Fition Advisory

Qatar Airways is the best airline in the world, according to Skytrax, a company that has been rating the world’s best airlines since 1999.⁠
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The flagship carrier for the Middle Eastern country is the only airline to top the list five times, according to Skytrax.⁠
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For Skytrax’s annual global passenger satisfaction survey, customers nominate an airline and rank their satisfaction in categories including cabin service, ground and airport experience and onboard experience.⁠
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Do you agree with the survey? Comment below to let us know and click the link in our bio to find out more.⁠
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Hong Kong is the most expensive city in the world for those looking to buy a home, according to new research.⠀
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Real estate firm CBRE’s fifth annual Global Living report analyzed property markets across 35 cities and found that Asia dominated the list of the world’s most expensive property markets.⠀
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Hong Kong held its position as the most expensive city for the fifth consecutive year, while Singapore came in second and Shanghai was ranked third.⠀
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According to the report, the average price of a home in Hong Kong in 2019 is more than $1.2 million. High demand and short supply have driven property prices to “unaffordable” levels in recent years.⠀
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Click the link in our bio to find out more about the cities that topped the list.⠀
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☝️👏Amazon has a market capitalization of more than $900 billion dollars.⁣
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In 2018, Amazon had sales of $232.9 billion, according to financial statements released in January.⁣
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And yet, in Amazon's most recent shareholder letter, Jeff Bezos focused on how small Amazon is compared to the larger retail industry.⁣
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"...there are much larger retailers in every country where we operate," Bezos writes. "And that's largely because nearly 90% of retail remains offline, in brick and mortar stores," Bezos says. That's a figure Bezos got from the U.S. Department of Commerce's quarterly report on ecommerce sales, released in March, a spokesperson for Amazon tells .⁣
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More, at the link in our bio. ⁣
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You might think that actor Michael B. Jordan measures his success by roles. But you’d be wrong.⁣
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“Everybody has their own ... method or strategy to become successful. Everybody has their own version of success,” Jordan tells . “I think for me, it’s always been you’re defined by what you say no to.”⁣
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Jordan says what he says “yes” to is carefully considered. He wants to work with people he admires artistically and who he enjoys spending time with.⁣
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☝️Would you want to work at Alibaba after Jack Ma's comments?

China's richest man just endorsed the tech industry's notorious 996 work culture – that's 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., six days a week – in an internal meeting.

He added that the company doesn’t need people who look forward to a typical eight-hour office lifestyle. “To be able to work 996 is a huge bliss,” Ma said.

😢🛬🙇‍♀️It could be the world's worst commercial aviation disaster in three years.

A plane operated by Indonesia's Lion Air has crashed in the Java Sea, shortly after leaving Jakarta.

Contact was lost at an altitude of about 3,000 feet, according to the National Search and Rescue Agency.

The pilot had made a request to return to the airport within two to three minutes of take-off, Airnav says.

The Boeing 737 Max jet was heading for the popular tourist destination of Pangkalpinang, off Sumatra.

Debris and belongings have been found in the water, and officials expect there will be no survivors.

☝️😣Tumbling stock markets around the world mean piling into cash could prove the safest option for investors in the coming weeks.

That's according to a senior State Street Global Markets strategist, who says "it's time to hold cash" as a selloff that began in emerging markets spreads elsewhere.

You can see from the blue line on our chart just how emerging currencies have fallen, while Asia's shares - in white - are on the verge of a bear market.

Investors are nervous about everything from higher U.S. interest rates to a trade war with China and Italy's budget dispute.

🤔🤔20 more years for the trade war?

Billionaire Jack Ma sent out a grave warning regarding the trade war between the U.S. and China: It’s going to last longer and have a bigger impact than most people think.

China’s richest man said the dispute could last 20 years and persist beyond the presidency of Donald Trump. 📸:

☝️These are China's favorite brands - and multinationals are losing ground to local companies.

Domestic firms hold 30 of the 50 slots in the survey of 13,000 consumers by consultancy firm Prophet, up from 18 in 2016.

The online payment operator Alipay, owned by an affiliate of Alibaba Group, is at the top.

Phone maker Huawei and food delivery giant Meituan Dianping have shot up the list, at the expense of the likes of Apple, IKEA and Nike.

☝️👍 Yass!👌
The world's richest person is launching a $2 billion fund to help the homeless.

