Category: 3. Business

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What is the best place to buy a luxury watch? In China, more and more high-end shoppers are turning to social media. That is an opportunity for luxury brands seeking younger customers. For social networks themselves — including TikTok, currently the subject of a complex US-China carve-up — it could be a big driver of value.

The first to benefit from this trend has been Douyin, TikTok’s sister platform in China. There, shoppers buy luxury items the same way they buy lipstick or air fryers: by tapping into a livestream. A chatty host demos products and makes jokes, while viewers can buy anything they see on the stream with a single tap. It has become the default way millions of young consumers shop in the country.

Douyin sold 46 per cent more merchandise by value in the year to July than it did in the same period of 2024, according to the company. It became the third-largest online shopping platform in China last year. European brands have taken notice. Versace has hosted livestreams and opened an official Douyin flagship store. Burberry joined the platform’s “Super Brand Day” and collaborated with Douyin to dress virtual avatars.

TikTok is trying to replicate Douyin’s success globally by rolling out many of the same features in markets such as the US, including in-app checkout systems, product search tabs and shoppable videos. Its brand makes its push into luxury a tough sell: outside China, TikTok’s commerce business is more like a virtual dollar store.

Its efforts may nonetheless bear fruit. After all, TikTok and its ilk have a strong following among the young. More than half of Gen Z discovers products on Instagram and TikTok, according to Emarketer. Gen Z’s share of global luxury spending is expected to rise from 4 per cent today to 25 per cent by 2030, according to BCG.

This suggests that luxury groups — which have historically been cautious about selling on social media due to brand dilution concerns — may reconsider. Staying away from TikTok would mean missing out on their largest group of future customers.

Even if the luxury companies themselves prove hard to sway, they are not the only ones selling handbags. The market for second-hand fashion and luxury is growing rapidly. The global resale market size is projected to reach up to $360bn in the next five years, according to BCG. An average annual growth rate of 10 per cent means resale is growing nearly three times faster than the primary luxury market. Resale platforms like The RealReal have seen rising shopper demand and growing investor interest.

With younger consumers increasingly important and sellers proliferating, the next phase of the luxury market overlaps neatly with social media platforms. Future luxury buyers are now forming their brand loyalties, and TikTok is becoming the place where they do it.

june.yoon@ft.com

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Listings in the Middle East have dropped more than a third to the weakest level since 2020, as lower oil prices put pressure on Saudi Arabia’s economy and sell-offs of newly floated companies deterred investors.

Companies in the region had raised $6.5bn in initial public offerings by the end of November, compared with $9.9bn in the same period last year, according to financial data platform Dealogic.

Listings for the full year are set to be the weakest since companies raised $2.4bn in 2020, and down sharply from 2022 when IPOs pulled in $22.5bn from 62 deals.

In addition to weaker oil prices, investors and bankers have blamed poor performances by newly listed companies and a dearth of privatisations, after offerings by state-owned companies and financial regulatory reforms had driven a healthy pipeline of deals after the pandemic.

Ali Khalpey, head of Middle East at Cantor, said the slowdown came after a “very strong run” and investors were now “looking back and taking stock of where valuations were . . . It’s no longer ‘let’s all pile into an IPO’.”

Carl Tohme, Dubai-based fund manager at hedge fund Cheyne Capital, said Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates had “enjoyed three or four years of really positive momentum” due to weakness in China, a strong dollar and “the structural story with all the reforms” in oil-rich Gulf countries.

“Now, you have China that is investable again and doing very well, [and] the dollar is weak, especially against emerging market currencies. While the fundamental story of population growth in the UAE is still strong, the Saudi story is challenged mainly by the lower oil price,” he said.

The UAE’s markets in Dubai and Abu Dhabi have raised just $1bn this year, down from $6bn last year and a high of $12bn in 2022.

A much-anticipated IPO by Etihad, Abu Dhabi’s national carrier, failed to materialise this year. Dubai’s stock market suffered a setback when local online classifieds company Dubizzle pulled its planned listing, saying it was waiting for “optimal timing”.

Saudi facilities management company EFSIM this month became the latest to cancel an IPO, pulling a flotation that was expected to give it a valuation of almost $300mn.

Private businesses in the region also get crowded out as investors favour state-owned companies that enjoy monopolies and offer investors steady and secure dividends.

Anita Gupta, chief investment officer at Dubai-based Wealthbrix Capital Partners, said: “I would say that we are spoiled in this market . . . [by] very high dividend-yielding entities with quality assets.”

In contrast, shares of some of the highest-profile companies that listed last year have slumped.

That created “a big overhang in the market”, said Finlay Wright, head of equity markets for the Middle East and Asia at Rothschild. “It makes people nervous around the outlook for other entities that might come.”

