Saudi Crown Prince Is Said to Plan Meetings With Apple, Google

(Bloomberg) -- Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman plans to meet top global executives, including the heads of Apple Inc. and Google, during his first trip to the U.S. since becoming heir to the throne of the world's largest oil exporter, according to a person briefed on the trip's details.

Prince Mohammed, known among journalists and diplomats as MBS, will hold talks with President Donald Trump and senior administration officials this week in Washington. His itinerary also may include stops in New York, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Houston, the person said on condition of anonymity because the plans aren't final.

The prince also will hold meetings with top movie industry executives in Los Angeles, the person said, as his government presses ahead with a plan to allow commercial cinemas in the conservative kingdom for the first time in more than 35 years.

A Saudi embassy spokesman in Washington declined to confirm the itinerary and said official details will be released later. Officials at Apple and Google parent Alphabet Inc. declined to comment.

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The crown prince will use the trip to promote investment opportunities in the biggest Arab economy, the person said, seeking to dispel concerns about a declared crackdown on corruption that saw dozens of Saudi royals, billionaires and officials detained for three months at the Ritz-Carlton in Riyadh. Among those held was Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, a billionaire with holdings in U.S. companies including Citigroup Inc.

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Authorities said the majority of detainees were released in exchange for settlements that exceeded $100 billion.

The U.S. trip follows the crown prince's three-day state visit to the U.K., where the two nations signed deals aimed at helping them reach a goal of 65 billion pounds ($91 billion) of mutual trade and investment in the coming years. Included in the agreements was a memorandum of intent by Saudi Arabia to BAE Systems Plc's Eurofighter, reviving prospects for a long-delayed purchase of 48 jets. The deal could be valued at more than 8 billion pounds before discounts.

Trump has moved to strengthen U.S. ties with the kingdom since taking office in January 2017, and his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has cultivated a relationship with the crown prince. Saudi Arabia was the first foreign country Trump visited after taking office, traveling to the kingdom in May and signing memorandums and agreements for defense spending that totaled about $110 billion.

But U.S. relations also have been strained at times over a continuing dispute between a Saudi-led bloc and Qatar, a key ally in the Middle East that hosts a U.S. air base used in the war against Islamic State.

--With assistance from Mark Gurman

To contact the reporter on this story: Alaa Shahine in Dubai at asalha@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alaa Shahine at asalha@bloomberg.net, Bill Faries, Larry Liebert

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