Jeff Bezos and his wife MacKenzie Bezos will focus on two initiatives.

The first will fund existing nonprofits and issue annual awards to organizations doing "compassionate, needle-moving work" to shelter and support the immediate needs of young families.

The second will operate a network of high-quality, full-scholarship Montessori-inspired preschools.

The vision statement for the Bezos Day One Fund comes from Mary's Place in Seattle: no child sleeps outside.

Bezos - who's seen in 's portrait - said "the same set of principles that have driven Amazon" would be used.

The most important of these would be "genuine, intense customer obsession" and "the child will be the customer," he added.

☝️🤝"Alibaba ties with Russian firms on e-commerce platform that will use Moscow's own payment system"
✔Chinese firm Alibaba has signed a joint venture with Russian partners to launch an e-commerce arm.
✔The partnership is aimed at integrating Russia's key consumer internet and e-commerce platforms.

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba signed a new strategic partnership with a number of Russian firms Tuesday, which will form a new e-commerce platform and utilize Russia's own payments system.
The deal — signed at the Eastern Economic Forum (EEF) in Vladivostok, Russia — includes the sovereign wealth fund of Russia, the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), alongside mobile operator MegaFon and internet group Mail.ru. The partnership is aimed at integrating Russia's key consumer internet and e-commerce platforms, and also launching a leading social commerce joint venture in Russia.

Alibaba added Tuesday that the idea is to create a one-stop destination for consumers to communicate, socialize, shop and play games, all within the same online ecosystem. A Financial Times article last week also likened the venture to a digital version of China's silk road initiative.

According to the statement, Alibaba will contribute AliExpress Russia, its local e-commerce arm, to the partnership which could enable the Chinese firm to reach out to a larger audience in Russia. It also said it would look at injecting money into the venture.

Alibaba will also cede control of its Russian business to form the partnership. The Chinese firm will own 48 percent of AliExpress Russia with the Russian entities taking 52 percent. The idea being that it will give Alibaba increased access to the Russian market.

The agreement, expected to be formalized in the first quarter of 2019, will use Russia's payments system known as Mir, according to Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the RDIF. Mir was developed in late 2014 after Western sanctions were imposed on Russia for its annexation of Crimea and its alleged role in the destabilization of eastern Ukraine. Mir is used in Russia alongside international payment systems such as Visa and MasterCard.

☝️💸"These Are the Cities With the Most Ultra-Rich People"

New York has lost its crown as home to the most ultra-rich people, beaten out by the rising tide of extreme wealth in Asia.

Hong Kong surpassed the Big Apple as the city with the highest population of people worth at least $30 million, according to a new report. The former British colony saw its number of ultra-wealthy increase 31 percent last year, to about 10,000, research firm Wealth-X found, higher than the nearly 9,000-strong population of the U.S.’s largest city. Tokyo came third, while Paris beat out London to take the European crown as Brexit weighed down the U.K. capital.

The number of ultra-rich worldwide rose 13 percent last year, according to Wealth-X, totaling about 256,000 people with combined assets of $31.5 trillion. Asia saw the fastest growth, driven by mainland China and Hong Kong, the study’s authors wrote. Reflecting the region’s rise, its share of the global population of people with at least $30 million rose to just over one-fourth, up from around 18 percent a decade ago.

While Hong Kong topped the city rankings, nowhere in mainland China made the top 10, despite the country being third in the list of nations. That’s because China’s wealthy are widely dispersed, illustrated by the fact it was home to 26 of the 30 fastest-growing cities for the ultra-rich.

Hong Kong’s rise was also a reflection of China’s improving fortunes, with its position at the top of the global list “supported by enhanced trade and investment links with mainland China,” according to the authors.
The relative struggles of commodity markets was a factor in the Middle East posting the weakest global growth in both assets and individuals, rising 4.8 percent and 4.4 percent, respectively.

😱😦Jack Ma will reportedly step down as Alibaba's chairman on Monday.

He insists he wouldn't call himself a successful businessperson - but "I am very successful on life," he says.

The world's 19th richest person admits he's "gone through a lot of tough decisions, tough days" and hopes his advice "can be very good for many young people" in future.

Click the link in our bio to read Bloomberg's interview with Alibaba's chairman, and his ideas for the future as a mentor and philanthropist.

This portrait is by Qilai Shen.

