KSA, Agility & Vingroup on Thriving in Tumultuous Times
H.E. Bandar Ibrahim Abdullah Al Khorayef, Minister of Industry & Mineral Resources, KSA; Henadi Al-Saleh, Chairperson, Agility and Le Thi Thu Thuy, Vice Chairwoman, Vingroup, discuss navigating the challenges and opportunities of doing global business in an era of economic and geopolitical uncertainty with Bloomberg's Francine Lacqua at the 2025 Qatar Economic Forum, Powered by Bloomberg. (Source: Bloomberg)
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Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Disney Share Prices Jumped — Should You Invest Now?
Walt Disney Co. stock prices have continued to climb following a better-than-expected earnings report in the beginning of May 2025. Stuck at under $100 since March 2025, the stock jumped to more than $112 in early May. It's hovering near its 52-week high of more than $118, and still has room for growth. Read More: Trending Now: Zacks Investment Research gave Disney a grade of 'A' for growth and momentum scores, and 'B' for value. Perhaps it would have been smarter to buy Disney stock in late 2024 or early 2025 if you were looking for value pricing. However, there's still plenty of room for growth. For instance, Rosenblatt Securities raised its price target on Disney from $135 to $140 and rated the stock a 'buy now,' according to Marketbeat. Several other analysts, including UBS Group, Loop Capital and The Goldman Sachs Group also gave Disney buy ratings. A solid earnings statement and the announcement of a new theme park and resort in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, bolstered Disney stock prices. Revenue increased 7% in the second fiscal quarter, which ended in March 2025. Income before taxes also increased from less than $1 billion to $3.1 billion. Disney+ gained 1.4 million subscribers since the prior quarter. Explore Next: It's no surprise that, in spite of heated competition from Universal's new Epic Universe theme park minutes from Walt Disney World Resort, Disney stock is starting to rise as summer approaches. 'It's a seasonal thing; summertime is always good for Disney,' David Capablanca, Miami native, finance expert, and host of The Friendly Bear podcast said. While it could be school breaks and family vacations driving Disney, the entertainment company also has a solid history and foundation that long-term investors like. 'Disney stock is… something to hold long term,' Capablanca said. 'The entertainment they offer is timeless. They've got a whole catalog of history.' Not every expert called Disney a buy or hold, however. 'Before getting too excited about recent gains, let's remember that Disney has had a lost decade, with the stock trading around the same as it was in 2015,' Vince Stanzione, CEO and founder at First Information, said. He added that even with a strong global economy, Disney has struggled. 'If we are going into a slower economy and a possible recession as I believe we are, I really don't see Disney stock offering any value.' Will a Disney investment earn the same kind of 1350% return Stanzione said Netflix delivered in the past decade? Probably not. But many retail investors buy Disney to own a piece of the company they love. In turn, their portfolio benefits from the addition of a low-risk, slow-growth, dividend-earning stock. Whether you buy Disney or not depends on what you're looking for and how you analyze the numbers. Some experts prefer to focus on the inevitable competition and tailwinds, while others adopt a worry-free philosophy toward the company and choose to focus on the positive earnings in 2025. 'They're a timeless kind of organization [and] very low risk,' Capablanca said. 'As the overall market keeps breaking out, it's going to help Disney maintain an upward trajectory over the long term. We're heading toward all-time highs, and a rising tide lifts all boats.' More From GOBankingRates Mark Cuban Says Trump's Executive Order To Lower Medication Costs Has a 'Real Shot' -- Here's Why This article originally appeared on Disney Share Prices Jumped — Should You Invest Now? Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Skift
4 hours ago
- Skift
Travel Tech M&A Ramps Up: 40+ Deals in 3 Months
Economic uncertainty leads to lower valuations, and that means it can be a good time to buy for companies that have the means. Analysts were right: 2025 is shaping up to be a busy year for travel tech M&A. In the past three months alone, Skift has tracked more than 40 deals — many driven by companies flush with recent funding or looking to consolidate in a changing market. Skift has tracked more than 40 travel tech deals in the past three months alone. Much of the activity comes from tech companies with fresh funding from the past couple of years, which they secured in part to grow via M&A. Many large companies and investment firms are scooping up travel tech companies as well. Multiple late-stage startups — established businesses with a proven track record — raised big amounts last year as they seek to modernize the travel industry. But for younger startups, funding has been tight: So far this year, Skift has tracked fewer than 60 startup funding rounds, and only two were over $100 million. That's pacing much lower than last year when we tracked more than 200 fundings, with more