High-tech Buffett, BBM banned, TechCrunch visits SE Asia – News Digest
Buffett’s successor is a high-tech Asian investor: The Wall Street Journal broke the news over the weekend that legendary investor Warren Buffett’s likely successor is a former venture capitalist and seasoned investor in Asian high-tech companies.
The candidate is hedge fund manager Li Lu, a Chinese-American who was a democracy activist in Tiananmen Square. He spotted Chinese battery-maker BYD for Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway, netting USD1.2 billion in profits, and ran a venture fund in the late 90s for US tech companies.
Middle East states ban BlackBerry services: Saudi Arabia banned BlackBerry’s Messenger services yesterday, following a United Arab Emirates ban on the device’s messenger, email and web browsing services. Both states cited security concerns about encrypted data transmitted by the devices. The ban affects about 700,000 users in both states, Reuters reported. The ban kicks in in October and it will affect visitors with roaming devices as well, the Associated Press reported.
TechCrunch visits Southeast Asia: TechCrunch’s Asia rep, Dr Serkan Toto, writes up a dense summary of OpenWebAsia, which was held a few weeks ago in Kuala Lumpur. Perhaps more interesting than the event summary are what he sees as the major problems for Southeast Asia’s web and mobile markets: Weak exits, brain drain and fragmented markets.
Singapore marketers don’t like Twitter: ZDNet Asia reports that Twitter is still a “fringe” platform that some marketers in Singapore believe is mainly used by “teens-wannabees [sic]“. The marketers and their clients like Facebook a lot more.
Singapore’s public library launches Facebook app: Singapore’s public library system launched its myLibrary Facebook app last week., The app lets you access your library account, browse books and share your recommendations from within Facebook.
Event – Singapore – Entrepreneurs Corner @ SMU: Entrepreneurs, investors and mentors are invited to this monthly evening networking session. There’s an open mic where you can make a three-minute elevator pitch to the audience.
Photo credit – ‘Barcode Warren Buffett by Scott Blake’ by by scott_bl8ke
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