The timing was, frankly, impressive. Just days after the ex-CEO of Apple died at the beginning of October, The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs opened at New York's Public Theater. A one-man show, unafraid to praise both the impact Jobs's desirable gadgets have had on the way we communicate and to ask serious questions about the conditions in which they were manufactured, its run was swiftly extended a further month, until December 4. Meanwhile, the rush-release biography of Steve Jobs by Walter Issacson is No 1 in English-speaking book charts across the world.
The sanctification of Steve Jobs by those who constantly prod at their iPhones or tap away at their MacBooks continues apace. Can anyone imagine, it was asked in the days after his death, makeshift shrines set up in honour of any other chief executive? Would any other company executive inspire a playwright?
Another play in Los Angeles would certainly seem to suggest that, in the second decade of the 21st century, chief executives are becoming the new celebrities, their life stories ripe for interpretation. On Sunday, Windows completed its one-week run at the Odyssey Theatre. It's another one-man show delving into the psyche of a multimillionaire businessman and inventor – but this time with tongue firmly in cheek. The German theatre and film actor Clemens Schick (who starred in the recent Bond movie Casino Royale) casts Bill Gates as a pioneer, but also the "Napoleon of the internet community", in a show that mixes stand-up, performance and theatre.
And if that sounds like the kind of small-scale, experimental nonsense whose natural home is probably a cavern somewhere at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, well ... it probably is. But there is the sense that we're becoming increasingly intrigued by the men in suits (or in Jobs's case, famous roll-neck jumpers) who run the companies that shape our world.
The success of The Social Network last year proved that we were indeed fascinated by the story of a nerd who wrote some computer code to flirt with girls at his college. He called his website Facebook, and the rest is history. But is the story of Mark Zuckerberg and his untold riches actually that interesting? It helped that the screenplay was brilliantly written by The West Wing's Aaron Sorkin. David Fincher turned the story of a successful start-up company into a film that explores what happens when a college kid unable to interact socially creates the ultimate tool for social interaction. But Facebook's 800 million active users identify so heavily with the brand, it's arguable that Sorkin could have written any old rubbish and people would still have flocked to see the story of a young man who had, apparently, "changed" their lives.
What's next, a Google movie? Well, possibly, yes. Although the trail has gone cold on the film of the Google founders and billionaires Sergey Brin and Larry Page, Ken Auletta's book, Googled: The End of the World as We Know It, was optioned last year. At the heart of the movie, it was promised, would be the idea of how a company could make money "without doing evil". Although a blockbuster where Google took control of the world by nefarious means, only to find its bid for hegemony thwarted by Will Smith, Independence Day-style, would surely be more entertaining.
Definitely in production, though, is The Murdochs, a take on the famous media family by the Oscar-nominated writer Jesse Armstrong. Famously on last year's Hollywood "Black List" of screenplays yet to be given the green light (although it wasn't that surprising 20th Century Fox passed over a story in which Rupert Murdoch is trying to alter the inheritance), the British television station Channel 4 has now stepped in after the phone-hacking revelations of this summer.
The Murdoch story does have an inherent, almost Shakespearean drama, a tale of crass wrongdoing which ended in the closure of the biggest Sunday newspaper in the world. The interest in Gates, Jobs and Zuckerberg, though, is emblematic of something more serious. These people have made our lives easier, but hailing them as the cornerstones of our culture hints at how obsessed we've become with materialism. After all, Apple's last trading figures announced profits of $7.31bn (Dh26.8bn); it might make a nice shiny phone, but in the end it is just another big, profitable company. Is that really the stuff of great drama ... or just an easy and all too familiar story about money and power?
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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The specs
Engine: Direct injection 4-cylinder 1.4-litre
Power: 150hp
Torque: 250Nm
Price: From Dh139,000
On sale: Now
FULL%20RESULTS
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In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
Brief scores:
QPR 0
Watford 1
Capoue 45' 1
The specs
Engine: 3.0-litre six-cylinder turbo
Power: 398hp from 5,250rpm
Torque: 580Nm at 1,900-4,800rpm
Transmission: Eight-speed auto
Fuel economy, combined: 6.5L/100km
On sale: December
Price: From Dh330,000 (estimate)
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4-cylinder turbo
Power: 240hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 390Nm at 3,000rpm
Transmission: eight-speed auto
Price: from Dh122,745
On sale: now
If you go
The flights
There are various ways of getting to the southern Serengeti in Tanzania from the UAE. The exact route and airstrip depends on your overall trip itinerary and which camp you’re staying at.
Flydubai flies direct from Dubai to Kilimanjaro International Airport from Dh1,350 return, including taxes; this can be followed by a short flight from Kilimanjaro to the Serengeti with Coastal Aviation from about US$700 (Dh2,500) return, including taxes. Kenya Airways, Emirates and Etihad offer flights via Nairobi or Dar es Salaam.
A MINECRAFT MOVIE
Director: Jared Hess
Starring: Jack Black, Jennifer Coolidge, Jason Momoa
Rating: 3/5
The National's picks
4.35pm: Tilal Al Khalediah
5.10pm: Continous
5.45pm: Raging Torrent
6.20pm: West Acre
7pm: Flood Zone
7.40pm: Straight No Chaser
8.15pm: Romantic Warrior
8.50pm: Calandogan
9.30pm: Forever Young
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Racecard
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Other key dates
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Finals draw: December 2
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Finals (including semi-finals and third-placed game): June 5–9, 2019
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Euro 2020 play-off draw: November 22, 2019
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Euro 2020 play-offs: March 26–31, 2020
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
NO OTHER LAND
Director: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham, Rachel Szor, Hamdan Ballal
Stars: Basel Adra, Yuval Abraham
Rating: 3.5/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The%C2%A0specs%20
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The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
About Takalam
Date started: early 2020
Founders: Khawla Hammad and Inas Abu Shashieh
Based: Abu Dhabi
Sector: HealthTech and wellness
Number of staff: 4
Funding to date: Bootstrapped
THREE
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Quick%20facts
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