tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-277043282011-12-14T07:50:57.886-08:00The Finance and Technology Blog. News and Analysis.Ammar Haykalnoreply@blogger.comBlogger71100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27704328.post-1149586413367443742006-06-06T02:28:00.000-07:002006-06-06T02:33:33.376-07:00

Citigroup announced on Monday that it received authorization to start operating in the Dubai International Financial Center. According to Reuters, this is part of the bank’s “plans to develop a full-service investment banking business in the region, which will include equities and a dedicated equity research team”. Citigroup now operates in nine Arab countries including Egypt, UAE, Lebanon,

Ammar Haykalnoreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27704328.post-1148582346058293202006-05-25T11:38:00.000-07:002006-05-25T11:39:06.066-07:00

It is becoming more tempting to watch, as each of the search giants move forward in the war to capture more market share in web search and its profitable ad-selling. I am certainly not willing to turn my market watch and my daily news doze into the sole purpose of search engines. However, in the last few days each of the competitors tried something new to get more customers. While Google

Ammar Haykalnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27704328.post-1148140188100528572006-05-20T08:43:00.000-07:002006-05-20T08:49:48.110-07:00

Forbes published an article about the heating competition in the search engine industry. The article said that Microsoft and Yahoo are working hard to grab some share in the search market, and more importantly take a share in the strong online ad-selling market. Both companies are working on the development of their ad-selling systems to become a major rival to Google’s Adsense. During the past

Ammar Haykalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27704328.post-1147728624052493582006-05-15T14:25:00.000-07:002006-05-15T14:30:24.060-07:00

Today I ran across a very interesting article from BusinessWeek that talks about the growing business of Islamic banking. The article is old (August 2005), I guess the figures increased, but the fact that the article states is still the same; Islamic banking is a door to knock for financial institutions! According to the article, there are around 265 Islamic banks that manage assets of over $262

Ammar Haykalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27704328.post-1147201643403923542006-05-09T22:04:00.000-07:002006-05-09T12:07:23.410-07:00

The first torrent search site, BitTorrent, made a deal with Warner Borthers to distribute over 200 of their movies and TV shows through their file-sharing program. According to the BusinessWeek, prices are not settled yet, but TV shows are expected to cost about $1 to download. This way, Warner will turn all the illegal users of BitTorrent into legal customers of their movies and TV shows.The

Ammar Haykalnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27704328.post-1147125134032859952006-05-08T14:50:00.000-07:002006-05-08T14:54:02.726-07:00

The "Black Sunday" (as the the UAE based Al-Bayan called it) ended with local companies listed on DFM (Dubai Financial Market) losing $2.6 billion of its value. Individual investors as well as portfolio managers and investment houses were selling their stocks before it was too late. The Dubai Stock Exchange index dropped by 5.06% to close at 490.14 points, its lowest close since February 2005.

Ammar Haykalnoreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-27704328.post-1147083449199950702006-05-08T03:13:00.000-07:002006-05-16T14:51:14.336-07:00

Investment legend Warren Buffet announced an increase of 70% in net earnings for the first quarter of 2006, in the public Berkshire Hathaway he controls. The $2.31 billion net earnings resulted from exchange rates as well as from the company’s other investments. Buffet’s lack of confidence in the dollar and the forward contracts the company made resulted in a $151 million net. Berkshire Hathaway

Ammar Haykalnoreply@blogger.com0