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what kind of mega projects are they involved in outside oil? I learned that they invested 40B in the SoftBank fund. Is this what you're referring to? Where woul

what kind of mega projects are they involved in outside oil? I learned that they invested 40B in the SoftBank fund. Is this what you're referring to? Where would I look or what should I read to learn more about this? thanks

PopeDotNinja 7y ago
They're building a bunch of new cities: https://www.index-saudi.com/more-info/saudi-mega-projects/ https://www.index-saudi.com/more-info/saudi-mega-projects/
- DyslexicAtheist 7y ago
  thanks for this
- aliswe 7y ago
  Please note that these projects are not all governmentally funded and thus do not burden the state budget (affecting the x-usd-per-barrel-or-bust number) per se - Jeddah Tower is built "privately" by prince Waleed and his company if I'm not mistaken. But, the list does match the OP title "The Saudis ..." ... hehe ...
  - edmundsauto 7y ago
    It was my understanding there isn't much difference between the prince and the company and the country. Is that inaccurate?
    - PopeDotNinja 7y ago
      If the state owned oil companies pay a lot to the royal family, that's kind of like you owning the company and setting your own salary to whatever you want. There's a difference on paper, but not in spirit (to me anyway).
      - aliswe 7y ago
        Just as an example, Prince Waleeds fortune is more or less self made. Furthermore, his company "Kingdom Holding" (IIRC) is to my knowledge not owned by the government (but it's a public company so that big investment fund - is it called the PIF? - could theoretically buy KH stock.) Some of those real estate projects look private to me.
aliswe 7y ago
Dunno about good sources, but Neom and Qiddiya AFAIK still have prospected budgets of 500 billion dollars, each. This is of course an approximation and the actual amount is in a state of flux, so these are just two mega-parameters that are obscured by the x-dollars-or-bust statement that I hear so often.

PopeDotNinja 7y ago

They're building a bunch of new cities: https://www.index-saudi.com/more-info/saudi-mega-projects/ https://www.index-saudi.com/more-info/saudi-mega-projects/

DyslexicAtheist 7y ago
thanks for this
aliswe 7y ago
Please note that these projects are not all governmentally funded and thus do not burden the state budget (affecting the x-usd-per-barrel-or-bust number) per se - Jeddah Tower is built "privately" by prince Waleed and his company if I'm not mistaken. But, the list does match the OP title "The Saudis ..." ... hehe ...
- edmundsauto 7y ago
  It was my understanding there isn't much difference between the prince and the company and the country. Is that inaccurate?
  - PopeDotNinja 7y ago
    If the state owned oil companies pay a lot to the royal family, that's kind of like you owning the company and setting your own salary to whatever you want. There's a difference on paper, but not in spirit (to me anyway).
    - aliswe 7y ago
      Just as an example, Prince Waleeds fortune is more or less self made. Furthermore, his company "Kingdom Holding" (IIRC) is to my knowledge not owned by the government (but it's a public company so that big investment fund - is it called the PIF? - could theoretically buy KH stock.) Some of those real estate projects look private to me.

aliswe 7y ago

Dunno about good sources, but Neom and Qiddiya AFAIK still have prospected budgets of 500 billion dollars, each. This is of course an approximation and the actual amount is in a state of flux, so these are just two mega-parameters that are obscured by the x-dollars-or-bust statement that I hear so often.