SoftBank CEO cancels speech at Saudi Arabia conference
SoftBank CEO cancels speech at Saudi Arabia conference
The Executive Director, Masayoshi Son, canceled his role as speaker at a major business conference in Saudi Arabia this week, a decision that could test the multimillion-dollar business partnership between the Japanese technology investor and the kingdom.
Mr. Son is one of the most prominent executives to retire from the business conference after the murder of Saudi journalistJamal Khashoggi at the consulate of Saudi Arabia in Istanbul, on October 2. The billionaire, Mr. Son, was a featured speaker at the three-day event scheduled to begin Tuesday in Riyadh, and the $ 92 billion technology-focused Vision Fund presents Saudi Arabia as an investment anchor .
Mr. Son can still attend the Future Investment Initiative on the sidelines, said a spokesperson for the event, and Saleh Romeih, a managing partner of the Vision Fund, spoke on the scheduled date for Tuesday.
9984 -2.93%
The spokespersons did not respond to requests for comments.
The cancellation of Mr. Son and the controversy over the participation of Saudi Arabian government agents in the death of Mr. Khashoggi cast doubt on the future of the Vision Fund and the powerful partnership between Mr. Son and Prince Mohammed bin Salman of the kingdom. Together they have tried to become experts in technology, and have changed the venture capital industry with an unprecedented sum of money to seize bets in some of the markets. the hottest startups in the world.
The businessman and the crown prince have expressed mutual admiration for each other. Mr. Son this year called Prince Mohammed "a great person and a great investor", and said he promised prosperity to the Saudis positioning the kingdom as an actor In the biggest trends of technology.
Prince Mohammed, with the aim of diversifying Saudi Arabia's economy beyond oil, pledged $ 45 billion to the Vision Fund, which in turn has directed billions of dollars to companies such as travel firm Uber Technologies Inc. and the shared office company WeWork Cos. Saudi Arabia is now The largest source of funding for new US companies UU, having invested more than $ 11 billion in these companies so far since mid-2016, according to an estimate in the Wall Street Journal.
But the supposed role of the Saudi kingdom in the death of the government critic, Mr. Khashoggi, has put that relationship and Saudi Arabia's broader connection to the business world to the test. A Saudi investigation has blamed a fraudulent operation for an unsuccessful attempt to interrogate Mr. Khashoggi and kill him during a fight, an explanation that has generated skepticism from world leaders, including President Donald Trump.
A series of high profile executives, investors and officials he retired from speaking in the Future Investment Initiative, which was supposed to celebrate the arrival of Saudi Arabia in the global financial scenario.
Some of Wall Street's most powerful executives, James Dimon, CEO of JP Morgan Chase & Co., Laurence Fink, CEO of BlackRock Inc. and Stephen Schwarzman, head of Blackstone Group, decided not to attend. The heads of the big European banks like
PLC and
He also retired, as did the CEO of Japan's largest MUFG Bank Ltd. on Sunday. The list of speaker cancellations includes leaders of large corporations, including Ford Motor Co. president Bill Ford and Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.
As cancellations and public reaction increased, there was an internal debate within
9984 -2.93%
about whether Mr. Son should attend or not, said a person familiar with the matter. Mr. Son had felt obliged to leave, and some officials of the London-based company argued that he should keep his commitment, said this person, but some officials of the company based in the United States forced him to reconsider.
The pressure increased with reports of new links linking the Saudi government with the death of Mr. Khashoggi.
People close to the Vision Fund are concerned that the crisis that hits Saudi officials may spread to the Vision Fund. Companies could avoid talking to the Vision Fund about the sale of shares or the search for other agreements together, these people say.
The chief executives of the big banks that are lined up to help publicize SoftBank's wireless business and have been discussing multi-billion dollar loans to the SoftBank Vision Fund withdrew from the Saudi conference, according to people familiar with the business. the topic.
Investors have sent SoftBank stocks sharply lower after the scandal. The share has fallen approximately 20% since Mr. Khashoggi's disappearance to $ 9,157 per share on the Tokyo Stock Exchange.
-Jenny Strasburg in London contributed to this article.
Write to Nicolas Parasie in nicolas.parasie@wsj.com and Rory Jones in rory.jones@wsj.com
.
!function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)
{if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?
n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};
if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';
n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;
t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];
s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',
'https://connect.facebook.net/en_US/fbevents.js');
fbq('init', '369524843414444');
fbq('track', 'PageView');
.
SOURCE LINK ERESVIRAL.COM https://www.beviral.online
Comentarios
Publicar un comentario