than a dozen over $100 million. As investors have told Skift, economic uncertainty leads to lower valuations, and that means it can be a good time to buy for companies that have the means. Between startups running out of money and independent owners looking for an exit, there should still be plenty of opportunity. Below are details about more than 40 M&A deals involving travel tech from the past three months. The selling price for most of the deals was undisclosed. That often — but not always — means the deals were small. Boeing Selling Aviation Software for $10.55 Billion Private equity firm Thoma Bravo in April said it plans to purchase Boeing's aviation software business in an all-cash transaction of $10.55 billion, expected to close by the end of the year. The deal includes the software for airline operations, flight planning, and lease management: Jeppesen, ForeFlight, AerData, and OzRunways assets. Boeing is keeping a piece of fleet management software. The software business employs 3,900 people, including those who will remain with Boeing and those who work for the assets being sold. Amadeus Makes Two Acquisitions Amadeus, the distribution tech company, has made two acquisitions so far this year. The Madrid-based company acquired ForwardKeys, a travel data analytics firm, in the first quarter of the year. Amadeus paid $17.4 million (€15.3 million) for the company, which had about 100 employees, according to a document filed with the Spanish government. And at the end of April, Amadeus announced that it acquired Hermes, a tech product meant to streamline traveler screening at international borders. Amadeus bought the tech from Netherlands-based software company WCC Group. Amadeus made two acquisitions in 2024: Vision-Box for $347.7 million to expand its biometrics services for airports, and Voxel for $123.2 million to strengthen its payment tech services. Sabre Sold Its Hospitality Unit Sabre in April said it plans to sell its hotel tech business for $1.1 billion in cash to the private equity arm of San Francisco-based TPG. The deal is expected to close in the coming months. Sabre CEO Kurt Ekert had put a lot of effort into building the hotel tech unit since he started his role in 2023, but a top priority is reducing over $5 billion in debt. About 1,000 employees are moving with the sale, reducing Texas-based Sabre's headcount to about 5,500. Ekert talked more about the decision in an interview with Skift. JetBlue Ventures Sold to Private Equity The airline JetBlue in May said it sold its venture capital arm, JetBlue Ventures, to the private equity firm Sky Leasing as part of a focus on profitability. Amy Burr, CEO of JetBlue Ventures, spoke with Skift about what's next. JetBlue Ventures has invested in 55 early stage startups and made more 40 follow-on investments since it was founded in 2016. Eight of those companies have either been acquired or gone public, and a handful have gone out of business. JetBlue was the sole investor in JetBlue Ventures, and the investments always came from the airline's balance sheet, Burr said. That means the airline still has a stake in all the startups it has invested in so far, and the plan for now is to maintain that. JetBlue Ventures' total equity investments were valued at $89 million at the end of the first quarter this year, according to a public filing. American Express Acquires Center for Expense Management American Express in April acquired Center, a startup platform for expense management. American Express said it will integrate Center's tech with its corporate card program for commercial customers. The Center team joined American Express, the company said. The credit card company's expense management services historically have come through third-party platforms, including Concur and Emburse. Washington-based Center said its platform is meant to give businesses real-time visibility into employee spending, as well as automate accounting tasks and streamline expense submission processes. Lighthouse and Duetto Complete Their First Post-Funding Deals Lighthouse and Duetto both made their first acquisitions since getting fresh capital in recent months. Lighthouse, the London-based tech platform meant to help hotels drive revenue, raised $370 million last November. It acquired The Hotels Network in April, a Barcelona-based tech company focused on marketing and distribution for hotels. The deal added a new offering for Lighthouse and more than 20,000 hotel clients. (See Skift's story.) Duetto, the San Francisco-based hotel revenue management platform, last June was acquired by private equity firm GrowthCurve Capital for an undisclosed sum. The company in April acquired UK-based hotel data analytics firm HotStats. Lyft Acquires Freenow to Enter Europe Rideshare app Lyft in April said it plans to acquire taxi reservation app Freenow from BMW Group and Mercedes-Benz Mobility for $197 million. The deal is expected to close in the coming months. San Francisco-based Lyft operates in the U.S. and Canada. It reported that it reached an all-time high of 44 million annual riders in 2024. Germany-based Freenow operates in 150 cities across Ireland, the UK, Germany, Greece, Spain, Italy, Poland, France, and Austria. Lyft said the combined company will have more than 50 million annual riders. Bolt Makes Its First