Delivery company Talabat has sunk about 25 per cent since its Dubai listing in December 2024, in the Gulf’s biggest IPO of the year. Lulu Retail, a supermarket chain, has fallen about 40 per cent since its debut in Abu Dhabi in November last year, while grocer Spinneys has lost about 6 per cent since floating in Dubai. 

Dubai’s two IPOs of 2025 capitalised on soaring property prices, with construction company ALEC, majority owned by the Dubai government, raising $381mn. Dubai Holding, owned by the emirate’s ruler, raised $584mn floating a real estate investment trust. IT group Alpha Data raised $163mn in Abu Dhabi, the exchange’s sole IPO this year. 

Saudi Arabia, the region’s largest economy, has had the most IPOs so far, with 36 companies joining Riyadh’s Tadawul stock exchange and raising $4bn — roughly the same as last year despite the all-share index falling about 12 per cent year to date. Riyadh typically attracts a higher number of smaller listings than the UAE.

But investor confidence has been weighed down by lower oil prices and a widening fiscal deficit, which have led the government to reassess some megaprojects aimed at revamping its oil-reliant economy.

Share prices of major companies that listed on Riyadh’s bourse this year have slumped. Budget airline Flynas is down 17 per cent since raising $1bn in June, while packaging maker United Carton Industries has fallen 40 per cent since it raised $160mn the previous month.

Several companies “have missed the earnings guidance which had been out in the market, and that has a very negative effect on price performance”, said Rothschild’s Wright.

Smaller Gulf countries have been unable to capitalise on last year’s momentum, with Bahrain and Kuwait — which both managed one IPO last year — having none in 2025. Oman raised $333mn from one listing this year, having secured $2.5bn in three IPOs in 2024.  

[Lima, Peru, December 24, 2025] Claro Peru, one of the country’s leading telecommunications providers, and Huawei successfully deployed the world’s first commercial EcoMatrix site.

Featuring a highly integrated design that enables simplified and green deployment of all sub-3 GHz bands on a single pole, Huawei EcoMatrix outperforms conventional counterparts in actual tests across a host of metrics: 1.8 dB better coverage, 30% less antenna installation space required, and 35% site-wide energy saving. These strengths will help deliver higher-quality mobile network services for Peruvian consumers and drive the country’s digital transformation.

As its services expand, Claro Peru faces mounting challenges in network operations, with OPEX rising year on year. In Latin America, some tower companies calculate lease fees based on wind load area, yet conventional solutions usually have high wind loads due to a large number of devices. Moreover, energy-inefficient base stations consume a lot of energy and raise electricity costs. Claro has also struggled to simplify site deployment and maintenance in multi-band settings.

Supported by multiple innovations, EcoMatrix precisely addresses these challenges and brings operators four core benefits in network construction.

• Simplified site deployment: EcoMatrix allows Claro Peru to deploy the 700 MHz, 850 MHz, 1.9 GHz, and 2.6 GHz bands on a single pole, with only three boxes required per site (compared with 15 boxes previously).
• Extremely low energy consumption: The EcoMatrix radio units integrated GigaGreen RRUs, bringing 35% site-wide energy savings after this commercial deployment in Peru. There is even more energy saving potential, brought by the “0 Bit 0 Watt” deep dormancy feature, and future GigaGreen RRUs which can be flexibly combined into the EcoMatrix solution.
• Superb performance: EcoMatrix integrates true ultra-wideband RRUs and antennas, and leverages innovative signal direct injection feeding (SDIF) technology to eliminate the need for cables, significantly reducing feeder loss and internal insertion loss, maximizing spectral efficiency and network performance.
• Optimal evolution: The solution’s modular design allows operators to flexibly and smoothly scale networks by introducing new spectrum resources, even when the antenna installation space is limited. Operators do not need to erect new poles or modernize installed sites, and can deploy networks in phases according to spectrum availability, to better protect their long-term investments.

Juan David Rodríguez, Chief Technology Officer of Claro Peru, remarked on the solution: “We use Huawei EcoMatrix to deploy more bands at a tower site with a much smaller antenna footprint. Our site and spectrum are now more efficiently utilized, and our network is ready for continuous 5G evolution and flexible spectrum expansion. We are delivering better digital experience to users and contributing to Peru’s digital transformation.”

EcoMatrix is designed to help operators worldwide boost revenue, reduce costs, enhance efficiency, and achieve sustainability. Claro Peru’s successful deployment validates its value and showcases a path to building a lean, green, and efficient network that scales easily.

The Yukon has been grappling with an extreme cold weather system that’s pushing the power grid to the brink because it can’t keep up with demand.

Communities like Faro, about 360 kilometres northeast of Whitehorse, and Carmacks, around 180 kilometres north of the territory’s capital, have been experiencing lows of –50 C since Monday.

Temperatures started to dip below –30 C earlier this month, and there’s been no relief since. Here’s what’s causing this inclement weather to stick around in the Yukon.

What’s behind these extreme temperatures?

“What we’re seeing in Yukon is an Arctic ridge of high pressure,” Environment Canada meteorologist Tanmay Rane told CBC News. “What happens is, once a cold front passes, all the cold air behind it follows the cold front.”

Since cold air tends to sink because it’s heavier than warm air, it sinks down to the surface, pushing the air surrounding it out of the way. 

“When it does that, when [cold air] clears the air underneath it, air from aloft comes down to fill that pocket,” Rane said. 

Air that’s aloft, or higher above the surface, is colder than the air that’s at the surface, so as it fills the pocket left behind, it creates cooler conditions, Rane said.

Alongside that sinking effect, skies have remained clear. Without clouds in the sky to absorb heat radiated from the Earth’s surface and send it back down, Rane said the heat escapes to space overnight, preventing temperatures from rising.

“So night after night, Yukon is getting colder and colder because of the clear skies, and a high-pressure system like that is pretty stagnant.”

How low have temperatures gotten?

Environment Canada issued yellow weather alerts to 11 Yukon communities, including Whitehorse. Here’s how low temperatures have gotten within the past 24 hours:

• Whitehorse: –44 C
• Pelly Ranch (Fort Selkirk): –48 C
• Faro: –50 C
• Dawson: –45 C
• Carmacks: –49 C

Environment Canada’s weather alert issued for Whitehorse has advised that extreme wind chill values can make temperatures feel as low as –50 C, but some moderation of temperatures are expected going into Christmas Day.

What effect does wind chill have on the cold?

Windier conditions tend to make you feel colder, according to Environment Canada. Wind chill values are different from recorded temperatures, because they can’t be measured by a thermometer. Rather, they’re measured by how cold your skin would feel in the wind. 

Wind chill values can tell you how cold you’ll feel outside, which can be different from the recorded temperature. 

It’s included in weather forecasting when wind speed is expected to be 5 km/h or more and when recorded temperatures are zero or below. 

Being exposed wind chill values between –48 C to –54 C comes with a severe risk of frostbite. According to Environment Canada, any exposed skin could freeze in less than five minutes and sometimes faster if winds stay consistently above 50 km/h.

How long could it last?

Although the cold isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, Rane said temperatures could gradually start to rise by next week.

“I don’t think it would get any colder,” Rane said. “This Arctic high that’s sitting over Yukon right now will slowly sink down into northern BC and then make its way out.” 

Once that happens, Rane said he expects that clouds will start coming in, leading to a slow increase in temperature.

Why could there be blackouts?

Yukon’s power grid is nearing capacity as electricity usage surged due to the cold. Demand reached a peak on Monday with 123 megawatts of power being pulled from a system that can accommodate 140 megawatts. 

Ted Laking, the minister responsible for Yukon Energy, said Tuesday that rolling blackouts may be enacted to alleviate the demand, though he added that Whitehorse hasn’t reached that stage yet. 

If rolling blackouts were to occur, they would happen by neighbourhood. To prepare, Laking has urged Yukon residents to compile emergency kits that would last 72 hours with supplies like flashlights, emergency blankets and food.

TOKYO, JAPAN – December 25, 2025 – Blackstone (NYSE: BX) today announced that Real Estate funds managed by Blackstone (“Blackstone”) have entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Tokyo C-NX (the “Asset”), a Grade A logistics asset located in central Tokyo. Valued at over JPY 100 billion (US$641 million), this marks the largest logistics transaction in Japan this year and underscores Blackstone’s commitment to investing in sectors that support Japan’s economic growth.
  
The Asset – a 1.6 million square feet, 5-story warehouse in Tokyo Bay, within a 15-minute driving distance from the city center – serves as a mission-critical distribution hub. Japan continues to see steady demand for high-quality warehousing solutions, driven by its expanding e-commerce sector – now the fourth-largest globally – and a shift towards a more digitalized economy.
 
Daisuke Kitta, Head of Real Estate Japan, Blackstone, said: “We are pleased to invest in a premium asset in logistics, a fast-growing sector and one of Blackstone’s highest conviction investment themes. This reinforces our focus on investing in critical industries shaping Japan’s future and demonstrates our ability to offer scale, speed, and certainty to Japanese corporates seeking trusted partners to advance their strategic goals. We are committed to partnering with Japanese businesses and continuing to contribute in meaningful ways to the evolution of Japan’s economy.”
  
Japan is a high conviction market for Blackstone, where the firm has built partnerships with leading corporates including Seibu Holdings, Kintetsu Group, and Sony Group. In recent years, it has accelerated its investments across businesses. In Real Estate, Blackstone has built a diversified portfolio across logistics, residential, hotels, data centers, and offices. Earlier this year, Blackstone completed the acquisition of Tokyo Garden Terrace Kioicho for $2.6 billion (~JPY 400 billion) in the largest real estate investment at the time by a foreign investor. Blackstone is also building its data center presence in Japan through AirTrunk, a leading data center platform in the Asia Pacific region, further strengthening its position as the world’s largest data center provider and a major investor across the AI value chain.
 
