New York Times: ‘Silicon Valley’s Saudi Arabia Problem’

The New York Times recently published an article titled “Silicon Valley’s Saudi Arabia Problem,” which investigates tech companies’ willingness to ignore human rights violations by major Saudi investors.

In an article titled “Silicon Valley’s Saudi Arabia Problem,” the New York Times outlines how liberal Silicon Valley tech firms struggle with the issue of taking money from Saudi Arabian investors while ignoring the countries many human rights violations. The article begins by noting that Silicon Valley startups such as WeWork, DoorDash, Wag, and Slack all wouldn’t exist without investments from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. The article states:

Long before the dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi vanished, the kingdom has sought influence in the West — perhaps intended, in part, to make us forget what it is. A medieval theocracy that still beheads by sword, doubling as a modern nation with malls (including a planned mall offering indoor skiing), Saudi Arabia has been called “an ISIS that made it.” Remarkably, the country has avoided pariah status in the United States thanks to our thirst for oil, Riyadh’s carefully cultivated ties with Washington, its big arms purchases, and the two countries’ shared interest in counterterrorism. But lately the Saudis have been growing their circle of American enablers, pouring billions into Silicon Valley technology companies.

While an earlier generation of Saudi leaders, like Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, invested billions of dollars in blue-chip companies in the United States, the kingdom’s new crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, has shifted Saudi Arabia’s investment attention from Wall Street to Silicon Valley. Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund has become one of Silicon Valley’s biggest swinging checkbooks, working mostly through a $100 billion fund raised by SoftBank (a Japanese company), which has swashbuckled its way through the technology industry, often taking multibillion-dollar stakes in promising companies. The Public Investment Fund put $45 billion into SoftBank’s first Vision Fund, and Bloomberg recently reported that the Saudi fund would invest another $45 billion into SoftBank’s second Vision Fund.

The New York Times notes that many popular Silicon Valley startups are still funded by Saudi money, notably that SoftBank is the largest shareholder in Uber thanks to Saudi investment money. Tesla is notably absent from the article, although Saudia Arabia has invested heavily in Elon Musk’s company.  Tech CEO’s and leaders have also been seen rubbing shoulders with Saudi Prince Mohammed bin Salman: