Bob Iger has confirmed the site for Disneyland Abu Dhabi in an Instagram post picturing the Disney CEO wandering along the shoreline of Yas Island.

“Walking the site of what will one day be Disneyland Abu Dhabi! Lots of work ahead, but all very exciting,” the caption reads.

The photographs, which show the “Yas” welcome sign in the distance, appear to be taken at a location on the western end of Yas North, which is the only large undeveloped waterfront site remaining on the island.

Disney’s seventh theme park, which was announced with great fanfare last May, is expected to open by 2032. It will be built and operated by Abu Dhabi developer Miral, under a licensing arrangement with Disney.

Iger met with Abu Dhabi Crown Prince Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed last week, along with Disney Experiences Chairman Josh D’Amaro, to discuss progress on the project.

Saudi Arabia is moving to reconfigure its flagship NEOM megaproject after giving up on plans to stage the 2029 Asian Winter Games at its Trojena ski resort because of construction delays.

A joint statement issued by the Saudi Olympics and Paralympics Committee and the Asian Olympic Committee on Saturday said that the games are being postponed while officials look for a new location.

Trojena’s location in the rocky terrain of the kingdom’s northwestern mountains has complicated construction of the futuristic resort, with projected costs ballooning to over $500 billion. While snow occasionally falls in the area, it is sparse and developers said they could coat the slopes with enough artificial snow to run the tournament.

Meanwhile, the larger NEOM venture – a centerpiece of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s Vision 2030 plan to overhaul the oil-dependent economy – is likely to be fundamentally restructured, Arabian Gulf Business Insight reports.

Among the changes being considered are shifting parts of NEOM – including Trojena, its luxury island resort Sindalah and the industrial zone Oxagon – to other state entities so they can be better aligned with Saudi Arabia’s budget-tightening triggered by the steep decline in world oil prices.

Dubai will seek to attract 6,500 new tech companies and 75,000 specialized workers with a $3.5 billion expansion of its Silicon Oasis free zone.

Two new projects form the backbone of the expansion. The first, District I0, will be a hub for research, development and innovation, housing small-to-medium enterprises and startups working in industries including robotics, smart mobility, AI and quantum computing.

The second element, Block 14, will be a residential and commercial district close to the Dubai Metro Blue Line.

Launching the initiative, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, UAE Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, said the project would contribute to an “advanced, technology-driven business environment for emerging economic sectors.”

Emirati investment fund MGX has emerged as a central player in the deal struck with China’s ByteDance on Thursday to create a U.S. TikTok, joining Oracle and private equity firm Silver Lake in the venture that has an estimated value of $14 billion.

The arrangement, signed off by both U.S. and Chinese authorities, will transfer control of TikTok’s U.S. operations into a new entity designed to address long-running national security concerns over data and algorithm access. 

ByteDance will retain a minority stake of just under 20%, while American and global investors hold the balance, with a majority-American board overseeing data protection, content moderation and cybersecurity. MGX, Larry Ellison’s Oracle and Silicon Valley-based Silver Lake, which has backing from Abu Dhabi’s Mubadala sovereign wealth fund, will each hold a 15% stake.

MGX, an AI-focused fund that is chaired by UAE National Security Advisor Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed and backed by Abu Dhabi sovereign fund Mubadala, has been investing heavily in U.S. tech companies, including Elon Musk’s xAI.

The deal is intended to bring an end to years of political and legal battles, including threats of a nationwide ban that had loomed under U.S. law and led to a temporary shutdown of the app.TikTok said American users can continue to use the platform uninterrupted as the new company begins operations under the revamped ownership structure.

OpenAI has been courting Middle Eastern investors, including Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth funds, as it prepares to raise as much as $50 billion in its latest funding round.

CEO Sam Altman recently visited the region to meet with top investors, Bloomberg reports.

The ChatGTP maker, which has previously received backing from Abu Dhabi tech investor MGX and is partnering with G42 to build the huge Starlink data center in the emirate, is seeking funds at a valuation of about $750 billion to $830 billion.

It comes as competitor Anthropic, which is backed by the Qatar Investment Authority, is also in talks to raise more funds.

Saudi Arabia is using Davos this week to call for closer global cooperation on mining and critical minerals amid growing tensions over competition for resources as Donald Trump stirs the pot.

As the U.S. President left Washington to address the World Economic Forum, Saudi Minister of Mining and Mineral Resources Bandar Alkhorayef warned on Monday that countries risk conflict if they try to squeeze out competitors.

“We cannot afford a world where every country tries to secure critical minerals on its own,” Alkhorayef told a Davos panel, urging shared frameworks and cross-border partnerships.

Trump is scheduled to address the WEF today in the conference’s most anticipated event as he confronts European allies over his plans to take over Greenland from Denmark, in part because of its underground stores of rare earths such as graphite, copper, zinc and titanium.

Saudi Arabia has been positioning itself as a hub for mineral processing and investment, with Alkhorayef framing cooperation as essential to stabilizing supply chains and easing geopolitical strain. The kingdom, which is trying to diversify its economy away from reliance on oil, has an estimated $2.5 trillion in mineral wealth.

“We realized that unlocking the value that we have in our natural resources, of the different minerals that we have, will definitely help our economy to grow, to diversify,” Alkhorayef said.

Davos is once again pulling the Gulf’s top business leaders to Switzerland’s snow-capped ski resort, where executives from the Middle East are mingling at the World Economic Forum with the likes of Bridgewater’s Ray Dalio, BlackRock’s Larry Fink and Palantir’s Alex Karp.

From Saudi Arabia, the delegation includes Talal Al Maiman, CEO of Kingdom Holding, Tareq Al Sadhan, CEO of Saudi National Bank, Abdullah Aladel, managing director and CEO of Alkhair Capital, Marco Arcelli, CEO of ACWA Power, and Jerry Inzerillo, CEO of Diriyah Co.

The UAE sent Mubadala CEO Khaldoon Al Mubarak and Dr. Sultan Al Jaber, CEO of ADNOC and Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology, alongside private-sector leaders such as Peng Xiao, CEO of G42, and Badr Jafar, CEO of Crescent Enterprises.

Qatar is represented by Mansoor Al-Mahmoud, CEO of the Qatar Investment Authority, and Saad Al-Kaabi, president and CEO of QatarEnergy. Bahrain’s delegation includes Abdulla Al Khalifa, CEO of Mumtalakat, the kingdom’s sovereign wealth fund, and Hisham Alrayes, CEO of GFH Financial Group.

Several execs are making the rounds at the TV networks that give Davos wall-to-wall coverage. Al Mubarak, for one, annually uses the Swiss conference as a pulpit to raise Mubadala’s international visibility. 

“Leaving the noise and the hype aside, I think we have a very clear view of what we think are the investable spaces,” Al Mubarak said in an interview with Bloomberg. “Particularly when it comes to AI enablement, there are a lot of aspects that I think we believe in.”

India signed a $3 billion deal to buy liquefied natural gas from the United Arab Emirates, making it the UAE’s largest LNG customer, as the two countries moved to deepen trade and defense ties.

The agreement was struck during a visit by UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, with both sides pledging to double bilateral trade to $200 billion within six years and pursue a strategic defense partnership.

According to the agreement, Abu Dhabi state firm ADNOC Gas will supply half a million tons of LNG a year to Hindustan Petroleum over 10 years, taking ADNOC’s total contracts with India to more than $20 billion.

Indian officials asserted that defense cooperation with the UAE would not draw New Delhi into regional conflicts, despite shifting alliances in the Gulf.