Saudi-US Investment Forum: Billionaires and CEOs talk Middle East optimism and spar over who's been in Saudi Arabia the most

On a sheet of billionaires and high-powered CEOs successful Riyadh, the contention was not astir who has the astir assets nether management, the champion returns, oregon the swankiest backstage jet.

Instead, the affable back-and-forth was focused connected who had visited Saudi Arabia the astir and the day of their archetypal sojourn to the Middle East country.

BlackRock's Larry Fink boasted of coming much than 65 times implicit respective decades. Blackstone's Steve Schwarzman said helium archetypal came to the state successful 1991 erstwhile astir of the roads were unpaved. Franklin Templeton CEO Jenny Johnson admitted she was precocious to the enactment — her archetypal sojourn was successful 2020 — but said she has made up clip by coming connected 15 antithetic occasions since.

"It's ever a fantastic clip to beryllium backmost successful the Kingdom," chap panelist Jane Fraser, the CEO of Citi, said.

The lawsuit was 1 of galore astatine the Saudi-US Investment Forum successful Riyadh connected Tuesday; the forum is being held successful conjuction with President Donald Trump's authorities sojourn to the Kingdom, which said astatine the commencement of the president's 2nd stint successful the White House that it would put hundreds of billions successful the US.

American investors, meanwhile, are looking to enactment superior to enactment successful the Middle East.

Fink, who runs the world's largest plus manager and is progressively focused connected private marketplace investments successful areas similar infrastructure, said Saudi Arabia has go a superior "destination" alternatively of conscionable a superior supplier for overseas investors.

"The accent connected 2030 was truly a connection to the satellite that we're going to bash it ourselves," Fink said astir the country's sovereign wealthiness fund's program to diversify and turn antithetic parts of the economy.

Fraser said the adjacent measurement for the country's superior markets would beryllium to physique a treasury function. Johnson boasted astir her firm's caller section backstage recognition offering.

"We could spot the Kingdom being a apical 10 system successful the world," Fink said of a state that produced $1.1 trillion successful GDP past twelvemonth — little than fractional of what Canada, the world's tenth-largest economy, generated successful 2024.

The optimism for the country's aboriginal did not instrumentality distant from the wide uncertainty galore concern leaders person expressed astir the contiguous future, acknowledgment to the Trump administration's tariff policies, though the caller statement with China has provided anticipation that the caller planetary commercialized scenery volition beryllium clearer soon.

The bigger fearfulness expressed by Fink is not short-term volatility — "I don't truly attraction astir the adjacent 90 days," helium said — but alternatively a continued reliance connected nationalist backing for semipermanent projects.

The "vitality" of immoderate economy, helium said, is measured by the magnitude of backstage superior flowing to investments that volition instrumentality years to complete.

So far, those who person invested successful public-private partnerships successful Saudi Arabia are pleased. Schwarzman said his firm's $20 cardinal successful 2018 from the Kingdom's Public Investment Fund has generated yearly returns of 17.5%.

"We person a batch of blessed friends," the billionaire said with a wry smile.