Sotheby’s first Abu Dhabi Collectors’ Week raised $133 million from a series of auctions, including sports cars, jewelery and a Hermès handbag owned by Jane Birkin, which went for $2.9 million.

Among the most jaw-dropping sales was a 31.68-karat pink diamond that sold for $8.8 million and a 1994 McLaren F1 car for $25.3 million.

The glitzy event, held at the St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort last week, fortuitously coincided with the Milken Middle East and Africa Summit, an event known for attracting billionaires, held at the same venue.

Collectors’ Week, which included a showcase of $500 million worth of non-selling art, follows a $1 billion injection by Abu Dhabi’s sovereign fund ADQ for a minority stake in Sotheby’s. 

Abu Dhabi unveiled a new financial services hub to help launch companies and assist them in managing regulatory obstacles that hamper growth.

Launched on Tuesday by the Abu Dhabi Investment Office and the Department of Economic Development, the platform will be known as FIDA – the FinTech, Insurance, Digital and Alternative Assets Cluster – and is projected to contribute some $15 billion to Abu Dhabi’s economy by 2045.

“By bringing investors, regulators, global institutions and technology innovators into an integrated cluster, Abu Dhabi is the preferred destination for those building digital assets, AI-powered insurance and breakthrough fintech platforms,” Badr Al-Olama, ADIO’s Director-General, said.

FIDA was introduced by Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Chairman of its Executive Council, amid the torrent of product announcements, conferences and cocktail parties during Abu Dhabi Finance Week.

During one of the events on Monday, Carlyle Group Chairman David Rubenstein was asked by UAE Investment Minister Mohamed Alsuwaidi, who is also CEO of sovereign wealth fund ADQ, how he assessed the UAE’s financial development, Khaleej Times reports. Rubenstein cited a music critic 30 years ago who said, “I’ve just seen the future of music, and its name is Bruce Springsteen.” Today, Rubenstein said, “I’ve seen the future of capitalism, and its name is Abu Dhabi.” 

Across town at the media-focused BRIDGE Summit, executives from Meta, Yango, Huawei and HeyGen headlined sessions on the use of AI in content, marketing and consumer products.  Actor Idris Elba said the conference was about cultural connectivity and empowering creators in a more inclusive global media ecosystem. “Let’s use this opportunity at the Summit to connect, form, create and distribute ideas,” he said. 

Jeff Zucker, CEO of RedBird IMI and RedBird Capital Partners, said journalism’s future will be driven by trusted individual voices rather than traditional media. “Institutions used to confer credibility upon the individual, but now it’s the other way around,” he said. “I think people are looking much more to individuals in this new creator economy, this new AI world.”

Abu Dhabi is hosting both the sprawling Abu Dhabi Finance Week event and the Bitcoin MENA conference, drawing crypto, finance and institutional investors to the UAE’s capital from around the world.

Headlining the Bitcoin event is Changpeng Zhao, the founder of Binance better known as CZ, who was pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump in October after pleading guilty to violating money laundering laws.

Also appearing are Ahmed Bin Sulayem, Executive Chairman & CEO of the Dubai Multi-Commodity Centre; Abdulla Al Dhaheri, CEO of The Blockchain Center; Faisal Al Hammadi, Managing Partner at Further Ventures; and Ali Alnuaimi, Founder at Shafra.

Amid the gatherings, Binance received formal approval from Abu Dhabi Global Market’s regulatory authority to provide global platform services from Abu Dhabi via three licensed entities – an exchange, a clearing house, and a broker-dealer. Under the arrangement, Binance’s regulated operations are set to begin January 5, 2026.

Missing this year is Eric Trump, who spoke to a packed hall last year before Donald Trump took office and promised that his father would be the most pro-crypto President ever. Excitement over crypto appeared not to be dampened much by the 30% slide in Bitcoin’s value.

“This year has certainly been an interesting one where we started well, went sideways, came a little bit lower and leveraged positions,” Sam North, a market analyst at eToro, told The Circuit at the conference. “But overall, I think it has been a good year.”

Abu Dhabi is planning a $16 billion expansion of its ADGM free zone, as the hedge funds, banks and fintech companies that have been flocking to one of the region’s fastest growing financial hubs demand more space to expand.

The emirate’s Mubadala sovereign fund and its biggest developer, Aldar Properties, are partnering on the mixed-use development, which will double the Grade A office space available on Al Maryah Island and add another 3,000 luxury residences, Bloomberg reports.

The number of operational entities within ADGM rose to 3,227 in the third quarter, up 43% year-on-year. Billionaire Alan Howard told Abu Dhabi Finance Week that his hedge fund, Brevan Howard Asset Management, which is Abu Dhabi’s largest, has run out of office space and is looking for more.

Balyasny Asset Management, a $29 billion multi-strategy hedge fund, is the latest newcomer, with plans to open an office early next year.

Saudi Arabia is working to engage its sports fans from the bottom up.

As Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman pours billions of dollars into international golf, tennis and football, Danny Townsend, CEO of Saudi Arabia’s SURJ Sports Investments, says it’s vital to get the young generation hooked early in their lives.

“Frankly, I care far more about engaging a 10-year-old in a sport we invest in than engaging someone my age,” Townsend said in a panel discussion about sports at the Milken Summit. “If we get the product right and deliver it the right way for that young fan, the long-term value follows.”

Ben Harburg, the American investor who founded MSA Capital and bought Saudi Arabia’s Al-Kholood pro soccer club in July, said he’s constantly amazed by the dedication of local fans.

“I’ve had fans come up to me at matches with printed A4 pages – line-by-line recommendations on how we should compete in the league, which players to pursue, what style of play to adopt, even preferred formations,” Harburg said.

It didn’t take long today for discussions at the Milken Institute Middle East and Africa Summit to focus on artificial intelligence – the promise, the costs and the threats of the technology that is permeating all levels of business and daily life.

Michael Milken, the billionaire financier who sponsors the annual two-day conference in Abu Dhabi, raised the issue in his opening remarks, pointing out that the largest amount of capital expenditures in the world are going into data centers for AI. “The world has changed and we can see it,” he said.

The UAE has, in fact, created a cabinet position to ensure that everyone in government embraces AI technology. Still, Omar Al Olama, the Minister of State for AI, Digital Economy and Remote Work Applications, warned about the dangers of artificial intelligence, especially the proliferation of fake information and images.

“The fact that I can give you a piece of paper and you think that is value, that is trust,” Al Olama said. “Money is built on trust. If trust is being eroded, it will mean a tsunami of change that is going to be negative.”

Meanwhile, Mubadala Deputy CEO Waleed Al Mokarrab Al Muhairi gave a measured forecast for the Abu Dhabi sovereign wealth fund’s performance in credit markets. “We’ve had four fantastic years in private credit, and we know that’s likely to perform cyclically,” he said. “I don’t think it’s going to implode in any shape, way or form.”

Other headliners at the conference today included Emaar’s Mohamed Alabbar, Liberty Strategic Capital’s Steven Mnuchin, Saudi Culture House founder Princess Noura bint Faisal Al Saud, Greycroft’s Dana Settle, and Maaden’s Bob Wilt.

While Elon Musk didn’t turn up at the Milken Summit, his brother Kimbal appeared under the “Visionaries of Tomorrow” program. Kimbal Musk is Co-Founder of Nova Sky Stories, which flies clusters of light-emitting drones to “turn the night sky into a canvas for storytelling.” He is also a major shareholder in Tesla and Co-Founder of both the restaurant group The Kitchen and the non-profit Big Green, which builds school gardens.

Mubadala Capital, the asset management arm of Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala sovereign fund, and developer Aldar are pairing up to launch a platform that aims to connect global investors with real estate projects in the UAE and wider Gulf.

The new venture, to be called Aldar Capital and based out of Abu Dhabi’s ADGM free zone, is planning to raise $1 billion for its first fund next year.

“We have received significant inbound interest from a number of our existing investors who want exposure to the region,” Mubadala Capital CEO Hani Barhoush told Bloomberg.

The fund will invest across office buildings, residential real estate and logistics, transforming one of the UAE’s biggest developers into a manager of global capital.

The biggest shareholder in Abu Dhabi-listed Aldar is Alpha Dhabi, which is controlled by International Holding Co., the vast conglomerate overseen by UAE National Security Advisor Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed. 

The Gulf’s three biggest sovereign wealth funds have all thrown their weight behind Paramount Skydance in the three-way bidding war for Warner Bros. Discovery, the owner of CNN, HBO and DC Comics.

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, the Qatar Investment Authority and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority are among the investors backing David Ellison’s sweetened bid for the entertainment giant, which also includes financing from RedBird Capital and Apollo Global Management, Variety reports. Netflix and Comcast have also renewed their bids, with the streaming flicks leader seeking only the Warner Bros. part of the business.

It is understood that Paramount’s all-cash offer is still mostly funded by the family of Oracle co-founder and billionaire Larry Ellison and son, David, and the amount offered by the three Gulf funds does not meet the threshold for requiring U.S. foreign investment approvals. Paramount’s previous non-binding bid of $24 a share submitted on Nov. 20 did not involve the sovereign funds, Variety said, clarifying its earlier reporting.

In whatever form it takes, a full or partial sale of Warner Bros. Discovery has the potential to reshape the media and entertainment landscape in the Gulf, where the company has far-reaching interests, from content streaming and theme park branding deals to a CNN bureau. 

In the UAE, Warner Bros. Discovery paid $57 million in March for a 30% share in Dubai-based streamer OSN, which is now hosting its high-value content in the region, including HBO hits like “The Sopranos” and “Succession,” and counts the Abu Dhabi and Kuwait royal families as its other shareholders.