Bengaluru abattoir raid: What’s the truth behind attack on Nandini?

Jun 25: Tencent Holdings Ltd.'s $40 billion surge this week and the recent ascent of Pinduoduo Inc. have reshuffled the ranking of China's richest people.

The country's largest game developer has surpassed Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. as Asia's most-valuable company, with its shares rising above HK$500 in intraday trading Wednesday for the first time. Pinduoduo, a Groupon-like shopping app also known as PDD, has more than doubled this year.

The rallies have propelled the wealth of their founders, with an added twist: Tencent's Pony Ma, worth $50 billion, has surpassed Jack Ma's $48 billion fortune, becoming China's richest person. And Colin Huang of PDD, whose net worth stands at $43 billion, has squeezed real estate mogul Hui Ka Yan of China Evergrande Group out of the top three earlier this year, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

The coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the digitization of the workplace and changed consumers' habits, boosting shares of many internet companies. Now tech tycoons are dominating the ranks of China's richest people. They occupy four of the top five spots: Ding Lei of Tencent peer NetEase Inc. follows China Evergrande's Hui.

‘Perform Strongly'

Tencent has come a long way since hitting a low in 2018, when China froze the approval process for new games. Since then, the stock has almost doubled, and last month the tech giant reported a 26 per cent jump in first-quarter revenue.

“Tencent's online games segment will probably perform strongly through the Covid-19 pandemic, and most of its other businesses are relatively unscathed,” said Vey-Sern Ling, a Bloomberg Intelligence analyst.

That has been a boon for Pony Ma, 48, who owns a 7 per cent stake in the company and pocketed about $757 million from selling some 14.6 million of his Tencent shares this year, data complied by Bloomberg show.

The native of China's southern Guangdong province studied computer science at Shenzhen University and was a software developer at a supplier of telecom services and products before co-founding Tencent with four others in the late 1990s. At the time, the company focused on instant-messaging services.

It has been a long comeback for Pony Ma. He overtook real estate tycoon Wang Jianlin as China's second-richest person in 2013 and topped Baidu Inc.'s Robin Li as the wealthiest in early 2014. Later that year, Alibaba went public in the U.S., catapulting Jack Ma's fortune.

Bloomberg Intelligence's Ling notes, however, that Tencent's jump this year has lagged behind some internet peers, especially those in e-commerce, games and online entertainment. Just consider: Tencent shares have climbed 31 per cent in 2020, while PDD's American depositary receipts have more than doubled. Alibaba, meanwhile, has advanced just 6.9 per cent.

Bengaluru, Jun 30: The judicial, non-judicial and administrative functions of the Karnataka High Court has been suspended for Tuesday, for sanitisation of the entire court complex due to "unavoidable circumstances".

The High Court in a notice informed about the decision on Monday.

"It is hereby notified to the litigant public/learned advocates/party-in-person/officers and staff of the High Court of Karnataka, Principal Bench, Bengaluru that, the judicial/non-judicial/administrative functions of the High Court is hereby suspended for one day -- on June 30, 2020, for sanitisation of entire High Court complex, due to unavoidable circumstances," the notice read.

Bengaluru, May 9: Dubai NRI Kannadigaru president and entrepreneur Naveed Magundi in a video message thanked government of India for helping stranded Indians in Arab countries to return home. 

The video was shared by Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister C N Ashwath Narayan on Friday on Twitter. 

"Kannadigas, who are in trouble in the Arab countries and wanting to return home, have got the central government's rapid response. Prime Minister Narendra Modi gratitude video on behalf of Dubai President Kannadigas," Narayan said in the tweet.

The Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has prepared a chart for the first phase evacuation of over 14,000 Indian nationals stranded in 13 foreign countries by 64 flights in week one of the operation.

ಅರಬ್‌ ರಾಷ್ಟ್ರಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಸಂಕಷ್ಟಕ್ಕೆ ಸಿಲುಕಿ ದೇಶಕ್ಕೆ ವಾಪಸಾಗಲು ಬಯಸಿರುವ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗರಿಗೆ ವಿಮಾನದ ವ್ಯವಸ್ಥೆ ಮಾಡುವಂತೆ ಕೇಂದ್ರ ಸರ್ಕಾರದ ಕ್ಷಿಪ್ರ ಸ್ಪಂದನೆ ದೊರಕಿದೆ.

ಪ್ರಧಾನಿ ಶ್ರೀ @narendramodi ಸರ್ಕಾರಕ್ಕೆ ಹಾಗೂ ಎಲ್ಲಾ ರೀತಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಸಹಕರಿಸಿದ ಪ್ರತಿಯೊಬ್ಬರಿಗೂ ದುಬೈ ಅನಿವಾಸಿ ಕನ್ನಡಿಗ ಬಾಂಧವರ ಪರವಾಗಿ ಕೃತಜ್ಞತಾ ವೀಡಿಯೊ - pic.twitter.com/BUcFZ3VuKj

— Dr. Ashwathnarayan C. N. (@drashwathcn) May 8, 2020