Facebook to announce details of new Dubai office

Facebook yesterday confirmed that it is to open an office in Dubai.

Senior management including Joanna Shields, the firm’s vice president and managing director for Europe, the Middle East and Africa, will be in Dubai on Wednesday, May 30 to announce details of the company’s new premises in the emirate.

The firm yesterday sent out invites for a media roundtable event at which it is expected that its top brass will confirm reports from earlier this week that the purpose of the new office will be to try and harness increased advertising revenues and establish other partnerships in the region.

The firm’s Dubai office will reportedly be located in Dubai Internet City, although yesterday’s invite was giving nothing away, with no details of its likely site.

Meanwhile, it was announced yesterday that US regulators are examining whether Morgan Stanley, the investment bank that shepherded facebook through its highly publicised stock offering last week, selectively informed clients of an analyst’s negative report about the company before the stock started trading.

By the close of trading in New York on Tuesday, facebook stock had fallen to close at $31 - down by $7, or more than 18 per cent, from the $38 it was first offered at last week.