Some of the biggest names in US business and finance have canceled plans to attend a big investment conference in Saudi Arabia because of the unexplained disappearance of prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The Washington Post columnist hasn’t been seen since he entered the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2. Turkey claims he was killed in the consulate, an allegation Saudi Arabia firmly denies.
The conference, known as “Davos in the desert,” is part of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s plan to transform the oil-dependent economy.
JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon and the heads of America’s top investment firms — Blackrock and Blackstone — are among the leading figures who have decided to stay away. But several other senior global executives and officials are still going, or are refusing to talk about their plans.
Here’s a list of people who are still planning to participate:
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin
Siemens CEO Joe Kaeser
Credit Suisse CEO Tidjane Thiam
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde
EDF CEO Jean-Bernard Lévy
These executives have not yet commented on whether they still plan to attend:
SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son
HSBC CEO John Flint
Glencore Chairman Tony Hayward
London Stock Exchange CEO David Schwimmer
Societe Generale CEO Frédéric Oudéa
BNP Paribas Chairman Jean Lemierre
Standard Chartered CEO William Winters
Accor CEO Sébastien Bazin
These are the high-profile participants who have pulled out of the Saudi conference:
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon
Ford Executive Chairman Bill Ford
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi
Blackstone CEO Stephen Schwarzman
Blackrock CEO Larry Fink
MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga
Viacom CEO Bob Bakish
Thrive CEO Ariana Huffington
Sinovation Ventures CEO Kai-Fu Lee
World Bank President Jim Yong Kim
Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong
Economist Editor-in-Chief Zanny Minton Beddoes
New York Times columnist Andrew Ross Sorkin
