Khashoggi case: The no-shows at Saudi investment conference

A list of the corporate bigwigs that have boycotted an investment conference in Saudi Arabia 23-25 October over the alleged murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

MENA

2 min read

The New Arab & agencies

16 October, 2018

The conference is organised by Saudi Arabia's mammoth sovereign wealth fund [AFP]

Corporate bigwigs are pulling out of an investment conference in Saudi Arabia on 23-25 October concerned by the alleged murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, despite the risk of losing business with the kingdom.

The conference is organised by Saudi Arabia's mammoth sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund, and has been billed as a showcase for the economic reforms of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

But Turkish charges that Khashoggi was killed by a hit squad in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on 2 October have shredded the list of VIPs attending.

As of Monday, organisers had yet to release a revised lineup of speakers after a flood of defections last week.

Here is an updated list of no-shows:

Politics/International institutions

US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin
French Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire
British International Trade Secretary Liam Fox
Dutch Finance Minister Wopke Hoekstra
International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde

Finance

HSBC chief executive John Flint
Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam
MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga
BNP Paribas chairman Jean Lemierre
Societe Generale CEO Frederic Oudea
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon
BlackRock chief Larry Fink
Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman
Standard Chartered CEO Bill Winters
London Stock Exchange CEO David Schwimmer
Siemens chief executive Joe Kaeser

(HSBC, Credit Suisse and MasterCard are listed alongside Siemens among the eight "strategic partners" of the conference).

Industry/Technology

Ford chairman Bill Ford
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi
British billionaire Richard Branson
Thrive CEO Ariana Huffington
Google Cloud CEO Diane Greene

Media

Viacom CEO Bob Bakish

In addition, multiple media groups have withdrawn executives or journalists who were due to join panels at the conference, including CNN, Bloomberg, The Economist, The New York Times, CNBC and the Financial Times.

This article was updated on 22 October 2018.