{"id":1134056,"date":"2023-07-14T15:10:01","date_gmt":"2023-07-14T15:10:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/production.public.theintercept.cloud\/?p=436048"},"modified":"2023-07-14T15:10:01","modified_gmt":"2023-07-14T15:10:01","slug":"saudi-arabias-huge-u-s-investments-lose-money-but-buy-influence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2023\/07\/14\/saudi-arabias-huge-u-s-investments-lose-money-but-buy-influence\/","title":{"rendered":"Saudi Arabia\u2019s Huge U.S. Investments Lose Money \u2014 but Buy Influence"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Congress\u2019s investigation into<\/u> Saudi Arabia\u2019s acquisition of the PGA Tour golf league hints at the extent of Saudi government penetration into the U.S. economy, extending far beyond simply golf. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, the Senate\u2019s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a 276-page report detailing the PGA\u2019s merger with LIV Golf, the entity bankrolled by the Public Investment Fund, Saudi Arabia\u2019s sovereign wealth fund. The merger has been widely criticized as an attempt to \u201csportswash<\/a>\u201d Saudi Arabia\u2019s sordid human rights record. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The report, however, also listed the Public Investment Fund\u2019s other public equities, including considerable stakes in many of the U.S.\u2019s largest corporations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat company will dare to cut ties with Saudi the next time its sociopathic leader goes on a wild killing spree?\u201d<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Experts interviewed by The Intercept warned that this growing Saudi role in the U.S. economy constitutes a new avenue for foreign influence in U.S. affairs<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“U.S. officials are deliberately keeping their heads in the sand about the national security implications of such massively expanded Saudi investments in every sector of our country’s economic, social, and cultural assets,\u201d Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of the nonprofit human rights group Democracy for the Arab World Now, told The Intercept. \u201cWhat company will dare to cut ties with Saudi the next time its sociopathic leader goes on a wild killing spree?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saudi Arabia\u2019s Public Investment Fund boasts $700 billion in assets, making it the sixth largest sovereign wealth fund on the planet, according to<\/a> the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute. The Public Investment Fund dramatically expanded<\/a> its staff \u2014 from 50 in 2015 to almost 500 in 2018 \u2014 shortly after Mohammed bin Salman became crown prince, consolidating his role as Saudi Arabia\u2019s de facto ruler<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

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\u201cI think he does have quite a bit of involvement,\u201d Atlantic Council senior fellow Ellen Wald told The Intercept of the crown prince\u2019s role in the sovereign wealth fund. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wald pointed to the relationship between Yasir Al-Rumayyan, a Saudi businessman who serves as governor of the Public Investment Fund, and the crown prince, who is commonly known by his initials MBS. \u201cYasir Rumayyan used to be MBS\u2019s personal banker,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

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Al-Rumayyan was directly involved<\/a> in a 2017 purge orchestrated by<\/a> MBS to consolidate his grip on power. In the purge, some 20 Saudi companies were seized and transferred to the sovereign wealth fund. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the firms was a charter jet company used<\/a> in the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, which U.S. intelligence concluded<\/a> was ordered by MBS himself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al-Rumayyan sits on the board of directors of Uber, in which the Senate report notes that the Saudi fund has invested $2.3 billion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other Public Investment<\/u> Fund investments include shares of Meta, Facebook\u2019s parent company, as well as gaming companies like Activision and Electronic Arts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

MBS, reportedly an avid gamer himself, has overseen an unprecedented investment in gaming. Last year, Saudi Arabia invested<\/a> $38 billion in gaming through its Public Investment Fund-backed conglomerate, the Savvy Games Group. Savvy CEO Brian Ward has said that the group enjoys the largest startup capital ever provided by the Saudi fund.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Technology firms are particularly well represented in the fund\u2019s list of investments, with billions of dollars invested in Microsoft, Google\u2019s parent company Alphabet, Amazon, Adobe, PayPal, and Pinterest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite its vast holdings, the Public Investment Fund reported<\/a> an $11 billion loss last year. \u201cBerkshire Hathaway they are not,\u201d Wald cracked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For experts on Saudi\u2019s influence campaigns, the losses raised questions about whether profit is the fund\u2019s primary motive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a good argument that their goal is influence and control as much if not more than profit,\u201d Whitson said. \u201cThey have endless cash to burn \u2014 they don\u2019t need money, they need influence and power.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Saudi fund invested<\/a> $2 billion<\/a> in a U.S investment fund run by former President Donald Trump\u2019s son-in-law Jared Kushner; the cash infusion came just six months after Trump left the White House, where Kushner was both a top aide and conduit for MBS\u2019s interests<\/a>. Saudi bureaucrats objected to the investment in Kushner\u2019s firm, citing the \u201cinexperience\u201d of the fund\u2019s management as well as \u201crisk,\u201d but they were overruled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The New York Times reported<\/a> at the time that the investment \u201ccreates the appearance of potential payback for Mr. Kushner\u2019s actions in the White House \u2014 or of a bid for future favor if Mr. Trump seeks and wins another presidential term in 2024.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similar concerns have been raised about LIV Golf, which has hosted golf events at Trump golf clubs. Earlier this week, LIV announced<\/a> that it was relocating its championship from Saudi Arabia to Trump\u2019s Doral golf course in Miami. <\/p>\n

The post Saudi Arabia\u2019s Huge U.S. Investments Lose Money \u2014 but Buy Influence<\/a> appeared first on The Intercept<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n

This post was originally published on The Intercept<\/a>. <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following Saudi Arabia\u2019s purchase of the PGA Tour, a new Senate report revealed the dictatorship\u2019s ballooning share of the American economy.<\/p>\n

The post Saudi Arabia\u2019s Huge U.S. Investments Lose Money \u2014 but Buy Influence<\/a> appeared first on The Intercept<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":689,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,340],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1134056"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/689"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1134056"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1134056\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1151116,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1134056\/revisions\/1151116"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1134056"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1134056"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1134056"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}