News

Spotify Rumored To Be Taking Over Rival Anghami

The Abu Dhabi-based music streaming service was listed on the Nasdaq back in February of this year.

Published

4 years ago

November 4, 2022

spotify rumored to be taking over rival anghami

Music streaming giant Spotify is believed to be gearing up for a potential takeover of Abu Dhabi-based Anghami, which went public on the Nasdaq stock market in February, according to undisclosed sources.

Rumor has it that Anghami went public knowing that Spotify had shown interest in acquiring them. However, a Spotify spokesperson insisted there was no news to report on the matter, and Anghami representatives have also been tight-lipped.

Anghami, was the first Arab tech company to list on the Nasdaq, and recently moved its headquarters from Beirut to Abu Dhabi, after entering into the Abu Dhabi Investment Office’s Innovation Programme, to the tune of $545 million.

Also Read: The Technology Powering Qatar’s FIFA World Cup 2022

So why would a takeover make sense for Spotify? Well, for one, Anghami has a vast library of Arabic music and has signed deals with Egyptian star Amr Diab, and Saudi Arabia’s Rotana record label, the largest in the Middle East. The Abu Dhabi-based streaming service also has nearly 60% of the Middle Eastern market share, with 1.28 million paying subscribers and almost 20 million active users.

As Anghami continues to expand its reach, including a recent acquisition of Spotlight Events, a company that specializes in live events and concerts in the MENA region, interest from tech giants like Spotify will surely continue over the coming years.

News

Microsoft Plans $10 Billion-Plus Gulf Expansion Despite Iran Conflict

Security is shaping Microsoft’s approach, from resilience work with governments to what it will say about how the money splits by country.

Published

4 days ago

September 24, 2026

Nour Nasir

Microsoft

Microsoft is planning more than $10 billion of investment across the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Kuwait through 2030, Vice Chair and President Brad Smith told Reuters, calling the spending schedule aggressive. The Iranian conflict that began on February 28 has not persuaded the company to scale back.

“We’re sustaining all the investments we planned to make before this conflict started, and we are in fact adding to them,” Smith said. The $10 billion-plus total does not, however, show how large those additions are.

The investment, which Smith described as part of Microsoft’s continued infrastructure expansion, is aimed at cloud and AI infrastructure and at the company’s growing regional operations. Microsoft also intends to put more than $400 million into subsea and terrestrial connectivity across the Middle East by 2030.

The spending fits the region’s own ambitions too. Gulf governments have been investing heavily in AI infrastructure as part of a push to diversify their economies beyond oil and gas and turn themselves into global technology hubs. Major cloud and AI providers have been drawn in part by the land and relatively low-cost energy on offer.

Microsoft is widening its partnerships with regional AI companies, though not on identical terms. In 2024, it invested $1.5 billion in Abu Dhabi-based G42 for a minority stake, and Smith currently sits on G42’s board. Saudi Arabia’s Humain and Qatar’s Qai are working with Microsoft on selected priority areas, but Smith said the company does not plan to make capital investments in either.

Also Read: Egypt’s Mobile Wallets Are Booming, But Cash Still Has Power

The conflict has added another strand to Microsoft’s work in the region. Since it began, Smith said, the company has supported regional partners with digital resilience assessments, and it is now working with Gulf countries through a digital resilience initiative focused on preparedness and the protection of critical data.

So far, the company has given no country-by-country breakdown of the investment, citing security among other factors. So while the headline figure is public, how Microsoft divides the spending among the four countries is not.