scrubbedexpat141

Great news. I'm sure their checking of sellers will be of a greater standard than what I assume is nothing now.

DXBtoDOH

Millhouse hasn't responded yet. Is he with the models and bottles?

Millhouse

too much busy

scrubbedexpat141

Millhouse

Well it was a bit like that last night to be honest, but today has been easy.

Then again, the US isn't awake yet - the deal is being driven from New York.

scrubbedexpat141

Handing over the hateful Americans was the best thing I ever did. More so because I gave it to my boss who has since found out what a horrid bunch they are for us.

The dreaded 16:00 DXB onwards in Dubai when the NYC crowd are commuting and emailing....

Millhouse

exactly. I pretty much refuse to get drawn into emails sent from trains.

One guy likes to call me for a chat as he walks to work. Just what I need at 5.30pm.

scrubbedexpat141

That would kill me.

My sister insists on ringing me occasionally from her car....with her latest Groupon £6 clip on hands-free kit. All I can hear is the road and a mumble. Total waste of time but obviously I persevere because it makes her happy.

Millhouse

He's stored in my phone as needy. At least 2 calls a day... And several more i don't answer.

scrubbedexpat141

Hang on. I ring you twice a day......

Irishbeekeeper

yeah you are saved in his phone as 'Speedy'...I wonder why?

weasel decentral

I had a boss like that who used his commute home to call and go through stuff, it started as just a few minutes of some quick items but quickly escalated into him unburdening himself of whatever stuff had gone on during the day.

After about a week of that, I switched off the work mobile and left it in the office every evening I was becoming his bloody psychiatrist

IKnowNothing

And it appears EMAAR have bid a further $220 million?

Why?

DXBtoDOH

Theory is because Emaar is the holder of very valuable retail real estate and expats in Dubai are a 'trapped' market, the dangers of Amazon is that it opens up a huge access to affordable goods (cheaper than at Dubai Mall).

So they want to buy Souq to block Amazon from entry into the ME market, to keep their retail prices as high as possible, to justify keeping mall rents as high as possible.

Or so I'm told. It makes sense, but expats have been buying from Amazon and shipping to the UAE for a long time already.

Millhouse

Emaar is owned by Alabbar. Alabbar is behind noon.com - the eCommerce startup to end all eCommerce startups... that's three months behind its launch schedule and going through a staffing restructuring.

Why build when you can't and can buy would be another way of looking at it.