CNN Business
Top executives at JPMorgan Chase and Ford have joined the growing list of business leaders pulling out of a high-profile Saudi investment conference following the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
A JPMorgan Chase (JPM) spokesperson said late Sunday that the bank’s CEO, Jamie Dimon, won’t attend the conference later this month as previously planned. The spokesperson declined to comment further.
Ford (F) Executive Chairman Bill Ford is no longer attending due to “scheduling,” the company said, declining to provide further details about the change of plans.
The Saudi conference, dubbed “Davos in the desert,” has become a focal point for the outcry over the unexplained disappearance of Khashoggi, a former Saudi government adviser turned critic. International executives and media sponsors, including CNN, have withdrawn from the event as concerns have mounted about Khashoggi’s fate.
Turkey claims to have evidence that Khashoggi, a US resident and columnist for the Washington Post, was murdered inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul earlier this month — an accusation the Saudi government strenuously denies.
The Saudi business conference, officially titled the Future Investment Initiative, is part of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s efforts to modernize the country’s economy and wean it off its dependence on oil.
But speakers and sponsors have been abandoning the event in growing numbers.
Kai-Fu Lee, a former Google (GOOGL) executive who was on the list of speakers, will no longer participate, a spokesperson for his investment fund, Sinovation Ventures, told CNN on Monday.
Lee, Dimon and Ford join other top business leaders who have pulled out of the Saudi event in the past week, including Uber’s Dara Khosrowshahi, Viacom’s (VIAB) Bob Bakish and Arianna Huffington.
Some speakers are sticking with plans to attend the conference for the time being.
US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin still plans to attend the conference. A US Treasury spokesperson said late Sunday that officials “will be evaluating the information that comes out this week” about what happened to Khashoggi.
Stocks in Saudi Arabia dropped sharply on Sunday as the fallout over Khashoggi’s disappearance intensified. The main stock market index in Riyadh fell as much as 7% and billions of dollars were wiped off the value of leading Saudi companies. The index recovered some ground later to close 3.5% down.
