Category: Semafor

The News Uber ended operations in Nigeria and Uganda this week, extending a year-long retreat from Africa. But its exit from the continent’s most populous country has prompted fresh scrutiny of the conditions facing global companies as Nigeria undertakes an economic revamp. The California-based firm introduced its pioneering ride hailing ...

Saudi Arabia’s $8.1 billion beauty market is forecast to grow 8.7% annually through 2030, almost double the global average. It’s already the Gulf’s largest, accounting for more than half of regional sales, according to Euromonitor data cited by Business of Fashion. The boom is being driven by Saudi women’s rising ...

For anyone wondering whether Wall Street would still fly to Riyadh in wartime, Saudi Arabia’s flagship investment conference has published its RSVPs. Ray Dalio, Jamie Dimon, Larry Fink, and Stephen Schwarzman lead the speaker list for October’s Future Investment Initiative, released nearly two months out, earlier than the conference typically ...

For most of a century, oil in Saudi Arabia was like water or weather: everywhere and nobody’s subject. The kingdom’s painters gave their canvases to palm trees and dates, dhows and calligraphy, while crude merely paid for the paint. As the kingdom plans for life after oil, crude has become ...

The Scene Fielding a question from Chinese state media on Sunday, a senior government official from Saudi Arabia touted a “great wave” of scientific innovation emerging from China, and pledged the two countries would further deepen their ties, Xinhua reported. The press conference in Riyadh kicked off LEAP, a major ...

YouTube removed videos linked to a network of AI-supercharged “ghost creators” after Semafor exposed a new online business seeking to capitalize on the platform’s advertising by churning out cheap, sensationalized political videos. “We have strict policies against spam and deceptive practices,” the company told Semafor in a statement. “After a ...

Markets rallied and global bond yields dipped Thursday after a US Federal Reserve governor advocated holding interest rates steady if inflation continues to cool. “Give disinflation a chance,” Christopher Waller said, citing “slow but continued progress” toward the Fed’s goal of 2% inflation. The market odds of a September hike ...

The Signal Insight Alexander Berger arrived at the philanthropy now known as Coefficient Giving more than a decade ago to research global public health. He was a bit skeptical of its focus on more novel issues like the risks posed by artificial intelligence. But when a swarm of AI agents ...

Russia’s Vladimir Putin suggested Thursday that a settlement to end the war was possible, while Ukraine predicted a “new dynamic” in peace efforts, marking a notable shift in rhetoric that could open a window for diplomatic progress. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he expected US envoys to hold talks in ...

China plans to spend at least $1 trillion in the next five years to become a “sports powerhouse,” officials announced Thursday, as Beijing bets that more outdoor sporting events can stimulate sluggish domestic consumption. Along with widespread renovation of sporting facilities, the push aims to root out the corruption and ...