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☆ Alibaba bets on overseas e-commerce unit amid sluggish growth in China
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-20 | by ( Sheila Chiang | In Sheilachiang | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Costfoto | Nurphoto | Getty ImagesChinese tech giant Alibaba Group is betting on its overseas businesses while domestic consumption growth remains sluggish. James Dong, CEO of Southeast Asian e-commerce giant Lazada Group, was named as Daraz's acting CEO. Dong took over as Lazada Group CEO from Chun Li in June 2022, after running the company's Thailand and Vietnam operations. Intense competitionThe e-commerce business that once propelled Alibaba to success has run into challenges with upstart competitors such as PDD, while consumption growth in China remains sluggish. Alibaba posted 9% year-on-year revenue growth in the third quarter to about $31 billion.

Persons: Eddie Wu, Yinglan Tan, AliExpress, Bjarke Mikkelsen, Jan, James Dong, Lazada, Tan, Alibaba, Zhang, Dong, Chun Li, Li, Pierre, Lucy Peng, PDD Organizations: Nurphoto, Getty, Digital Commerce, Tmall, Tmall Group, Alibaba, Ventures, Lazada, CNBC, Ventures Partners, Alibaba Group, PDD Holdings, Hong Kong, HK Locations: Huangpu District, Shanghai, Taobao, monetization, Alibaba, Pakistan, Asia, China, Thailand, Vietnam, Hong Kong

☆ New York’s Freedom Plaza development will feature skyscrapers joined by daring cantilevered ‘skybridge’
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-15 | by ( Christy Choi | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +5 min

The "skybridge" connecting the two hotel towers is set to feature a 150,000-gallon rooftop infinity pool. Bjarke Ingels GroupThe development is one of several projects competing for three casino gaming licenses recently approved for downstate New York by the state’s gaming commission. Bjarke Ingels GroupSoloviev Group has also promised that an unspecified percentage of the gaming profits, starting with a minimum $5 million donation, will go to an independently run non-profit community fund. Freedom Plaza will also contain public green space and a new Museum of Freedom and Democracy. Bjarke Ingels GroupUnaffiliated with Long Island University’s Museum of Democracy, the new institution will contain pieces of the Berlin Wall and works from the Soloviev Group’s art collection.

Persons: Bruce Munro, Le Corbusier, Wallace Harrison, Oscar Niemeyer, ”, Ray Pineault, “, Michael Hershman Organizations: CNN, New, United, Museum of Freedom and Democracy, British, Soloviev Group, BIG, UN, downstate, Soloviev, Mohegan, Museum of Freedom, Democracy, of Freedom and Democracy, Ingels Group, University’s Museum of Democracy Locations: New York City, Midtown Manhattan, Madison, Danish, North America, York City, York, New York, Long

☆ The new architecture set to shape the world in 2024
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-10 | by ( Oscar Holland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Kéré’s Berlin-based firm says the building’s top-heavy appearance was inspired by the palaver tree, which traditionally served as a meeting place. Designed for developer s2e Technologies by US architecture firm Gensler, the four circular residential structures can accommodate a combined 84 households. But it is perhaps Bjarke Ingels, founder of Danish design firm BIG, that has had the greatest impact on the city’s once modest skyline. The first restored sections are set to be ready in time for this summer’s Paris Olympics. Norwegian architecture firm Snøhetta and local practice Blight Rayner — who together beat more than 20 entries in an international competition — say that the design was inspired by the flow of the Brisbane River.

Persons: David Chipperfield, Francis Kéré, Kéré, China Stefano Boeri, Bosco, Stefano Boeri, Mestres Wåge, Nicolai Tangen, NBBJ, Dror, EPIQ, Ecuador Uribe Schwarzkopf, Bjarke, Moshe Safdie, Jean Nouvel, Ma Yansong, Ingels, France Chatillon Architectes, Notre Dame isn’t, Chatillon, Nikken Sekkei, ”, “, Blight Rayner —, Aunty Lilla Watson Organizations: CNN, superlatives, Malaysia’s, Benin National Assembly, Forest, Kunstsilo, Keppel South, Enclave, s2e Technologies, Bjarke Ingels, BIG, UNESCO, Heritage, Notre Dame, Palais, Beaux -, Chatillon Architects, UAE Kerzner, United, “ Michelin, New York Times, Gang, Queensland Performing Arts Centre, Queensland Performing Arts Locations: India, Benin, Porto, Novo, Burkina Faso, Kéré’s Berlin, Nanjing, China, Milan, Italy, Europe, China’s, Kristiansand, Norway, Norwegian, Keppel, Keppel South Central, Singapore, London, Canada, London , Ontario, Quito, Ecuador, Bjarke Ingels Quito, Parque La Carolina, Paris, France, Dubai, UAE, United Arab Emirates, Hotel, Denver, USA, Denver , Colorado, Urban, Brisbane, Australia, Australian