☝️💸"A handful of Asia's currencies are holding up amid the carnage hitting their peers"
Amid the carnage in emerging market currencies over the past two weeks, a few have held up relatively well.
One, the Thai baht, has actually stood out for its exceptional performance.
While not as strong as Thailand's currency, the Malaysian ringgit has been quite resilient, not sliding as much as the other currencies in turmoil. Those two economies have a few things in common: low inflation as well as large current account surpluses, experts pointed out.

Emerging market currencies have been plunging of late, some to new record lows.
Among the worst hit are the Argentine peso, Turkish lira, Indonesian rupiah and Indian rupee, causing fears of emerging markets contagion to spread. The lira, for instance, has lost at least 40 percent of its value against the dollar this year, while the rupee — the worst performing emerging Asian currency — has plunged more than 12 percent.
📌The Thai baht
The baht has been the best performing Asian currency with a 1.3 percent gain since mid-August, and has held steady through the year.
Thailand has a large current account surplus partly driven by very strong tourism growth, ANZ Head of Asia Research Khoon Goh told CNBC in an email. Typically, a strong surplus supports a country's currency because it means the nation is less dependent on foreign currencies.

Thailand is a big exporter of autos and other goods, which contributes to its account surplus. Its status as an economic center is also unlikely to be challenged by the ongoing U.S.-China trade war, Goh said on CNBC's "Street Signs" on Wednesday. He explained that the autos sector there is geared toward exporting to the region, and not to the U.S.

Additionally, Goh said, Thailand's economic growth is looking stronger and its central bank could soon raise interest rates — which would support the currency further.

☝️👏🥂The U.S. went 242 years without having a $1 trillion company - but 33 days after getting the first, it can now claim two of them.

Our chart shows that while it took Apple 15 months to make the final $200 billion, however, Amazon covered it in a three-month sprint.

The online retailer has created $440 billion in market value in 2018 alone.

That exceeds the value of all but five S&P 500 companies.

Click the link in our bio to read more about how it managed this huge achievement.

☝️📌Never ending China👏

🚘📌What does the revamped Nafta deal mean for carmakers? There are two important rules that will affect car manufacturing in the agreement the US reached with Mexico over new trade rules that will update the North American Free Trade Agreement.

The first is that 75% of the parts used in US and Mexican-assembled vehicles must come from within North America. This is higher than the current level of 62.5%, but far lower than the 85% figure that the US originally pursued in the talks.
The second rule is between 40 and 45%of the content that goes into the vehicles must be made by workers earning $16 an hour or more.
Read more at FT.com

☝️📌When it comes to expensive office spaces, Asia is leading the way. But where are costs dropping? Topping the list is Dubai with a dramatic 15% drop. And even in usually expensive cities for office space, like Shanghai and New York, costs are dropping in some districts.

As part of his annual compensation plan, Tim Cook stands to earn a total of 560,000 Apple shares on Friday. That's about $120 million worth of Apple stock, based on its current price. Apple's stock is up nearly 35% in the last 12 months. Cook has previously said he intends to give most of his wealth to charity, and earlier this week he donated roughly $5 million of stock, according to an SEC filing. More at the link in bio. *
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🥂👏💰 Congratulations Mr. Bezos🥂
The world’s richest man is pulling away from the pack.

Jeff Bezos’s net worth could buy 130 million troy ounces of gold or 2.13 billion barrels of crude oil.

And the wealth of the Amazon CEO - seen in Mike Kane’s portrait - is equivalent to 0.8% of the GDP of the United States.

Click the link in our bio to see our full list of the richest people on the planet, in the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

👏💰The Walton family, founders of the world's largest company by revenue, Walmart, and the richest family in the world, just got a whole lot richer. The family's fortune saw an $11.6 billion boost after Walmart reported its best sales in a decade in the company's fiscal Q2 earnings. This brings the family's collective wealth up to $163.2 billion, and keeps the Waltons at the top of the Bloomberg's world's richest families list, at least $64 billion ahead of the next richest family's fortune. More details, at the link in our bio. *
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Walmart's strongest sales in more than a decade have boosted the fortunes of the Walton family.

Their collective net worth surged to $163.2 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

They own about half of the retailer and their fortune is primarily tied to the company's shares.

This chart stacks up Thursday's biggest winners on our ranking of the world's 500 richest people.