Category: Semafor

Two Chinese tech firms with major African businesses are turning to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in fresh capital, in the latest test of whether global investors see the continent as a source of scalable growth. Shenzhen-based Transsion — whose Tecno, Infinix, and ...

Growing demand for solar power in Africa’s largest economies is driving governments to strengthen local manufacturing of components for panels. But China’s dominance of the supply chain means those ambitions could take years to materialize, energy analysts told the Associated Press. Solar use has surged in South Africa and Nigeria ...

A White House meeting slated for Wednesday with cryptocurrency and prediction market players is expected to feature remarks from President Donald Trump as well as CFTC Chair Mike Selig, people familiar with the plans told Semafor. Attendees, according to those people, will include executives from cryptocurrency firms Coinbase, a16z, Ripple, ...

The Scene Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl joins Mixed Signals — with Semafor business editor Liz Hoffman filling in for Ben — to explain what a record label actually does in a world where anyone can upload a song to Spotify. Max and Liz ask Robert why Warner struck ...

The “region cannot remain in a state of neither war nor peace indefinitely,” Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, warned this week. But this limbo looks likely to persist. US President Donald Trump is taking a “low-key” approach to squeezing Iran economically, while his energy ...

The Scoop Phillips 66 and Marathon Petroleum held merger talks earlier this year in a deal that would have created a $180 billion oil-and-gas giant, according to people familiar with the matter. The talks ultimately fizzled out and are unlikely to be resurrected anytime soon, the people said. Spokespeople for ...

OpenAI’s annualized revenue is set to top $40 billion, Bloomberg reported, one of the quickest growth stories in history, though rivals are fast gaining ground. The figures bolster the ChatGPT maker’s plans for a blockbuster market debut as early as this year. However, cost-conscious customers are increasingly turning to Chinese ...

The Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo spread to a sixth province as the overall death toll surpassed 2,100 and cases topped 4,500. Experts say the virus may have been transmitted undetected for months, while health workers have struggled to contain the outbreak with poor medical supplies and ...

The US heightened its trade pressure on allies and lashed out at China, raising tensions ahead of a summit of the superpowers’ leaders next month. Washington said Beijing was running a “Great Transshipment Scam,” accusing some of its closest partners of enabling China’s efforts to ferry goods via third countries ...

Washington signaled it will ramp up economic and military pressure on Tehran, dashing hopes of any imminent respite to the conflict. The US Treasury secretary said he would soon unveil restrictions “that have never been seen,” while the country’s defense chief insisted a naval blockade could be maintained “indefinitely.” Yet ...