☆ Crown Princess Mary Elizabeth: Why Denmark will give the world the first Australian-born Queen
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-02 | by ( Hilary Whiteman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

Brisbane, Australia CNN —The fairy tale rise of an Australian sales executive to the upper ranks of European royalty is set to be completed Sunday when Crown Princess Mary Elizabeth of Denmark becomes the country’s Queen Consort. Margrethe’s eldest son, Crown Prince Frederik, will become King, while his wife, Crown Princess Mary, will become the first Australian to become Queen, a development that has delighted her supporters back home. Crown Prince Frederik of Denmark and Australian born Crown Princess Mary Elizabeth Donaldson married in May 2004. I will hand over the throne to my son Crown Prince Frederik,” Margrethe said. Danish Crown Princess Mary photographed during the Copenhagen Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 18 on January 30, 2018 in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Persons: Crown Princess Mary Elizabeth of, Consort, Queen Margrethe II, It’s, hasn’t, King Eric III, Margrethe’s, Crown Prince Frederik, Crown Princess Mary, it’s, King, Mary, Prince Frederik of Denmark, Princess Mary Elizabeth Donaldson, Bjarke, Jeremy Rockliff, Princess Mary, ”, King Frederik, ” Rockliff, Prince Christian, “, –, Queen of, Prince Frederik, ” Margrethe, ” Kristian Ring, Hansen Holt, Juliet Rieden, Margrethe, Queen Elizabeth II, Queen Margrethe, Reiden, Prince Joachim, Princess Marie, didn’t, Rieden, Frederik, she’d, Christian Vierig, She’s, she’s, Prince Frederik’s, Genoveva Casanova, Casanova, ‘, Britain’s King Charles III, ” Reiden Organizations: Australia CNN, Crown, Royal House, Getty Images Tasmanian, CNN, Ukraine, ABC, Australian, Monarchs, Copenhagen Cathedral, Mary Foundation, Lecturas, Royal, of State, CNN’s Royal Locations: Brisbane, Australia, Crown Princess Mary Elizabeth of Denmark, Tasmania, Denmark, Sydney, Danish, Copenhagen, Hobart, AFP, Gaza, Queen of Denmark, Scottish, British, Houston , Texas, Europe, Mexican, Spanish, Christiansborg Palace, Mary

☆ Kendrick Lamar Buys a Penthouse on the Brooklyn Waterfront
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( Vivian Marino | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The rapper Kendrick Lamar is the latest celebrity to descend on Brooklyn, with his purchase of a sprawling duplex penthouse near the waterfront in Brooklyn Heights. His new pied-à-terre, which comes with stunning East River views, is at Pierhouse at Brooklyn Bridge Park, a 106-unit condominium built in 2015 at 90 Furman Street. He paid $8.6 million, using the limited liability company Dogg Pound Buildings. The apartment at the Majestic, at 115 Central Park West, closed at $20.5 million, well below the $50 million initial asking price in 2012 and the $25 million she had paid for it in 2006. Still, the sale was among the top closings in New York City in November.

Persons: Kendrick Lamar, Lamar, Zendaya, Amy Schumer, Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Bjarke Ingels, Susan Weber, George Soros Organizations: Furman, Pound, Park Locations: Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights, Pierhouse, California, Danish, Manhattan, New York City

☆ Daraz Group says there's a 'huge opportunity' it wants to seize
▼ + stars: | 2023-09-26 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailDaraz Group says there's a 'huge opportunity' it wants to seizeBjarke Mikkelsen of Daraz Group says "right now, e-commerce is only representing about 2% of the overall retail market, which is nothing compared to an Indonesia or Philippines at maybe 20% or 20% plus, so the big opportunity for us is to go from 2% to 20%."

Persons: there's, Bjarke Mikkelsen Organizations: Daraz Locations: Indonesia, Philippines

☆ NASA researchers will spend a year living in a simulated Mars habitat
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-16 | by ( Thomas Page | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Bill Stafford/NASAAiming for fidelity has resulted in a habitat that could feasibly built on Mars, Smith adds. MARK FELIX/AFP/AFP /AFP via Getty ImagesNASA is attempting to fill in what it calls “Strategic Knowledge Gaps,” that currently make a manned Mars mission too risky. A manned Mars mission will ship food to the planet in advance of humans, which means it will need a long shelf-life. Intended as a location for the emirate to develop technology for an eventual Mars mission, it was also designed by Bjarke Ingels Group, with 3D-printed buildings. Thankfully the crew entering CHAPEA in June will not have to concern themselves with that potentially deadly element of a Mars mission.

