Several of the executives — including delegates from four of the 10 largest U.S. companies by market value — are pursuing investment opportunities from Saudi sources and looking to influence senior Trump administration officials.
On Tuesday in Riyadh, President Trump was joined by senior U.S. and Saudi officials for a high-profile lunch that included dozens of business leaders representing some of the largest and most influential American corporations. These executives—spanning industries such as technology, finance, consumer goods, and aerospace—were not only there to network but also to pursue strategic business opportunities with Saudi Arabia's deep-pocketed investors, corporations, and government agencies.
Among the attendees were representatives from four of the ten most valuable publicly traded U.S. companies. Many of these firms are facing pressure from the Trump administration’s recent trade policies, including new tariffs on key trading partners. For these executives, the gathering presented a rare opportunity to directly engage with top administration officials—such as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick—to discuss policy concerns and advocate for more favorable trade conditions.
Saudi Arabia, aiming to shift its economy away from a reliance on oil, has rapidly become one of the world’s most aggressive investors in artificial intelligence and emerging technologies. This strategic pivot has attracted major players in the AI and tech sectors. High-profile guests included Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI; Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia; Ruth Porat, Chief Investment Officer of Alphabet (Google’s parent company); and Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon, a dominant force in global cloud computing.
Also present was Elon Musk, who is not only involved in President Trump’s initiative to downsize the federal government but also leads several major ventures: Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI—his own AI startup currently in talks for a funding round that could value the company at up to $120 billion.
Saudi Arabia’s massive investment in infrastructure, technology, and diversification has turned the kingdom into a magnet for global financial executives eager to forge partnerships and offer advisory services. Prominent figures from the finance world at the lunch included Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone, Larry Fink of BlackRock, and Jane Fraser of Citigroup.
According to a guest list released by the White House, the attendees included:
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Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX
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Stephen A. Schwarzman, CEO of Blackstone Group
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Larry Fink, CEO of BlackRock
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Arvind Krishna, Chairman and CEO of IBM
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Jane Fraser, CEO of Citigroup
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Kelly Ortberg, CEO of Boeing
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Ruth Porat, Chief Investment Officer of Alphabet
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Andy Jassy, CEO of Amazon
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Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI
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Jensen Huang, CEO of Nvidia
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Alex Karp, CEO of Palantir
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Jeff Miller, CEO of Halliburton
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Travis Kalanick, former CEO of Uber and founder of CloudKitchens
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Kathy Warden, CEO of Northrop Grumman
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James Quincey, CEO of Coca-Cola
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Dara Khosrowshahi, CEO of Uber
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Francis Suarez, Mayor of Miami
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Reid Hoffman, Executive Chairman of LinkedIn
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Gianni Infantino, President of FIFA
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Patrick Soon-Shiong, Executive Chairman of ImmunityBio and owner of The Los Angeles Times
This elite gathering underscores the growing economic interdependence between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia, particularly in high-growth sectors like technology, AI, and infrastructure, where both capital and influence are at stake.
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