Podcasts

Business Extra: Google’s Lino Cattaruzzi on how ‘online became a lifeline’

The Mena director has been a Googler for 12 years and is optimistic about the company's role in the region's economic recovery

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“Online became a lifeline” in the pandemic, in the words of Lino Cattaruzzi, Google’s regional director in the Middle East and Africa.

He joins co-hosts Kelsey Warner and Mustafa Alrawi this week to talk about the role of the tech giant in the region's economic recovery. He also describes how search data is used to help its advertising customers.

Advertising made up 82 per cent of Google parent company Alphabet’s first quarter revenue this year, pulling in $33.8 billion. While businesses are expected to have spent less on Google ads in Q2 amid an economy in free fall, a survey by McKinsey found the world jumped five years ahead in tech adoption in the span of 8 weeks as we moved to remote working and learning. Find out what this has meant for Google.

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If you go

The flights

There are direct flights from Dubai to Sofia with FlyDubai (www.flydubai.com) and Wizz Air (www.wizzair.com), from Dh1,164 and Dh822 return including taxes, respectively.

The trip

Plovdiv is 150km from Sofia, with an hourly bus service taking around 2 hours and costing $16 (Dh58). The Rhodopes can be reached from Sofia in between 2-4hours.

The trip was organised by Bulguides (www.bulguides.com), which organises guided trips throughout Bulgaria. Guiding, accommodation, food and transfers from Plovdiv to the mountains and back costs around 170 USD for a four-day, three-night trip.

 

EA Sports FC 26

Publisher: EA Sports

Consoles: PC, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox Series X/S

Rating: 3/5

Business ExtraPodcastTechnology