Saudi Arabia: U.S. companies return to the kingdom

The smartest insight and analysis on "Davos in the Desert," rounded up from around the web

The Future Investment Initiative.
(Image credit: REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed)

The smartest insight and analysis, from all perspectives, rounded up from around the web:

The Saudi conference nicknamed "Davos in the Desert" returned last week — and so did many of the Wall Street A-listers who boycotted it a year ago, said Mohamad Bazzi at The Guardian. Executives and political leaders shunned last year's lavish investment summit in Riyadh, "which took place only weeks after" Saudi agents murdered the journalist Jamal Khashoggi. But their return to the Future Investment Initiative this year signals that "Saudi Arabia is open for business, and U.S. firms don't want to miss out." Executives from JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Blackstone, and SoftBank, as well as Steve Mnuchin, the U.S. treasury secretary, and Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser, were among the 300 speakers from 30 countries. The big draw was the planned initial public offering of a small piece of the world's most profitable company, Saudi Aramco, "the state-owned oil monopoly" that finally got the green light to launch from Crown Prince ­Mohammed bin Salman.

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