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Hotel giant Blackstone plots a future for Hilton — with billions in backup
GalleryIn 2009, when Blackstone relocated Hilton Worldwide’s headquarters from Beverly Hills to McLean, Virginia, on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., it was much more than a change of scenery and address. Acquired by Blackstone for nearly $27 billion a couple of years earlier, Hilton had been languishing, falling behind better-positioned chains such as Marriott and InterContinental, and [...]
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Investors take a second look at airlines as 2013 returns climb
TransportU.S. airlines, shunned by Warren Buffett for almost 25 years, are now rewarding investors with the biggest returns in more than a decade. The Bloomberg U.S. Airlines Index of 10 carriers surged 35 percent in the first quarter, the best start to a year since at least 1999. Wall Street projects that gains are just [...]
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Starwood’s future as a brand: own less, grow more in Middle East & South Asia
DestinationsStarwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, one of the largest midmarket-to-upscale hotel chains, recently made a half-PR-stunt, half-smart-thinking move of taking all of its top management to Dubai for the month of March and working from there. The move is a window into where it thinks its future lies, and hence the need for its top [...]
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Maldives cancels major airport project at the last minute sending a negative signal to investors
TransportMaldives has cancelled its biggest foreign investment project, a $511 million deal with Indian firm GMR Group to develop its international airport, raising questions over the future of foreign investment in the islands renowned for luxury resorts. The cancellation of the deal signed in 2010 follows President Mohamed Waheed’s failure to renegotiate terms, sources close [...]
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Foursquare needs to decide how to conquer local before investor interest cools
DigitalFoursquare’s day of reckoning could be approaching as it doubles down on various efforts to increase its revenue from the free service while investors, possibly suffering from dot-com and mobile fatigue — have been reluctant to pitch in for an upcoming funding round. The check-in service as of late has been tilting toward local search [...]
