Dubai’s Alabbar said to plan messaging app for Middle East

Dubai businessman Mohamed Alabbar, chairman of Emaar Properties, plans to launch a regional messaging application, Reuters reported.

When asked by Reuters on the sideline of a conference about it, he responded by saying, “Yes, soon," adding "it's regional" and declined to give more details.

Alabbar, a billionaire property developer, is diversifying his investments. In July, a firm associated with him bought out logistics firm Aramex, with a source at the time saying this was part of a strategy to build an e-commerce platform for the Arab world, Reuters said.

In April, he bought a 4 percent stake in online fashion retailer Yoox Net-A-Porter.