![](\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/Johannes-Hummer-FTI-Headshot-e1782120756323.png?w=2048\")
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Good morning.<\/strong> What\u2019s it like doing business in the Middle East right now? The Strait of Hormuz has closed again, a lasting U.S.-Iran peace deal remains elusive, and global airline profits have been cut in half this year, according to IATA, which blames high fuel costs and war-related disruptions in the Middle East. Visitor arrivals to the region dropped 14% in the first quarter. You could be forgiven for thinking things look dire.\u00a0<\/p>\n But that\u2019s not the case, argues Johannes Hummer, the Dubai-based CEO of Freedom Telecom International, an arm of Freedom Holding Corp., which helps telecom operators embed fintech services into their platforms, primarily across emerging markets. He\u2019s spent more than a decade operating out of the region and previously ran Vodafone\u2019s Middle East and Africa business. His message to Western executives watching from a distance: the companies showing up right now are the ones that will own the next chapter of Gulf growth.<\/p>\n Hummer points out that while the UAE reported 13 deaths from the fallout of drone attacks early on, there have been no fatalities reported since late March. He says local companies are using the war-related downturn to improve their operations and infrastructure. \u201cHotels are closing down for innovation, doing long-overdue maintenance and getting ready for autumn when the season comes back up,\u201d he told me recently, pointing to the government\u2019s rollout of a range of new infrastructure projects, too. \u201cTraffic was getting out of control because too many people came in and the infrastructure couldn\u2019t keep up. Now, they\u2019re focusing on getting it right.\u201d<\/p>\n Moreover, he notes that companies like Revolut and Nubank have recently moved headquarters to Dubai. In addition to being a good base for sourcing multicultural talent and expanding into Asia or Africa, Hummer argues that the U.S. is trailing the UAE when it comes to going digital. \u201cI have all my stuff on one app\u2014my car license renewal, insurance, bills, electricity, visa stuff. If your car is up for renewal, you can do it all in two minutes,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Every country expects companies to establish a physical presence in order to tap its market. As Hummer puts it: \u201cIf you come now, you are giving a very strong signal of commitment.\u201d To better understand the perspectives and players in this shifting business climate, subscribe to our new Fortune<\/em> Gulf Brief newsletter, written by veteran journalist Melissa Hancock and edited out of London by Kamal Ahmed.<\/p>\n Contact CEO Daily via Diane Brady at diane.brady@fortune.com<\/em><\/p>\n SpaceX-Tesla merger?<\/b><\/p>\n The math governing a <\/span>potential union<\/span> of SpaceX and Tesla has improved substantially. SpaceX shares have shot to such celestial heights that it can now purchase Tesla by offering far less stock than would have been required had its valuation settled at its pre-trading level. That scenario makes it easier to solve a nagging problem that plagues the Musk empire: How to bail out Tesla.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Richer but leaner<\/b><\/p>\n The U.S.\u2019s biggest companies by revenue are getting richer but leaner. The firms on <\/span>the latest Fortune 500 reported<\/span> collective revenue of $21 trillion, profits that rose 12%, and market value that climbed 19%. At the same time, combined headcount fell 1% for a second straight year, and AI-fueled productivity gains are only part of the story.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A new trade war is brewing<\/b><\/p>\n There\u2019s growing alarm among European leaders over the flood of Chinese exports threatening their home-grown industries, and <\/span>their response<\/span> could resemble something from President Donald Trump\u2019s trade war. French President Emmanuel Macron has suggested \u201cthe European equivalent of Section 301,\u201d referring to the part of the Trade Act of 1974 that allows the U.S. to impose tariffs in response to unfair or discriminatory trade practices.<\/span><\/p>\n S&P 500<\/b> futures are down 0.12% this morning. The last session closed up 1.08%. <\/span>The<\/b> STOXX Europe 600<\/b> was down 0.13% in early trading. <\/span>The U.K.\u2019s FTSE 100<\/b> was down 0.04% in early trading.<\/span> Japan\u2019s Nikkei 225 <\/b>was up 1.55%.<\/span> South Korea\u2019s KOSPI <\/b>was<\/span> up 0.69% today. <\/span>China\u2019s CSI 300 <\/b>was up 2.39%.<\/span> Hong Kong\u2019s Hang Seng <\/b>was down 0.65%.<\/span> India\u2019s NIFTY 50 <\/b>was up 0.51%. <\/span>Bitcoin<\/b> was at $64K.<\/span><\/p>\n With the exits of Apple\u2019s Tim Cook and Dow\u2019s Jim Fitterling, the Fortune 500 is losing two groundbreaking gay CEOs\u2014leaving just one <\/span>\u00a0by Phil Wahba<\/span><\/p>\n The Great Recession\u2019s missing children are finally bringing college\u2019s financial crisis into sight. Welcome to the \u2018enrollment volatility\u2019 era<\/span> by Tristan Bove<\/span><\/p>\n Your \u2018proteinmaxxing\u2019 is creating a whey shortage that\u2019s ratcheting up prices and leaving snack companies to eat costs or make recipes worse<\/span> by Sasha Rogelberg<\/span><\/p>\n If you\u2019re surprised by how well the stock market is doing, so is Jamie Dimon\u2014he says there\u2019s a \u2018little tsunami\u2019 heading for the economy<\/span> by Eleanor Pringle<\/span><\/p>\n World Cup teams will be paid a record $871 million: Each team will get $12.5 million as a bare minimum for playing and \u2018preparation money\u2019<\/span> by Emma Burleigh<\/span><\/p>\n CEO Daily is curated and edited by Joseph Abrams, Jason Ma, Claire Zillman, and Lee Clifford.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n #Veteran #Middle #East #CEO #business #region #isnt #retreatingits #resetting<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Good morning. What\u2019s it like doing business in the Middle East right now? The Strait of Hormuz has closed again, a lasting U.S.-Iran peace deal remains elusive, and global airline… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8542,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[283,369,1411,1851,868,1850,10643,10645,10644,4809],"class_list":["post-8541","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-business","tag-ceo","tag-ceo-daily","tag-east","tag-isnt","tag-middle","tag-region","tag-resetting","tag-retreatingits","tag-veteran"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/8542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fintechpulse8.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\nTop leadership news<\/h3>\n
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