Larry King interviews Donald Trump for the Larry King Live show in New York on October 7, 1999. the veteran broadcaster passsed away at the age of 87 on January 23, 2021. AP Photo
Former President Bill Clinton speaks with Larry King on CNN in New York on September 3, 2002, about the Families of Freedom Scholarship Fund. Reuters
Russian President Vladimir Putin shakes hands with Larry King before a taping of The Larry King Show in New York on September 8, 2000. Reuters
Sporting a new hairdo, first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton shows her wedding ring to Larry King on May 5, 1994. Reuters
Larry King interviews President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore at the White House on June 5, 1995. Reuters
Sarah Ferguson, Duchess of York, speaks to Larry King during an interview on CNN's Larry King Live programme on November 20, 1997. Reuters
Larry King with his wife Shawn Southwick with their sons Chance and Cannon in Los Angeles on June 1, 2003. AFP
Texas Governor and Republican presidential candidate George W Bush jokes with Larry King after taping an interview at the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville, Tennessee on December 16, 1999. AP Photo
Larry King wipes his eyes after laughing at a joke by comedy legend Jerry Lewis during an interview on August 26, 1999. AP Photo
Larry King with former heavyweight champion Mike Tyson on a broadcast of Larry King Live from inside the ring at the MGM Grand Gardens in Las Vegas on August 16, 1995. AP Photo
Texas billionaire Ross Perot talks to Larry King during a commercial break in the live broadcast of CNN's Larry King Live on July 18, 1992. AP Photo
Larry King interviews Uggie, the dog from the film The Artist, before the start of the Friars Club Roast of Betty White in New York on May 16, 2012. Reuters
To become an icon takes many different ingredients. Larry King had them all. To begin, there was that unmistakable appearance. Almost as though he had just stepped in from the bustle of a Wall Street trading floor, he looked like no one else on television: the business shirts, frequently with a white contrasting collar, double cuffed and rolled to the elbow; the ties, often vividly coloured and eccentrically patterned; the braces and of course those large and distinctive glasses, propped in front of those narrowing, inquisitive eyes.
Then there was his interviewing style. It's tempting to view a gig like hosting a chat show as straightforward; two people sitting on set having a genial chat about a few mutually agreed topics, throw in the odd probing question and off you go. Trust me, it is anything but – especially when the range of guests on your show is as wide as those on Larry King Live.
A ramble through some of the famous names during King’s quarter-of-a-century run on CNN illustrates his ability to switch gears from serious political newsmakers to flavour-of-the-month celebrities.
From Bill Clinton to Muammar Qaddafi, via Frank Sinatra, Snoop Dogg, Lady Gaga and Lebron James, King’s skill lay in his ability to gently reel in his subjects, play along with them, then wrongfoot them without them even realising it. Of course, that didn’t mean his guests couldn’t wrongfoot him too – who can forget the kiss on the lips from Marlon Brando at the end of their wide-ranging 1994 exchange?
Jeff Zucker, CNN’s president, summed up King’s appeal in his own tribute to the great broadcaster at the weekend. "His curiosity about the world propelled his award-winning career in broadcasting, but it was his generosity of spirit that drew the world to him," he said. This is a key point: King was naturally generous, and his interviews were warm and inviting. As a result, his show had the magical combination of not only being one everybody wanted to watch, but also one that anyone who was anyone wanted to be on.
What his style also meant was that, combined with CNN's vast global platform, Larry King Live was the perfect stage for unexpected conversations. Perhaps none was more significant than his 1995 interview with Israel's then prime minister Yitzhak Rabin, Palestinian Liberation Organisation leader Yasser Arafat and King Hussein of Jordan.
This was not only an historic moment for the Middle East, but an eye-widening meeting of minds for the entire world. Seeing and listening to these three giants of the region together felt momentous in every sense, and the way their conversation pointed forward optimistically to a yearned-for peace was both uplifting and, it felt, authentic. Not only that – the kind of exchange that might normally take place in a heavily guarded, behind-closed-doors summit was taking place right before our eyes, beamed into millions of living rooms across the globe.
Larry King with Yasser Arafat on CNN's Larry King Live in 1995. Getty Images
King's skill lay in his ability to gently reel in his subjects, play along with them, then wrongfoot them without them even realising it
Of course, as we now know, Rabin was to be assassinated less than six months later, and Hussein’s life was claimed by cancer in 1999. Arafat, too, was to die with no long-term resolution to the Palestinian question in sight. Nevertheless, this was a fleeting moment that the door was held open for real change, and King’s show played a significant part in that.
King’s impact on CNN itself is hard to overstate. On hearing of his death, CNN founder Ted Turner said that waking up to the news “felt like a punch to the gut". He went on to describe King as one of his “closest and dearest friends and, in my opinion, the world's greatest broadcast journalist of all time”.
Turner hired King five years after he founded CNN. Poignantly, he underlined what he believed to be the great man’s impact on the network. "If anyone asked me what are my greatest career achievements in life,” he said, “one is the creation of CNN, and the other is hiring Larry King."
Flowers lie on the Hollywood Walk of Fame star of the late Larry King in Los Angeles on Saturday. King died at Cedars-Sinai Medical Centre. AP Photo
There were tributes from across CNN’s ranks this weekend on social media, with many echoing the same sentiment: King had time for everyone, he cared for his staff, he mentored and he made sure everyone taking their professional journey with him was more than just along for the ride.
King gave CNN a signature show that became appointment-to-view programming at a time when the network’s future success was by no means guaranteed. Given the talents of Ted Turner, I am sure CNN would still have thrived without Larry King, but I’m equally certain it would not be the same. Rest in peace, sir.
Becky Anderson is the managing editor of CNN Abu Dhabi and host of ‘Connect the World with Becky Anderson’
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.”
Founder(s): Dr Baher Al Hakim, Dr Nadine Nehme and Makram Saleh
Based: Vienna, Austria; started in Dubai
Sector: Health Tech
Staff: 119
Funding: €7.7 million (Dh31m)
Golden Shoe top five (as of March 1):
Harry Kane, Tottenham, Premier League, 24 goals, 48 points
Edinson Cavani, PSG, Ligue 1, 24 goals, 48 points
Ciro Immobile, Lazio, Serie A, 23 goals, 46 points
Mohamed Salah, Liverpool, Premier League, 23 goals, 46 points
Lionel Messi, Barcelona, La Liga, 22 goals, 44 points
Iftar programme at the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding
Established in 1998, the Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding was created with a vision to teach residents about the traditions and customs of the UAE. Its motto is ‘open doors, open minds’. All year-round, visitors can sign up for a traditional Emirati breakfast, lunch or dinner meal, as well as a range of walking tours, including ones to sites such as the Jumeirah Mosque or Al Fahidi Historical Neighbourhood.
Every year during Ramadan, an iftar programme is rolled out. This allows guests to break their fast with the centre’s presenters, visit a nearby mosque and observe their guides while they pray. These events last for about two hours and are open to the public, or can be booked for a private event.
Until the end of Ramadan, the iftar events take place from 7pm until 9pm, from Saturday to Thursday. Advanced booking is required.
