Silicon Valley and its fatal attraction to Saudi Arabia | Financial Times:
Silicon Valley royalty received a visit from the real thing in April. Google co-founder Sergey Brin and venture capitalist Peter Thiel were among those to meet Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia during his US tour.
The budding relationship between the two kingdoms was on display again this week. The Financial Times revealed that Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund had spent about $2bn to acquire almost 5 per cent of Tesla’s shares.
The mutual attraction is obvious. Prince Mohammed has an ambitious agenda to transform his oil economy into an investing and technology powerhouse. For their part, tech companies, especially those burning cash at a rapacious rate, appreciate patient, deep-pocketed investors.