Acquisition Bolt, the rideshare app, in March acquired Viggo to expand services into Denmark. Estonia-based Bolt operates in more than 50 countries. Besides rideshare and airport pickup, Bolt offers car rentals, delivery, and e-bike and scooter rentals. Viggo operates a fleet of more than 300 electric vehicles and has 450,000 users in Copenhagen and Aarhus. Bolt already had e-bike rental operations in Copenhagen. Hotelbeds Acquires Civitfun, Its First Deal Post-IPO HBX Group, the owner of hotel wholesaler Hotelbeds, said in May that it acquired hotel tech company Civitfun. The company bought Civitfun for $3.4 million (€3 million) 'plus a deferred consideration contingent on the achievement of future EBITDA levels,' according to a filing with the UK government. Spain-based HBX Group negotiates discounted rates for 250,000 hotels — including 100,000 that it has direct contracts with — and then marks them up for more than 60,000 travel sellers. Spain-based Civitfun primarily offers digital check-in and check-out tech for hotels and vacation rentals, as well as products for hotel and guest communications, upselling, and company said it had 3,500 clients. HBX Group said its hotel partners now have access to the Civitfun tech, and the company plans to strengthen that tech. Spain-based HBX Group went public in February at a valuation of $3.3 billion (€2.84 billion) deal. Former CNBC Host Acquires Dylan Ratigan, the former CNBC and MSNBC host and serial entrepreneur, in March acquired hotel-booking site and became the new CEO. Ratigan said he was attracted to for the domain name, and the potential to expand its hotel business, as well as to branch out into travel-adjacent verticals, such as restaurants and event tickets. In 2022, HotelPlanner and were slated to merge with a shell company and go public in a SPAC deal valued at $688 million. But the three companies called off the marriage without explanation in February 2022. Mondee Acquired Out of Bankruptcy Mondee, a booking platform for travel agents, in April said that it had been acquired and exited Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Mondee co-founder and Chairman Prasad Gundumogula acquired a majority stake in the company as a co-owner of the buyer, a company called Tabhi. Other Tabhi owners include affiliates of TCW Asset Management Company, Morgan Stanley Investment Management. Mondee had been a public company before it was delisted from Nasdaq in December. SITA Acquires Airport Design Company CCM SITA, the airline-owned tech provider for much of the air travel industry, in March said it acquired airport design company CCM. Switzerland-based SITA provides tech for passenger processing, baggage handling, and airport operations, and more. Milan-based CCM said it has designed more than 300 airports worldwide. SITA says the deal is meant to combine tech and interior design as more airports prioritize self-service, biometrics, mobile apps, and IT spending. SITA says it is working to improve the passenger journey process ahead of an expected two-fold increase in air traffic by 2040. Juniper Travel Technology Adds Another Company Juniper Travel Technology acquired RezMagic, a Florida-based event management software company that focuses on the cruise industry. Juniper Travel Technology is a business unit of Juniper Group, which is an operating portfolio of Vela Software, one of the six divisions of Toronto-based Constellation Software. Juniper Group owns more than 30 companies, including around a dozen in travel. The company plans to buy as many as a dozen travel tech companies this year, said Jaime Sastre, CEO of Juniper Group, in an interview with Skift in January. Tripadvisor completed its $430 million merger with parent company Liberty Tripadvisor Holdings, a deal announced last December. Amex GBT and CWT extended the deadline for their merger to close from March 21 to Dec. 31, been an ongoing U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit to block the deal, which was first announced in March 2024. CWT's value was reduced from $570 million to $540 million. Tech firm Prosus in May completed its acquisition of Despegar, Latin America's largest online travel company, for $1.7 billion. The deal was announced in December. Other Acquisitions
Forbes
6 hours ago
- Forbes
4 Strategies For Entrepreneurs To Stay Profitable In 2025
Entrepreneurs and small business owners need new strategies to navigate market turmoil in 2025. As we continue to navigate market turmoil, tariff-related uncertainty, decelerating consumer spending and the ongoing waves of AI disruption, entrepreneurial leaders—whether full-time entrepreneurs, side hustlers or intrapreneurs—must contend with the fact that we no longer live in the small business heyday of 2021 and 2022. Entrepreneurs who want to survive this particular phase—when organizations and individuals alike are holding onto their money—must deploy new strategies. Success now requires increased strategic flexibility and a problem-solving approach over a rigid and idealistic focus on what the entrepreneurial leader wants and envisions. Here are four ways entrepreneurs can navigate the current economic reality and landscape—and still emerge profitable. It used to be that entrepreneurs could build and sustain a decently successful venture by simply following the 