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Industry Update

Amazon entrepreneur Jeff Bezos has unveiled a mock-up of a new lunar lander spacecraft that aims to take equipment and humans to the Moon by 2024.The reusable Blue Moon vehicle will carry scientific instruments, satellites and rovers. It will feature a new rocket engine called BE-7 that can blast 10,000lb (4,535kg) of thrust. Mr. Bezos presented the Moon goals of his space exploration company Blue Origin at the Washington Convention Center in Washington DC, to an audience consisting of potential customers and officials from NASA. The Blue Moon lunar lander comes loaded with enough fuel to get from Earth to the Moon.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-48222568

Richard Branson's space tourism startup, Virgin Galactic, is moving to New Mexico ahead of its first commercial flight. After two successful test missions of its rocket-powered space plane over the past few months, the company announced on Friday 10, May, 2019, that it will move its spacecraft and 100 of its workers to a building called Spaceport America in the state this summer. They will join about 50 other employees already working there. It will take a few months to settle in, and Galactic will conduct "the final two or three tests" with only test pilots and crew members on board, Branson told CNN Business' Rachel Crane.

Source: https://edition.cnn.com/2019/05/10/tech/richard-branson-virgin-galactic-space-tourism-spaceport-america/index.html

Bitcoin surged more than $1,000 this weekend to the highest level since August, as cryptocurrencies extended their rebound from a slump last month amid the New York attorney general’s investigation of a key part of the market. Bitcoin rose as much as 6.9% to $7,445, before trading at $7,323.86 as of 2:15 p.m. Hong Kong time on Sunday May 12.2019, according to Bitstamp. That compares with $6,290.24 at Friday’s close. All five members of the Bloomberg Galaxy Crypto Index are up more than 8% this weekend, based on pricing from Bitstamp and Bitfinex.

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-11/bitcoin-extends-surge-past-7-300-to-highest-since-september?srnd=premium-middle-east

China’s BAIC Group is seeking to buy a stake of up to 5 percent in Daimler as a way to secure its investment in Chinese Mercedes-Benz manufacturing company Beijing Benz Automotive, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. BAIC informed Daimler of its intention to buy a 4-5 percent stake in the German maker of Mercedes-Benz cars earlier this year, two of the three sources said.

Source: http://www.arabnews.com/node/1495706/business-economy

It was to usher in nothing less than a new era for Wall Street. UFAANG. That ungainly acronym, envisioned by some at Morgan Stanley as the hype grew over Uber Technologies Inc., put the ride-hailing company in the same league as the titans of tech: Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and Google. But by Friday’s closing bell, the most talked-about start-up of the decade and the biggest initial public offering of the year suddenly qualified for a different club of losers.

Source: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-05-11/uber-s-hype-dissolves-and-ipo-joins-ranks-of-wall-street-flops?srnd=premium-middle-east

Turkish Airlines’ first-quarter losses more than doubled, hit by higher fuel prices and other costs. The Turkish flag carrier, which operates flights to 306 destinations in 124 countries, reported a loss of 1.25 billion lira or $229 million in the first quarter, compared with a loss of 314 million lira or $86 million in the same period a year earlier. Analysts said the loss was wider than an average forecast of a 662 million lira loss. That reflected higher oil prices due to currency volatility and increased unit costs due to staff and marketing expenses, analysts said.

Source: http://www.arabnews.com/node/1495371/business-economy

Consumer goods giant Unilever is considering a $1 billion (Dh3.67 billion) offer for US skincare brand Drunk Elephant, the Sunday Telegraph reported, without saying where it got the information. Drunk Elephant, founded in 2012 by Texan mother-of-four Tiffany Masterson and which makes skincare products with natural, non-toxic ingredients, hired investment banks in January to explore a sale, according to the Wall Street Journal. Unilever declined to comment on the potential offer to the Sunday Telegraph. The Anglo-Dutch owner of Dove soap, has been expanding into new areas as its traditional brands stagnate.

Source: https://gulfnews.com/business/unilever-considers-1b-bid-for-skincare-brand-1.63896986

There will be no bonuses for Emirates Airline’s employees this year. A spokesperson for the Dubai-based carrier on Sunday confirmed that unlike in the previous years, its thousands of staff will not be getting an extra compensation. The incentive, commonly known as “profit share,” is usually distributed at the end of the financial year to employees of Emirates Group. Citing a difficult year, the airline reported last week that its profits declined 69 per cent to Dh871 million for the financial year ended March 31, 2019.

Source: https://gulfnews.com/business/aviation/no-bonuses-will-be-distributed-to-emirates-airline-employees-this-year-1.1557656980424

India's richest man Mukesh Ambani has bought the iconic British toy retailer Hamleys for an undisclosed sum. Reliance Brands Limited, which is owned by Mr. Ambani, said it had signed an agreement to buy the company from China's C Banner International which had acquired it in 2015.Hamleys, which was founded in 1760, is the world's oldest toy retailer and has 167 stores across 18 countries. Reliance Industries already operates 88 Hamleys stores across 29 Indian cities.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-48223903

Amazon plans to shut its online store in China that allows shoppers to buy from local sellers as it downsizes operations in the country. The firm said it would no longer run the domestic marketplace from July, but Chinese shoppers will still be able to order goods from Amazon's global store. It will also continue to operate its cloud business in China. The retail retreat comes as Amazon faces tough competition from local rivals Alibaba and JD.com.

Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/business-47972634