Good morning.
There’s a new Fortune list out this week—Fortune 500 Arabia—which ranks the top 500 companies in the Arab world by revenues. Top of the list—no surprise here —are the oil companies: Saudi Aramco, with $604 billion in revenues, is number one, and Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, with $107 billion in revenues, is number two.
But the list also shows how diversified the region’s business has become. The top industry represented on the list is banking and insurance, accounting for 28% of the total. Real estate and energy each account for 7% of the list. Saudi companies were 30% of the list, followed by the UAE with 17%, Egypt with 11% and Kuwait with 8%.
Fortune 500 Arabia is run by our partners at Majarra, and many of the companies on the list will be represented at the Fortune Global Forum in Abu Dhabi Nov. 27-29. It’s not too late to request an invite; more information here.
And did you realize that L’Oréal was a tech company? CEO Nicolas Hieronimus is giving one of the keynotes at the CES in Las Vegas in January, and previewed some of the themes with Michal Lev-Ram on this week’s installment of our podcast Leadership Next. An excerpt:
“Not only do we have very strong e-commerce capabilities all across the world, but we also have new (tech-enabled) ways to engage with our consumers. For example, you can try our products without going to the store. We acquired in 2018 a Canadian start-up that allows you, through augmented reality, to try on your phone lipstick shades, hair color shades, foundations, or do skin diagnosis. That’s one of the aspects of beauty tech we will be discussing more later.”
We are all tech companies now. You can listen to the full Leadership Next interview on Apple or Spotify. Other news below.
Alan Murray
@alansmurray
alan.murray@fortune.com
TOP NEWS
Jamie Dimon’s warning
JPMorgan boss Jamie Dimon says the Federal Reserve—which held interest rates steady on Wednesday—could still hike rates by an additional 75 basis points. “I suspect that they may not be done,” he said. “I think there's a chance that inflation is just a little stickier than people think.” With rates remaining elevated, the Wall Street veteran warned markets were “going to see quite a few people swimming naked.” Yahoo Finance
Novo Nordisk profits surge
Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk reported record third quarter sales and operating profit on Thursday, in spite of a shortage of its Wegovy weight-loss drug. The company, which manufactures Wegovy and Ozempic—a diabetes drug that has also shown promising results for weight loss—overtook LVMH as Europe’s most valuable company earlier this year. Reuters
Disney-Hulu deal
Disney has announced it will purchase the 33% stake in streaming service Hulu that is currently owned by Comcast. Completing the takeover is expected to cost Disney $8.6 billion—but the entertainment giant said the move will “further [its] streaming objectives.” BBC
AROUND THE WATERCOOLER
Housing market affordability is so bad that Zillow says it will take you 13.5 years to break even on a purchase from July onward by Sydney Lake
The alleged crime epidemic in places like San Francisco causing stores to flee may actually just be bad management, investment bank suggests by Irina Ivanova
Israel’s cybersecurity startups are facing a double challenge by Michal Lev-Ram
Lawyers swap closing statements in trial of Sam Bankman-Fried: ‘Pyramid of deceit’ or just ‘bad business judgements’? by Ben Weiss
Real-estate industry rocked by $1.8 billion verdict finding ‘conspiracy’ to force sellers to pay illegal commission fees by Alena Botros and Sydney Lake
The White House just revealed a key factor driving Biden’s new order to rein in AI: The latest Tom Cruise ‘Mission: Impossible’ movie by Paige Hagy and Rachyl Jones
This edition of CEO Daily was curated by Chloe Taylor.
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