'old rules:' Now, markets shift and shrink far too rapidly to rely on the old approach. AI is changing how people buy, spend and invest their money. Services that used to carry prestige and command premium pricing are now possible to DIY using AI tools. Products that may have sold easily through traditional SEO or marketing methods are undiscoverable in the world of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO). Heightened everyday costs continue to impact spending patterns and every week brings a new set of trends. Entrepreneurs who want to survive must meet our current reality by staying as flexible as the market is unpredictable. That said, business owners need not despair. Not everything can be in flux all of the time. Identify one core element of your business to keep fixed. This could be your service or product line. It could be your target market. Everything outside of that, however, must remain fluid. If you are committed to a service offering that is dear to your heart, understand that the market for that service may not overlap with your ideal client avatar. You must be willing to sell to those who will buy. For example, if you run a coaching business and are committed to offering high-touch coaching services, you may have to expand or shift your target market from rising professionals to executives who have greater access to discretionary income. On the other hand, if you're committed to a particular customer niche, then be willing to adapt your offerings and product lines continually. That community's tastes, spending habits and level of economic power is likely in flux now. If you're a furniture seller and your target market is small business owners, you may have to shift from selling high-end office furniture and executive desks to offering modular workspace solutions and portable standing desk converters to accommodate the reality of hybrid work arrangements and tighter budgets. Regardless of what your non-negotiable element of business is, all entrepreneurs must cast a far wider net than in the past. A business must reach a greater number of prospective clients and customers in terms of geography, demographics and psychographics in order to convert enough business. With spending continuing to decrease or remain uncertain at best, diversifying and expanding the pool of individuals and companies who trust your business enough to purchase is an imperative. Another common pitfall among entrepreneurs and business owners—particularly those who have experienced past success—is that they get stuck in a rut and are unable to stomach sufficient experimentation. To stay stagnant in a fast-moving environment is a losing strategy. Instead, entrepreneurs must remain agile, nimble and willing to experiment (and fail) in every aspect of business from market research to pricing strategy to bundling of products and services to marketing channels and content to market positioning and target audience. Successful entrepreneurs will test out significantly more ideas than in the past so that they can truly understand how the landscape of consumer sentiment is shifting and keep steering their business in the right direction. The classic business startup model focused on what entrepreneurs wanted to offer to their ideal clients and customers. That approach will fail in times of economic uncertainty. Now, entrepreneurs must reverse this approach—start with what problems need solutions and hone in on what solutions people are willing to spend on. Corporate and individual spending is currently plagued by austerity measures, which means the entrepreneurial leader's approach must be even sharper. Observe what people are actually spending on, what pain points they're raising. Identify gaps where you are uniquely positioned to provide the solutions they seek. If you're an entrepreneur who's determined to survive and thrive into the future, block time in your calendar in the next four weeks to assess and potentially overhaul your approach to business leadership. First, evaluate how rigid or flexible your current entrepreneurial approach is. Identify your top priority, your non-negotiable core element in business. Next, identify how you can expand your market reach and cast a much wider net when it comes to prospective clients and customers. Then, choose three new products or services to test with your current audience. Try out new messaging to raise awareness around your brand to three new audiences. Finally, track your progress as you go and, after four weeks, ask yourself what you learned and how the results—the good, the bad and the ugly—impact how you'll continue to drive your business forward through uncertain times. Market volatility and rapid change require that all entrepreneurial leaders adapt strategically. The businesses that remain successful during this time are the ones that continue to find new clients and increase their market share using these targeted methods. Successful entrepreneurs aren't waiting for better conditions. They're reshaping their strategies to match current and evolving realities. By embracing flexibility, expanding reach, experimenting boldly and staying laser-focused on solving real, acute problems, entrepreneurs can turn uncertainty into opportunity and build businesses that thrive regardless of economic headwinds.
