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Saudi Aramco and Alphabet/Google may cooperate on a "technology hub" within Saudi Arabia, or at least build some data centers:
Saudi Aramco, the world's largest energy company, and Google parent Alphabet have entered discussions to create a technology hub in Saudi Arabia, the Wall Street Journal reports.
The kingdom is embarking upon an ambitious plan, led by the 32-year-old Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, to diversify the nation's oil-dependent economy. The foundation of the effort is a plan to create a huge sovereign wealth fund, underwritten by selling shares in the state-owned Aramco.
The initial public offering, which could happen this year, is expected to be the world's biggest-ever share sale. Aramco President and CEO Amin Nasser recently told CNBC his company is ready for the IPO this year, but is waiting on the government to choose an international list venue.
Alphabet and Aramco have discussed forming a joint venture that would build data centers around the kingdom, sources familiar with the matter tell the Journal. It remains to be seen which customers the data centers would serve and how large the joint venture would be, but it could be listed in the Saudi stock exchange, the sources said.
Data centers are just a "tangible" area of cooperation, not necessarily the entire purpose of the joint venture. Saudi Arabia has talked about building a $500+ billion "megacity" that would be technology-focused.
Meanwhile, slightly-less-of-a-billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal has been put back to work:
Saudi Arabian billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal is back on the job as chairman of global investment firm Kingdom Holding after being released from detention in an anti-corruption campaign, the company said on Thursday.
Prince Alwaleed, one of the country's top international investors, was freed on Saturday, nearly three months after being taken into custody along with dozens of senior officials and businessmen on the orders of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Most detainees have been released, after settlements secured just over $100 billion from members of the elite, the attorney general has said, without providing details.
Also at the Financial Times.
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(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Sunday February 04 2018, @09:41AM
King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman are smart guys. But they did something very foolish. When they released Dopey Prince @Alwaleed_Talal [twitter.com] has been released from the Riyadh Ritz Carlton. When they let him bail himself out. Because there's a trail of failures behind the guy.
I'm not a big fan of his. Never liked him. Never met him. Don't know him. But he bought my favorite yacht, the Trump Princess. For which he overpaid massively. And he bought the Plaza Hotel on Fifth Avenue in New York from me. Let me tell you, the Plaza isn't just a building, it's the ultimate work of art. And I restored it beautifully. Tore out the horrible carpet in its lobby. So you can see the fabulous mosaic underneath. And I made its ballrooms grand again. I was in love with it. But the Dopey Prince comes in, he says, "my, what a big mortgage you have, why don't you let me take it over for you?" To him it's just an investment, he only cares about the money. And he tried to screw up our elections, he asked me to stop running for the presidency. I told him no! He wants to control our U.S. politicians with daddy’s money. I don't know him. I never met him. But I know he's trouble!