Blackstone is a significant investor in logistics globally. Over nearly 15 years, the firm has made investments at scale in the United States, Europe, and in the Asia Pacific region across Japan, India, Australia, Greater China, and South Korea.
 
About Blackstone
Blackstone is the world’s largest alternative asset manager. Blackstone seeks to deliver compelling returns for institutional and individual investors by strengthening the companies in which the firm invests. Blackstone’s over $1.2 trillion in assets under management include global investment strategies focused on real estate, private equity, credit, infrastructure, life sciences, growth equity, secondaries and hedge funds. Further information is available at www.blackstone.com. Follow @blackstone on LinkedIn, X (Twitter), and Instagram.
 
Blackstone
Mariko Sanchanta
[email protected]
080 8702 7386
 
Kekst CNC
Minako Otani
[email protected]
090-3239-9348

Nestled away in a small second-storey shop in Perth’s CBD, Clinton Howe dissects an analogue camera as the sound of mechanical whirrs fill the air.

The workshop smells of steel, leather and dust. 

It’s an environment the technician knows well — after all, he’s been fixing cameras for almost half a century.

Mr Howe is one of the last of his generation of analogue camera repairers in Australia, and he’s worried it’s becoming a dying art as he nears retirement next September.

Yet business is booming at the twilight of his career, as more young people discover the joy of using film cameras. 

“They’re tactile, they’re everything. You know, when you pick it up, you just go, oh, god, how good is this?” he says.

Young embrace film

Mr Howe has seen a resurgence in young people using vintage cameras, with most of his customers aged under 35.

“I like the fact that I can deal with people, especially young people. It keeps me young,” he says.

He estimates there are less than a dozen people in his job across the country, and less than five in Western Australia, most of whom are semi-retired.

“It’s a very hard business to get into because there are so many idiosyncrasies, and so many different things to learn, and each camera’s different,” he says.

“Once you learn the basics, it gives you the tools with which you apply to most cameras and that’s why I’ve always been a hands-on repair man.”

His hands have been hard at work since he took a break from university in 1978 to work at his stepfather’s shop in Perth’s picturesque London Court.

Forty-eight years later, Mr Howe is still there, making him one of Perth’s longest-serving repairers still working. 

Film ‘more precise’

Many in the tight-knit film photography industry know of Mr Howe’s work, even if they don’t know his name. 

Among them is 21-year-old music photographer Lizzie Wilkie, who’s been shooting analogue for six years.

“It’s an exciting process, I love it,” she says.

“When it comes to film, I’m a lot more precise and careful with the photo … it’s a stronger memory.”

Ms Wilkie has old cameras from her grandparents, and buys some second-hand from op shops. Not all of them work.

She’s been putting off fixing some, but feels a sense of urgency now knowing that technicians like Mr Howe are retiring.

“My film camera, I use a lot with bands and for my job. If that were suddenly to die, I’d probably not know what to do,” she says.

The new guard

When Mr Howe packs up shop in September 2026, it won’t be the end of his legacy.

Daniel Ward, a 37-year-old camera technician, has bought Mr Howe’s sea of spare parts, and is ramping up work for film camera repairs at the shop he owns in Malaga in Perth’s northern suburbs.

With 19 years of fixing film and digital cameras already under his belt, Mr Ward says he’s “not at all” worried about the future of film, but it might become harder to find camera parts.

Mr Ward has learnt a few things from his colleague — former co-owner of the camera shop in Perth’s north and retiring technician, 69-year-old Nigel Boots.

“I have a lot of confidence in Daniel because he’s been doing film cameras for [more than] 16 years, plus all the other ones,” Mr Boots says.

Mr Boots has been repairing cameras for 53 years, and thinks his former business is in good hands, with plans to train up other young technicians.

Optimism about the future 

While Mr Howe has faith in the younger technicians, he is worried a generation of hands-on experience may become lost.

“Even now I’m getting problems I’ve never ever seen before, and I’ve been in the game for nearly 50 years, so what chance has a kid that’s been in the game for five years?” he says.

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But he remains optimistic about the future of film.

“Honestly, I think film photography will stay. Digital photography will go,” the camera stalwart says.

“I guarantee that there will be certain [film] cameras that will still be going in another 100 years.”

The veteran technician still plans to do the odd repair job after he leaves the workshop, but it’s the relationships he’s fostered with customers that mean the most to him.

“To me they’re part of the family and they always have been,” Mr Howe says, the hint of a tear in his eye.

“I look forward to seeing them again.”

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