Sotheby’s, the venerable auction house owned in part by sovereign wealth fund ADQ, is coming to Abu Dhabi in December.

Up for sale will be a collection of jewelry, rare watches, real estate and racing cars, Sotheby’s announced today.

Auctions will take place from Dec. 2 to Dec. 5 during the same week as the Formula One Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi.

Meanwhile, Patrick Drahi, the French telecom magnate who acquired Sotheby’s in 2019 and sold a $1 billion stake to ADQ last year, is the subject this week of a profile in the New Yorker.

Dubai is putting a $1 million spotlight on artificial intelligence, launching the world’s largest prize for AI-generated films at the 1 Billion Followers Summit 2026 in January.

The event will also unveil a $13.6 million Creators Ventures Program, signaling the emirate’s intent to dominate the fast-evolving content economy.

Under the patronage of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, ruler of Dubai and UAE vice president, the summit will honor the winning AI-generated short film, with the top ten entries screened during the gathering.

All submissions must be created entirely with artificial intelligence and will be judged on storytelling, creativity, and humanitarian themes, according to Arabian Business.

“The content economy is an economic power with limitless horizons,” said Mohammad Al Gergawi, the UAE Minister of Cabinet Affairs. 

India is on track to becoming the UAE’s largest buyer of liquified natural gas.

Abu Dhabi-owned ADNOC Gas signed a 15-year sales and purchase agreement to supply LNG to Indian Oil Corp. the state-backed Indian energy giant.

The deal covers one million tons a year of LNG that will be sourced mainly from ADNOC’s lower-carbon Ruwais project.

It follows a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement signed by the UAE and India in 2022, which is projected to double bilateral trade between the two countries to $100 billion by 2030.

“This long-term agreement with Indian Oil underscores the robust energy relations between the UAE and India,” Rashid Khalfan Al Mazrouei, ADNOC Gas Senior Vice president of Marketing, said in a statement on Wednesday.

Global natural gas demand is projected to grow in 2026 after a slowdown in 2025, according to the International Energy Agency. 

ADNOC Gas has been steadily increasing LNG exports to India. In February, it signed a 14-year agreement valued at $7 billion to $9 billion to provide up to 1.2 million tons annually to Indian Oil.

It also signed a 10-year supply contract with Gail India in January 2023.

Abu Dhabi-based BlueFive Capital and China International Capital Corp.’s private equity arm are preparing a new fund to support Chinese companies aiming to expand in the Middle East.

The proposed investment vehicle will target sectors where Chinese firms can build up operations across the Gulf region, leveraging both capital and regional market access, Bloomberg reports.

While details regarding the fund’s size and timeline remain undisclosed, the move reflects growing financial collaboration between Chinese investors and Gulf economies.

The planned fund is positioned to facilitate business expansion by offering both strategic and financial resources to participating Chinese companies.

Abu Dhabi is pouring $2 billion into hedge fund powerhouse Brevan Howard to anchor a new investment hub in the Gulf.

The deal was set in motion by Abu Dhabi-owned asset manager Lunate’s agreement to acquire a minority stake in Brevan Howard and commit the funds to launch a new investor platform.

Lunate, which has more than $100 billion under management and is backed by Abu Dhabi’s ADQ and Chimera Capital – investment arms tied to Sheikh Tahnoun bin Zayed – said the partnership is designed to strengthen the city’s role as a global hub for alternative investments.

The venture will be based in the Abu Dhabi Global Market, the emirate’s international financial center, and will oversee funds tailored to global investors. 

London-based Brevan Howard, which manages more than $35 billion worldwide and is best known for its macro trading and digital asset strategies, will contribute its investment expertise and client base to the new platform.

Brevan Howard’s founder, Alan Howard, said in a statement that the partnership “reflects our deep and ongoing commitment to the region.”

The UAE is going deep into Angola.

On a state visit to the southern African nation, which holds substantial supplies of diamonds, copper and oil, UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed sat beside Angolan President João Lourenço to witness the signing on Monday of a free-trade deal between the two countries.

Dr. Thani Al Zeyoudi, the UAE’s Minister of Foreign Trade, said the Comprehensive Partnership Trade Agreement and other accords signed during the trip would generate bilateral returns reaching $10 billion a year by 2033.

Among the areas for cooperation covered in the deal are artificial intelligence, banking, agriculture, tourism and energy.

With ample resources to run power-hungry AI servers, Saudi Arabia is plunging into the worldwide race to build massive data centers.

Humain, an artificial intelligence firm owned by the kingdom’s Public Investment Fund, has started construction on its first set of data centers and plans to launch operations early next year.

Driving the facilities will be semiconductors from U.S. chipmakers, including 18,000 of Nvidia’s latest AI chips in centers at Riyadh and Dammam, Bloomberg reports.

“It depends on the governance and the protocols and the approval of the U.S. government, and these are formalities that we are going to start going through very, very soon,” Humain CEO Tareq Amin told the news agency.

After seven weeks of grueling battle in Saudi Arabia over computer screens and joysticks, the Esports World Cup 2025 competition proclaimed Riyadh-based Team Falcons as champ from a field of more than 2,000 players representing over 100 countries.

Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman presided over the closing ceremony of the Esports World Cup 2025 on Sunday, presenting the trophy to the Falcons, who led the standings with 5,200 points.

The team won the $7 million grand prize from a record-breaking $70 million total prize pool, the largest in esports history.

Among prominent personalities who attended the closing ceremony were soccer star Christiano Renaldo, Crown Prince Hussein of Jordan and billionaire investor Evan Spiegel.

The tournament is part of the kingdom’s national esports strategy that aims to attract investment and achieve the goal of becoming the world leader in the $2.9 billion esports industry.

Over the course of the Esports World Cup, the site of the competition at Boulevard Riyadh City drew more than 3 million visitors, according to the Saudi Press Agency. At the same time, over 750 million viewers worldwide followed the competition through digital platforms.