Meta cancels annual developer conference to focus on metaverse

Facebook parent company Meta cancelled its annual developer conference (F8) for this year as the company pivots its focus on the metaverse.

This is the third consecutive year when the California-based company has made changes to its annual event. It was cancelled in 2020 and moved to a digital-only format last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The metaverse is a digital space that allows users to communicate and move virtually in their three-dimensional avatars or digital representations.

“We gear up on new initiatives that are all tailored towards the next chapter of the internet … the next chapter of our company too — building the metaverse,” Diego Moreira, director for developer and start-ups programmes at Facebook, said in a blog post.

Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg fencing in the metaverse during a live-streamed virtual and augmented reality conference. Reuters

Meta's developer conference is a chance for international developers to interact with the company's engineers and learn about new products and technology.

To accelerate its research on the metaverse, Meta launched a $50 million fund last September.

Hailed as a successor to the internet, the metaverse is a set of immersive spaces shared by users, in which they can interact, innovate and engage with other people who are not in the same physical space.

In January, Meta also unveiled a new supercomputer capable of building foundational technology to boost research in the field of metaverse.

“Similar to the early stages of the web, building the metaverse will be a collaborative effort at every stage — with other companies, creators and developers,” Mr Moreira said.

Meta previously said it might take 10 to 15 years to fully realise the metaverse products and that its success depends on building robust interoperability across services to ensure different companies’ experiences can work together.

Bharat

Director: Ali Abbas Zafar

Starring: Salman Khan, Katrina Kaif, Sunil Grover

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

Drivers’ championship standings after Singapore:

1. Lewis Hamilton, Mercedes - 263
2. Sebastian Vettel, Ferrari - 235
3. Valtteri Bottas, Mercedes - 212
4. Daniel Ricciardo, Red Bull - 162
5. Kimi Raikkonen, Ferrari - 138
6. Sergio Perez, Force India - 68

Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.

Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.

“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.

“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.

Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.

From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.

Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.

BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.

Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.

Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.

“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.

Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.

“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.

“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”

The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”