Majid Al Futtaim may be headed for IPO amid stabilization efforts

Dubai’s government has stepped in to stabilize governance at the parent company of Majid Al Futtaim, the conglomerate behind the Mall of the Emirates and brands including Carrefour and Lego in the region.

A special judicial committee has restructured MAF Capital’s board and converted it into a public joint stock company, The Financial Times reports.

This is not the first time the government has assisted the group. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Ruler of Dubai, oversaw inheritance matters after the founder’s death in 2022.

The latest overhaul aims to safeguard one of the Gulf’s most prominent privately owned companies and could pave the way for a future stock exchange listing, the FT reports.

Family-run businesses across the Gulf frequently encounter similar challenges after a founder’s death.

Under its late founder, MAF built a reputation for forward-thinking management, pioneering projects like the region’s first indoor ski slope in Mall of the Emirates and raising capital in global bond markets to fund its expansion.

Dubai to accept crypto as payment for government services

Dubai will soon allow residents to pay for government services using cryptocurrencies, as part of its push to make the emirate a global leader in digital commerce.

The initiative follows a new agreement between Dubai Finance and global platform Crypto.com, aiming to create a secure and efficient payment channel across government platforms using stablecoins.

It aligns with the emirate’s ambition to become a fully digital, cashless society and strengthen its position as a hub for financial innovation.

The move also supports the emirate’s D33 agenda, which targets sustainable economic diversification and digital transformation.

UAE pushes artificial intelligence use in all government agencies

The UAE is amping up the use of artificial intelligence in all aspects of government.

Speaking at Dubai’s AI retreat 2025 on Sunday, Omar Al Olama, the UAE’s Minister of State for AI, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, said all departments will be evaluated on the effectiveness of how they use the emerging technology, The National reports.

“We don’t want to leverage artificial intelligence just for the sake of AI,” Al Olama said. “We want to ensure that the application actually improves the quality of life of citizens in the UAE and in Dubai specifically.”

The minister spoke during the AI event’s opening session at Dubai’s Museum of the Future. The retreat brings together more than 1,000 AI experts, policymakers, and executives from companies including Microsoft, Meta, Google and IBM.

Among those participating in the week’s activities are Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Ruler of Dubai and UAE Prime Minister and Mohammad bin Abdullah Al Gergawi, UAE Minister of Cabinet Affairs and Managing Director of the Dubai Future Foundation.

Delegations from more than 100 countries have come to the city for a deep dive into AI technology.

Saudi Arabia offers to pay the bill for Syria’s World Bank debt

Saudi Arabia is taking the lead in helping Syria’s new government pay off its debts.

As a first step, the kingdom will put up $15 million to cover Syria’s arrears to the World Bank and unlock international aid money to begin the country’s reconstruction, Reuters reports.

The plans would be the first known instance of Saudi Arabia providing financing for Syria since Islamist-led rebels toppled former leader Bashar al-Assad last year.

It may also be a sign that Gulf Arab support for Syria is beginning to materialize after previous plans, including an initiative by Qatar to fund salaries, were held up by uncertainty over U.S. sanctions, according to Reuters.

Musk talks digging tunnels and cutting budgets at Dubai summit

Offering the UAE an earth-boring contract potentially costing billions and a peek into his budget-slashing activities at the White House, Elon Musk headlined today’s final sessions at the World Governments Summit in Dubai.

Musk, the world’s wealthiest person, appeared on giant screens before the conference’s 6,000 participants, looking like Big Brother with the words, “Tech Support” emblazoned on his black T-shirt.

The 54-year-old chief of X, Tesla, SpaceX and The Boring Company earlier signed a draft agreement with the UAE government to dig the foundations for the “Dubai Loop.” He said the new public transportation system would speed residents and visitors underground across the Gulf financial center that is home to the Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest skyscraper.

“You just wormhole from one part of the city – Boom! – you’re out in another part of the city,” Musk said, answering questions from Omar Al Olama, the UAE’s Minister of State for Artificial Intelligence, Digital Economy, and Remote Work Applications, as well as Vice Chair of the conference.

Describing his work as head of U.S. President Donald Trump’s newly created Department of Government Efficiency, known as DOGE, Musk said dismantling the U.S. Agency for International Development reflects a new approach: Washington is  “less interested in interfering with the affairs of other countries,” he said.

“Basically, America should mind its own business rather than push for regime change all over the place,” Musk told the crowd, which included at least 30 presidents and prime ministers from across the globe.

Musk was the last in a series of tech leaders from some of the world’s biggest companies who spoke at the government summit. On Wednesday, Oracle’s Larry Ellison and former U.K. Prime Minister Tony Blair teamed up to examine the promise and threats of artificial intelligence.

Ellison, also speaking virtually with Blair onstage in Dubai, said AI will be transformative for governments and a broad range of industries including medicine, agriculture and robotics.

“Countries need to unify their data so it can be consumed and used by the AI model,” Ellison said, warning about the dangers of lax information security. “The digital tools we have right now are so primitive,” he said. “We can easily be locked out of all our data; passwords and data are so easily stolen and ransomed. We need to modernize our systems.”

