The economy of Saudi Arabia expanded 2.21% in 2018, supported by strong oil sector and recovering from 2017 contraction, when the growth was hurt by austerity measures and weak oil prices.
The Euro zone economic growth stuck to the lowest pace in four years in the fourth quarter of 2018, with the expansion rate in the year also the slowest in four years.
Advertising group WPP is et to sell its 49% stake in the consulting company Richard Attias & Associates to the firm's founder, RAA's spokesman announced on Thursday.
Nexi, the Italian banking services provider, is planning to sign up the investment banks this week to launch one of the largest initial public offerings lately, Reuters reported.
The US hedge fund Elliott increased its Telecom Italia stake to 9.4%, escalating the battle over Italy's phone company with its key shareholder Vivendi.
Shares of the Dutch firm KPN surged over 8% this Thursday due to a Bloomberg report stating that Brookfield Asset Management is potentially considering to launch a takeover bid for the company.
General Electric topped Wall Street's estimates for its Q4 sales, sending the company's shares up 9.6% in the pre-market trading on Thursday.
Facebook's shares surged about 12% on Thursday, as the company revived its focus on products, winning investors support after posting strong Q4 results.
On Thursday, the US Berry Global Group stated it was thinking over a potential all-cash takeover bid for the British packaging products manufacturer RPC Group, challenging Apollo Global's $4.33B offer to acquire the firm.
The private equity group Blackstone announced on Thursday it would acquire a majority of stock in the midstream energy firm Tallgrass Energy in a deal worth $3.3B.
On Thursday, the largest retail conglomerate in Thailand, Central Group, confirmed it would made an investment worth $200M into the ride-hailing firm Grab's local unit.
United Natural Foods, the grocery distributing firm, has filed a lawsuit against Bank of America and Goldman Sachs Group, saying the banks were motivated by their financial interests, rather than the company's, advising it on an acquisition worth billions of dollars last year.
General Electric stated it would unite its electrical grid and battery storage units into a single hydropower and wind turbine business, as the company aims to cut costs and support the climbing demand for the renewable power.
Chevron has finalised its deal with Brazil's state oil firm Petrobras and is set to acquire its refinery unit in Pasadena for $350M, Reuters reported.
Germany's business software company Software AG is considering to spend up to €1.5B on acquisitions, the firm's CEO Sanjay Brahmawar stated on Thursday, seeking to boost its growth in the industrial internet and data integration.
Deutsche Bank is seeing a merger with its competitor Commerzbank by the middle of this year, in case the efforts to reorganise the lender fail, Bloomberg's report showed on Thursday.
South Korea's gaming group Netmarble is planning to establish a consortium to make a bid for a majority stake in a holding firm owned by Nexon, in a potential deal that could value the company at about $9.0B.
Sri Lanka suspended Johnson & Johnson Baby Powder's imports until the group presents proof of the product to be free from asbestos, which could potentially cause cancer.
Tesla's Chief Financial Officer Deepak Ahuja is set to leave the company, after the carmaker promised to make Model 3 sedans cheaper, as the electric vehicle maker aims to make its cars more affordable and not go bankrupt.
Late on Wednesday, General Motors announced it would temporarily suspend its operations at eleven Michigan factories and the Warren Tech Centre, following an emergency appeal aimed at users to conserve the natural gas, when the weather is extremely cold.
The UK car output fell 9% last year, the largest drop since the recession in 2008, while investment slumped by almost half amid fears about Brexit, an industry body stated.
Activity in the Chinese manufacturing sector dropped for the second month in succession in January, indicating further strains on the economy, which could increase risks to global growth.
The UK consumers remained gloomiest in more than five years in January with an improvement in the personal finances offsetting rising concern over the outlook for the following 12 months, when Britain is due to quit the EU.
Microsoft on Thursday met Wall Street's estimates for the company's quarterly results, though sales of Azure cloud computing rose more slowly than in the prior year.