☆ ICON prepares to build on the lunar surface. But first, a moonshot at home
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-12 | by ( Thomas Page | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

Casey Dunn/ICONA thread running through ICON’s work is building homes for disadvantaged people, including accommodation for the long-term homeless, often in collaboration with non-profits. Bailey suggested the success of 3D-printed housing could hinge on how it is perceived by prospective residents. Instead of Lavacrete, ICON is experimenting with using lunar regolith, the mineral-rich dust and rock that covers the moon’s surface. ICON's Project Olympus will see a construction system built by the company on the moon later this decade. Apis CorCOBOD is responsible for what it claims is the tallest 3D-printed building in the world, a three-story house in Saudi Arabia.

☆ How Bjarke Ingels, Architect, Spends His Sundays
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-25 | by ( Paige Darrah | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After Bjarke Ingels left Copenhagen for New York City in 2010, his first project in Manhattan was a real humdinger: The stark and pyramidal Via 57 West, an apartment building with a not-small hole sliced down the middle, allowing for a courtyard. Now Mr. Ingels is putting his stamp on other parts of the city, among them the Robert De Niro-backed Wildflower Studios, in Astoria, Queens. “Having spent a good chunk of his life in these environments, Bob has very specific feedback on the dressing and green rooms,” Mr. Ingels said of taking direction from the Academy Award winner and famous New Yorker. His firm is also involved in the East Side Coastal Resiliency project, an initiative to protect part of Manhattan, including East River Park on the Lower East Side, from rising waters because of climate change. “The more people you touch, the more opinions you solicit,” Mr. Ingels said of the divisive and long-term undertaking.

☆ Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba-backed Daraz cuts workforce by 11%
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Ariba Shahid | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

KARACHI, PAKISTAN, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Alibaba Group subsidiary, Daraz Group, an e-commerce platform, is reducing its workforce by 11% to prepare for the 'current market reality', the group's CEO Bjarke Mikkelsen said in a letter to employees shared on the company website. The group operates in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Daraz, Pakistan's largest e-commerce retail platform, was founded in 2012 in Pakistan and acquired by Chinese giant Alibaba (9988.HK) in 2018. Daraz said in 2021 that it had access to 500 million customers with a team of 10,000 employees. It has invested $100 million in Pakistan and Bangladesh over the last two years.

☆ Alibaba-backed Pakistani e-commerce platform Daraz cuts workforce by 11%
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-07 | by ( Ariba Shahid | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

KARACHI, PAKISTAN, Feb 7 (Reuters) - Alibaba-owned e-commerce platform Daraz Group is reducing its workforce by 11% to prepare for the 'current market reality', Chief Executive Officer Bjarke Mikkelsen said. The group operates in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Nepal. Daraz, Pakistan's largest e-commerce retail platform, was founded in 2012 in Pakistan and acquired by Chinese giant Alibaba (9988.HK) in 2018. Ehsan Saya, managing director of Daraz Pakistan, told Reuters that Pakistan is its biggest market and said that Pakistan has the most number of employees employed across Daraz markets. Saya confirmed to Reuters that the 11% employee cut across the group will also mean an 11% cut in Pakistan.

☆ Amphibious houses and floating cities could protect coastal communities from sea-level rise
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-27 | by ( Lindsey Jacobson | In | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Hurricane Fiona has just devastated Puerto Rico, flooding the island leaving hundreds of thousands without access to electricity or running water. To combat the some of the worst impacts of flooding, a new industry of floating infrastructure is emerging. There are two distinct approaches that are being put forth as possible solutions: retrofitting homes to be amphibious and building floating city blocks. English's design places a steel frame beneath a house, and then below that, in the crawl space, buoyancy elements. She does, however, hope that her design could help preserve culture and give communities one option to help as they decide how they want to adapt to rising sea levels.

☆ A Goldman banker quit his job to build a startup — and scored an Alibaba deal. He shares 4 top tips
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-20 | by ( Goh Chiew Tong | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +6 min

"One of the things that I love the most about e-commerce is that it's fair, it's a fantastic equalizer," said Bjarke Mikkelsen, founder and CEO of Daraz. After spending six years working for Goldman Sachs as an investment banker, Bjarke Mikkelsen faced a dilemma. "The idea was always to build something that was inspired by Amazon and Alibaba, where you have three elements. "If I came in try to build an e-commerce business that look the same way that Amazon looks in Denmark, that would not work," he added. Bjarke Mikkelsen Founder and CEO, Daraz"I didn't know what I was doing … just doing a few things 100% right was very, very challenging."

☆ Take a look at plans for the 'world's first floating city' in South Korea, designed to adapt to rising sea levels
▼ + stars: | 2022-04-26 | by ( Grace Dean | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: 1 min

An Oceanix cofounder previously told Insider that the city could cost around $200 million to build and that the first parts could be ready by as early as 2025. Oceanix revealed the new designs ahead of the Second UN Roundtable on Sustainable Floating Cities, which is being held in New York on Tuesday. Mockups of buildings on Busan's floating city. OCEANIX/BIG-Bjarke Ingels GroupSource: Insider

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