EMOJI SENTIMENT INDEX

$28M A TICKET

What will $28-million buy you?

A seat on the New Shepard’s first human flight on 20 July alongside Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos and his brother, Mark. Bezos, of course, is mostly the world’s richest man, alternating for the top spot with Tesla’s Elon Musk and LVMH’s Bernard Arnault. Bidding on the seat for the 11-minute flight started at $4.8-million. More than 7,000 people from 159 countries registered for the online auction, held on 12 June, the company said. The winner must also pay a 6% buyer’s commission.

SANLAM TO EXPAND

Insurance company Sanlam will buy Alexander Forbes’s group risk and retail life insurance businesses for R100-million, the two reported on 14 June, as the latter exits the insurance market.

The sale still has to be passed by the Competition Commission.

Sanlam plans to pay for the acquisition through its cash resources, with half paid on the date of the transaction.

The sale will add about 630 employers and 210,000 members to Sanlam’s group risk business and another 3,700 policies to the retail book of Sanlam Life.

AUCKLAND CLAIMS TOP SPOT

Covid-19 has taken a hatchet to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Global Liveability Index, with the most liveable cities being replaced by those that have managed the pandemic with comparatively few infections. Auckland in New Zealand is now the world’s most liveable city, thanks to its successful containment, followed by Osaka. Wellington is in the top 10, along with four Australian cities. Vienna, most liveable in 2018 and 2019 (there was no list in 2020), is at number 12. Damascus is again the least liveable.

BEST IN SHOW

A fluffy Pekingese named Wasabi has been named Best in Show at New York’s prestigious Westminster Kennel Club dog show. Runner-up is a whippet named Bourbon. There is no prize purse, but offspring of prizewinners can cost tens of thousands of dollars, meaning dog shows are big business. And how would Wasabi celebrate? “He can have a filet mignon. And I’ll have champagne,” said Wasabi’s owner and handler, David Fitzpatrick, who also bred and showed the pooch. Wasabi’s mother, Sushi, was a champion Pekingese as well.

ZIM COMPANY IS PIONEER

Zimbabwean company FlexFinTx was named one of the 100 World Economic Forum 2021 Technology Pioneers on 15 June. Alumni of the group include Airbnb, Google, Spotify and Twitter. This year’s cohort has the highest gender diversity yet, with more than 30% of companies led by women. FlexFinTx builds self-sovereign digital identities to help the more than 400 million Africans who lack proper forms of identification. In all, six African companies are included in the 2021 group.