Company News in Brief

Head of Libya's National Oil Corporation resignsThe head Libya's National Oil Corporation (NOC), Farhat Bengdara, has resigned due to "health issues," and Masoud Sulaiman has been appointed as acting chief, the state oil company said on Thursday.The Government of National Unity's head, Abdulhamid al-Dbeibah, accepted Bengdara's resignation and appointed Sulaiman pending the formation of a new board of directors at the next cabinet meeting, NOC added in a statement.Bengdara, who was appointed in July 2022 to replace veteran NOC chief Mustafa Sanallah, submitted his resignation to Dbeibah three times in one year as he wanted to have a back surgery that would require him to rest for months and could not be postponed, a source from Bengdara's office told Reuters.The NOC runs the technical sector of oil and gas production, along with a number of smaller subsidiaries, in OPEC member Libya, which is the third largest oil producer in North Africa.Since the fall of Muammar Gaddafi in a NATO-backed uprising in 2011, Libya's oil production has been repeatedly hit by groups blocking facilities, sometimes to demand material benefits but also as a tactic to achieve wider political ends.Oil prices fell on Thursday, with Yemen's Houthi militia expected to halt attacks on ships in the Red Sea, and investors weighed strong U.S. retail data.-REUTERS Zambia says Saudi's Manara interested in its copper assetsSaudi Arabia's Manara Minerals is looking for critical minerals projects in Zambia to invest in, the southern African country's mines minister Paul Kabuswe told Reuters on Thursday.Manara and Africa's second-largest copper producer held talks on Wednesday after the signing the previous day of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Saudi Arabia to cooperate on exploration for new minerals."They (Manara) are interested, but we do not know which ones yet," he said on the sidelines of a mining conference in Riyadh, adding that an announcement on a potential mining deal between Zambia and Saudi Arabia is likely this year.Saudi Arabia is among several Middle East economies pursuing deals in critical minerals, including copper and lithium, as part of de-facto ruler Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman's strategy to wean the economy off its dependency on oil.Manara, a joint venture between Saudi Arabian Mining Company and the kingdom's $925 billion Public Investment Fund, is closing in on a deal to buy a minority stake in the Zambian copper and nickel assets of Canada's First Quantum Minerals, Reuters reported in October.-REUTERSWest African BRVM stock exchange hit record value in 2024The total value of West Africa's regional BRVM stock exchange rose to 20.6 trillion CFA francs ($32 billion) in 2024, a record high, boosted by strong interest from investors, its general director told reporters on Thursday."Investor appetite supported the stock market in 2024," Edoh Kossi Amenounve said, noting the total was up from 18.3 billion CFA francs in 2023.The value of transactions reached 462 billion CFA francs in 2024, up from 396 billion CFA francs the previous year, while the all-share index BRVM composite rose by 28.9% year-over-year to 276.02 points.The Beninese bank Banque Internationale pour l'Industrie et le Commerce is slated to be listed on the exchange in April following its initial public offering, Amenounve said.The Abidjan-based exchange currently has 47 companies listed, including Senegalese telecom Sonatel, Ivorian telecom Orange, Burkina Faso's Onatel and the Ivorian lender Societe Generale Cote d'Ivoire.Several countries and companies also have bonds listed on the exchange.-REUTERS Goldman Sachs' profit doubles Goldman Sachs' profit more than doubled in the fourth quarter, driven by bankers who brought in more fees from dealmaking, debt sales and strength in trading. Profit rose to $4.11 billion (R77.5 billion), or $11.95 per diluted share, for the three months ended 31 December, compared with $2.01 billion, or $5.48 per diluted share, a year ago, the Wall Street giant said on Wednesday. Banking industry executives anticipate stronger dealmaking activity this year as the US Federal Reserve cuts interest rates and President-elect Donald Trump's pro-business comments fuel optimism among investors. -REUTERS TikTok users flock to 'China's Instagram' ahead of US ban on SundayAs a TikTok ban looms in the United States, young Americans are flocking to the Chinese social media platform Xiaohongshu as “TikTok refugees” in search of a similar experience.The app has risen to the top spot on the iOS and Google Play stores in the US in recent days as users prepare for TikTok to be banned on national security grounds from Sunday unless Chinese parent company ByteDance divests its ownership.Chinese lifestyle app Lemon8, which is also owned by ByteDance, has ranked as the second most downloaded app.Xiaohongshu, which has been described as China’s answer to Instagram, allows users to post photos, videos and text and is known for its female-heavy user base.While boasting about 300 million monthly active users, Xiaohongshu’s reach is smaller than that of other popular apps in China, such as Sina Weibo and WeChat, which claim 1.2 billion-plus users.A surge in new users, some of them describing themselves as “TikTok refugees,” is now flooding the app’s “Discover” page with videos seeking tips on how to use “RedNote,” the app’s new nickname in the US.-AL JAZEERA China considers selling TikTok US operations to Elon MuskChinese officials are evaluating a potential option that involves Elon Musk acquiring the US operations of TikTok if the company fails to fend off a controversial ban on the short-video app, according to people familiar with the matter.Beijing officials strongly prefer that TikTok remains under the ownership of parent ByteDance, the people say, and the company is contesting the impending ban with an appeal to the US Supreme Court.But the justices signaled during arguments on January 10 that they are likely to uphold the law.TikTok’s US operations could be valued at around $40 billion to $50 billion, Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Mandeep Singh and Damian Reimertz estimated last year. That’s a substantial sum even for the world’s richest person. It’s not clear how Musk could pull off such a transaction, whether it would require the sale of other holdings, or whether the US government would approve. He paid $44 billion for Twitter in 2022, and is still paying off sizable loans. Musk has a positive reputation among many ByteDance employees in China, according to a person familiar with the matter. He is seen as a very successful entrepreneur, who has experience engaging with the Chinese government through his Tesla business, the person added.ByteDance’s leaders have repeatedly said their priority is to fight US legislation that requires the Beijing-based company sell or shut down the US operations because of national security concerns. TikTok’s lawyers have argued the legislation violates free speech laws under the Constitution’s First Amendment. -BLOOMBERG NEWS

Company News in Brief

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