On the first day of the conference, Robin Li, CEO of China’s Baidu, talked about how the high costs of AI development have forced the world’s second-largest economy to find new computing solutions, including DeepSeek, which has come up with vastly cheaper AI models than those developed by OpenAI, Microsoft and Google.

“You just don’t know when and where innovations come from,” Li said.

Lazard joins Goldman in setting up regional base in Saudi capital

Saudi Arabia’s push to anchor itself as a global financial capital lassoed another Wall Street firm as Lazard Inc. received a government license to establish a regional headquarters in Riyadh.

The authorization by the kingdom’s Ministry of Investment will allow Lazard to compete for government contracts that can be granted only to international companies that comply with the law requiring a substantial presence in Saudi Arabia, Bloomberg reports.

Goldman Sachs became the first major financial institution to get its regional headquarters license in May, while Japan’s Mizuho Financial Group Inc. received the authorization in June.

In the UAE, meanwhile, Stonepeak, a New York-based investment firm with $71 billion in assets, said it will open an office in the Abu Dhabi Global Market, joining a wave of financial firms drawn by the UAE capital’s expanding wealth.

UAE, Saudi Arabia pledge support for AI at investor fairs

The race is on for dominance over AI development in the Gulf.

At dueling conferences this week in Dubai and Riyadh, government ministers, investors and corporate executives are sketching out their visions for integrating artificial intelligence into virtually all aspects of daily life.

Addressing a packed ballroom at the Dubai AI & Web3 Festival on Wednesday, Omar Al Olama, the UAE’s Minister of State for AI, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, pledged that companies with the most innovative technologies will have the government’s backing.

“Our job is to enable you, our job is to ensure you’re able to use Dubai and the UAE as a springboard to make global companies that will make global impact and change the future,” Al Olama said.

In the Saudi capital, where the vast King Abdulaziz International Conference Center played host to the annual global AI summit known as GAIN, the buzz in the corridors was about chips – specifically whether the U.S. government will allow Nvidia to export its advanced AI semiconductor chips to Saudi Arabia, Semafor reports.

Saudi leaders have been trying to allay the Biden administration’s concerns that the kingdom’s growing ties with China could lead to the leaking of technological U.S. secrets and damage national security.

UAE’s foreign trade minister tapped to lead new Rorix firm

The manner in which government and corporate business mix in the UAE’s capital has earned it the name Abu Dhabi Inc. The latest example surfaced on Thursday with the appointment of Dr. Thani Al Zeyoudi, Minister of State for Foreign Trade, to serve as Executive Chairman of Rorix Holdings.

The Abu Dhabi-based company, a new subsidiary of state-owned International Holding Co., is being set up to capitalize on the series of free-trade agreements signed by the UAE with countries including India, Indonesia, Israel, Turkey, South Korea and Chile. More than a dozen others are in various stages of negotiation.

Over the past three years, Al Zeyoudi has been the chief negotiator and globe-trotting evangelist for the pacts, known as Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreements, which are designed to reduce or eliminate import fees and other tariffs between participating nations. Now he will formally steer the financial services company established to channel profits from the trade relationships into the UAE’s $500 billion economy.

Framing the company’s mission, Al Zeyoudi said in a statement that Rorix will seek to “accelerate trade volumes, attract foreign investment, and build economic partnerships that drive sustainable growth” for a range of industries across the UAE.

Dubai’s Crown Prince joins UAE cabinet as Defense Minister

UAE residents woke up Sunday morning to a big cabinet reshuffle in the federal government.

Following approval from President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, Vice President and Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid announced the new cabinet, appointing his son Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense, marking his first roles in the national government.

Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed was also named a Deputy Prime Minister.

In recent years, Sheikh Hamdan, often referred to as “Fazza” – he can be found @Faz3 on Instagram, where he has over 16 million followers – has taken on a more public role in the running of the emirate of Dubai, where his father is ruler.

A newly created post of Minister of State for Entrepreneurship has gone to Alia Abdullah Al Mazrouei, herself an entrepreneur and CEO of the Khalifa Fund for Enterprise Development, according to her Linkedin profile. 

Saudi Arabia’s EV campaign on show at Riyadh conference

Saudi Arabia’s drive to establish an electric vehicle industry in the kingdom – clinching deals over the past year with the U.S., China and Europe – will be on display this week during the Global EV and Mobility Technology Forum in Riyadh.

The two-day conference, which gets underway tomorrow at the Riyadh International Convention and Exhibition Center, will bring together senior government officials, financiers and car company executives – led by Faisal Sultan, Managing Director and Vice President of Lucid, the California EV-maker backed by the Saudi Public Investment Fund.

Others scheduled to speak at the conference include Rusty Russell, Executive Director of Mobility at Saudi Arabia’s Red Sea Global; Shavaye Govender, Head of Business Development, Middle East, Africa and Pakistan at Uber; Fathi Tlatli, President of Global Sector Auto-Mobility for DHL; and Alex Gilbert, Head of Energy and Electrification and Commercial Development at Transport for London.

Lucid shares jumped 4% in Nasdaq trading on Monday after the company reported that second-quarter car deliveries grew 70% from the same period in 2023.

The PIF, which has a 60% stake in Lucid, opened a factory in the kingdom last year and has poured billions into the U.S. company as it looks to become a significant regional manufacturer.