiobook company that gives the Swedish streaming giant additional products to market alongside music and podcasts. Findaway is a distributor for many audiobook services, publishers and authors, and will continue to serve them after the deal closes, the companies said. The purchase marks Spotify’s most significant investment in audiobooks, and is ...

Bloomberg Nissan Motor Co raised its annual operating profit outlook, a promising sign the automaker is still on track to climb out of the red this year despite parts shortages that have hammered production. The Japanese carmaker raised its forecast to an operating profit of $1.6 billion for the fiscal year through March, from 150 billion yen announced in July. ...

Bloomberg Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc will remove thousands of ad-targeting categories that helped marketers reach users of a particular race, ethnicity and religion — categories the social network says “may be perceived as sensitive.” Meta’s Facebook and Instagram don’t ask users to share their race or religion, and don’t allow marketers to target consumers based on those topics. But ...

ABU DHABI / WAM His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, has said that the capital, Abu Dhabi – being awarded the ‘Bike City’ label – is a new global recognition added to the UAE’s sporting achievements in various fields. While expressing his happiness with ...

ABU DHABI / WAM Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) reported consolidated pro-forma financial results for the period ended September 30, announcing group revenues of AED34.3 billion, 11% higher than the prior-year period, primarily due to higher commodity prices within the oil and gas segment. Taqa also announced that earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (Ebitda) reached AED14.4 billion, ...

DUBAI / WAM The Emirates Group on Wednesday announced its half-year results for its 2021/2022 financial year. Group revenue was AED24.7 billion ($6.7 billion) for the first six months of this year, up 81% from AED13.7 billion ($3.7 billion) during the same period last year. This strong revenue recovery was underpinned by the easing of travel restrictions worldwide and the ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) and Bahrain Bourse (BHB) signed on Wednesday a strategic cooperation agreement that aims to achieve synergies and greater cross border cooperation to enhance market liquidity and to promote the issuance of low-cost investment vehicles. The parties agreed on a strategic plan to implement new measures over the next nine months to ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM The Emirates Development Bank (EDB), on Wednesday announced the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with National Bank of Fujairah (NBF) to offer credit guarantee and co-lending for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the UAE. The MoU with NBF is part of EDB’s commitment to boost the SME ecosystem in the UAE and increase ...

Abu Dhabi / WAM As part of its endeavours to strengthen and activate means of economic and investment cooperation with various countries of the world, the UAE, represented by the Ministry of Finance, signed an agreement to promote and protect mutual investments with Jersey. The agreement, which was signed at the ministry’s headquarters in Dubai, aims to encourage foreign investment, ...