The News
When I’ve told friends and sources about trips to Riyadh, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Doha this year, their assumption is: You’re raising money.
And it’s nice to be able to answer: No, we’re chasing the story.
I’m thrilled to be sharing this launch of Semafor Gulf with you, most of all because what’s happening right now in the Arabian Peninsula is one of the greatest stories in the world.
We’ll be covering the huge economic transformation of the Gulf to people who need to understand the region deeply. We’ll be looking at the ways in which the Gulf’s power shapes the world. And we’ll be serving you the key reads from across regional and global media, in English and Arabic, to keep you across the big ideas and trends.
We’re launching with a team of experienced journalists and contributors in the region, led by Mohammed Sergie, who opened the Dow Jones office in a very different Riyadh in 2008 before joining Bloomberg. Kelsey Warner, based in Abu Dhabi, joins us from The Circuit, and Sarah Dadouch, recently of The Washington Post, will be focused on Saudi Arabia. They’ll be joined by some of the biggest voices in the region: Al Arabiya Chief International Anchor Hadley Gamble writes her first column for us today, and you’ll also hear from Arab News Editor-in-Chief Faisal Abbas, economist Omar Al-Ubaydli, energy expert Wael Mahdi, and the Dubai-based writer Camilla Wright.
We’re proud of the start we’ve already made: We broke stories last week about the consulting giant APCO, and RedBird IMI’s sale of the Telegraph. Kelsey and Semafor Tech Editor Reed Albergotti, in Riyadh and Dubai for the AI summits, broke market-moving news on chip giant Nvidia’s deal with G42 and its progress toward doing business in Saudi Arabia.
We are arriving in this booming, complex region with, above all, humility. Please email us at gulf@semafor.com and tell us what you want to know, and what you think we ought to already know. Please send us tips, and tell us when we’ve made mistakes. And thank you for coming along for the ride!