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The executives — from tech firms, banks, consumer groups and other industries, including representatives of four of the 10 biggest US companies by market value — may be there to pitch for business from deep-pocketed Saudi investors, businesses and government departments. Their companies are also dealing with the tariffs imposed by Trump on US trading partners, so the trip is an opportunity to lobby top Trump officials, such as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, on trade policy.
Saudi Arabia has emerged as one of the world’s largest investors in artificial intelligence, an effort to diversify the oil-rich nation’s economy and give it influence over one of the hottest sectors in the business world.
Notable AI players at the lunch include Sam Altman, chief executive of ChatGPT parent OpenAI; Jensen Huang, the leader of advanced chipmaker Nvidia; Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Alphabet, Google’s parent company; and Andy Jassy, the chief of Amazon, which is a major provider of cloud-computing services.
There is also Elon Musk, who, in addition to overseeing Trump’s effort to slash the size of the federal government, also runs Tesla, SpaceX and his own AI company called xAI, which is in talks for new financing that could value the firm at as much as $120 billion.
The vast sums of money that Saudi Arabia is spending on technology, infrastructure and other priorities have made the country a popular destination for financial executives seeking to advise the kingdom and its companies. Top financial leaders at the lunch include Stephen Schwarzman of Blackstone, Larry Fink of BlackRock and Jane Fraser of Citigroup.
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Here are some of the business executives and other guests at the lunch, according to a list provided by the White House:
- Elon Musk, chief executive of Tesla and SpaceX
- Stephen A. Schwarzman, chief executive of the Blackstone Group
- Larry Fink, chief executive of BlackRock
- Arvind Krishna, chair and chief executive of IBM
- Jane Fraser, chief executive of Citigroup
- Kelly Ortberg, chief executive of Boeing
- Ruth Porat, president and chief investment officer of Alphabet and Google
- Andy Jassy, chief executive of Amazon
- Sam Altman, chief executive of OpenAI
- Jensen Huang, chief executive of Nvidia
- Alex Karp, chief executive of Palantir
- Jeff Miller, chief executive of Halliburton
- Travis Kalanick, former chief executive of Uber and founder of Cloud Kitchens
- Kathy Warden, chief executive of Northrop Grumman
- James Quincey, chief executive of Coca-Cola
- Dara Khosrowshahi, chief executive of Uber
- Francis Suarez, mayor of Miami
- Gianni Infantino, president of FIFA
- Patrick Soon-Shiong, executive chair of Immunity Bio and owner of the Los Angeles Times
Reid Hoffman, executive chair of LinkedIn, was on the list of attendees provided by the White House, but a representative said he did not attend.
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