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The Saudi Sovereign Wealth Fund, Explained

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The secretive $700 billion investment fund has set its sights on tourism, job creation, private equity and, now, golf.
Behind the head-spinning news this week that the PGA Tour wants to merge with a rival, the upstart Saudi-backed league called LIV Golf, was an entity with billions to spend to make it happen: Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund.
Though the fund has long been a known presence in financial circles, the deal that stunned the golf world has turned a Klieg light on a business that has been described as one of the most opaque in the world.
Here’s what we know about the Saudi fund.What is the Saudi sovereign fund?
The Saudi wealth fund, also known as the Public Investment Fund, or P.I.F., is an investment pool that manages more than $700 billion in government money.
It uses those funds to invest in companies, real estate and other ventures domestically and globally to generate profits, ostensibly for the benefit of the Saudi economy.
Established in 1971 by royal decree, its headquarters are in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, but it also has offices around the world. P.I.F. has grown rapidly in recent years, funding ambitious tourism and commercial undertakings it calls “giga projects.”How does the Saudi fund rank globally?
It isn’t the largest in the world: That would be Norway’s, which, according to the Sovereign Wealth Fund Institute, currently manages $1.4 trillion.Who runs the Saudi fund?
The Public Investment Fund is led by a governor, Yasir al-Rumayyan, a onetime banker and chairman of Saudi Aramco, the country’s national oil company. He also hosts “Davos in the Desert,” the annual conference in Riyadh that attracts thousands of attendees.
But the real power behind the purse strings, analysts say, is Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, who chairs the Public Investment Fund’s board.
Prince Mohammed has made the sovereign fund a cornerstone of his economic growth plan, Vision 2030, a blueprint that aims to wean Saudi Arabia from its dependency on petrowealth and expand its economy into technology, health care and other areas.
The 37-year-old crown prince has also set a goal of growing the Public Investment Fund’s assets to $3 trillion by 2030. What are some of the fund’s investments?
Under Prince Mohammed, the fund has invested in an array of international companies, including Uber, the private-equity firm Blackstone, the Japanese conglomerate SoftBank and sports franchises like the English Premier League soccer team Newcastle United.

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