Silicon Valley Runs on Saudi (2019)
I am not looking forward to the rehabilitation of MBS's image that will take place over the next couple of years.After Khashoggi was killed, some prominent people took a bit of stand and pulled out of the Future Investment Conference. The narrative there was clear: we don't do business with people who murder journalists.So now, the US has essentially confirmed it: yeah, MBS did in fact have that journalist killed. So what comes next?What should happen is all of those people who boycotted the conference a couple years ago come out and say "we will not do business with MBS connected businesses, investment funds, etc moving forward!"What will actually happen? Probably the something worse than what seems to be the official US government stance: "Yeah, he did it, but we aren't going to punish him or allow what he did to impact business as usual." Business leaders can't even afford to take a position that weak. They have considerably less leverage, so they have to kowtow. I expect for the most part they will refuse to discuss their relationship with MBS  as they move forward with partnerships and investments. The real question is when his tours of US tech campuses will resume.