The Public Investment Fund (PIF) holds a wide range of domestic and international investments. These include a 38% stake in POSCO Engineering & Construction, a 5% stake in Uber acquired for $3.5 billion, and combined 5% stakes in the video game companies Capcom and Nexon, purchased for approximately $1 billion. In March 2016, the Saudi government announced that ownership of Saudi Aramco would be transferred to the PIF, and that the Kingdom planned to list 5% of Aramco's shares in an initial public offering by 2017. Domestically, PIF owns and develops several large-scale projects. These include Qiddiya City, leadership of the Red Sea Project, and ownership of the closed joint-stock company Neom. PIF also holds a 5.7% stake, valued at about $500 million, in concert and ticketing company Live Nation. In 2020, the fund purchased minority stakes in several major U.S. companies, including Boeing, Meta Platforms (then known as Facebook), and Citigroup. That same year, PIF disclosed investments of approximately $713.7 million in Boeing, $522 million in Citigroup, $522 million in Facebook, $495.8 million in The Walt Disney Company, and $487.6 million in Bank of America. It also reported a small stake in Berkshire Hathaway and a $827.7 million stake in oil company BP. In addition, PIF acquired a 2.32% stake, valued at $1.5 billion, in India's Jio Platforms in 2020. Later that year, the fund reduced its total U.S. equity holdings from $10.1 billion to $7 billion in the third quarter, leaving its then $2.7 billion stake in Uber as its largest remaining U.S. investment. In 2016,
SoftBank Group and the PIF announced that they would establish the
SoftBank Vision Fund, which aimed to invest up to $45 billion over five years in the tech sector. The SoftBank Group confirmed that during the fiscal year 2019–2020, the Vision Fund incurred a loss calculated at $17.7 billion after the value of investments was written down. The losses were related to the investments in
WeWork and
Uber. In the 39-year history of SoftBank, the Saudi Arabia-backed funds paid the group its worst-ever losses; the overall company losses were 1.36 trillion yen (more than $12.5 billion). During the 2017 Saudi–US CEO Forum, which was part of President
Donald Trump's official trip to Saudi Arabia, PIF announced plans to "invest $40 billion in infrastructure projects, mostly in the U.S."
Blackstone Inc., whose CEO and founder,
Stephen A. Schwarzman, is a top supporter of Trump, entered into a non-binding memorandum by which the PIF committed $20 billion to the project. During the CEO Forum, US–Saudi arms deals were announced, including a pledge to "assemble 150
Lockheed Martin Black Hawk helicopters" in Saudi Arabia, representing 450 jobs in Saudi Arabia as part of the "$6 billion deal for Black Hawks." In October 2017, it was announced that PIF would aim to increase its assets under management to more than $400 billion and create more than 20,000 new jobs by 2020. Al-Rumayyan presented a new investment strategy for the fund, based on four objectives of maximizing assets, investing in new sectors, localizing technologies, and developing economic partnerships. In September 2018, Al-Rumayyan announced PIF's first step in incorporating loans and debt instruments into its long-term strategy, with an $11 billion loan facility. The following month, he said the fund would aim to increase the percentage of international assets in its portfolio from 10% to 50% by 2030. At the
Milken Institute in
Abu Dhabi in February 2019, Al-Rumayyan announced that PIF would open new offices in London, New York City, and San Francisco increase its workforce from 450 to 700 by the end of 2019. He also said the fund would invest in
renewable energy projects in Saudi Arabia, including local manufacturing of
solar panels. and the following month, an 8% stake in
Embracer Group with a investment. PIF owned a major indirect stake in
Twitter prior to its
acquisition by
Elon Musk, although many
Saudis who use the platform for political dissent and activism are arbitrarily arrested and imprisoned. In November 2023, PIF acquired a 10% stake in
Heathrow Airport after
Ferrovial sold its 25% share. The remaining 15% was acquired by
Ardian. PIF acquired a 49% stake in
Rocco Forte Hotels in December 2023, valuing the hotel group at £1.4 billion. In 2024, PIF acquired a 38% share of HOLON GmbH, Germany. HOLON is a subcompany of
Benteler International. HOLON is launching the worldwide first electric autonomous shuttle with automotive standards in 2026.
Former Donald Trump administration officials In 2021, PIF invested $2 billion into
Affinity Partners, a private equity firm formed by
Jared Kushner,
Donald Trump's son-in-law, shortly after he left the White House, where he had worked during his father-in-law's first term as president. While considering making the $2bn pledge, PIF officials and advisers raised questions about the merits of the investment, but PIF management overruled the advisers. In May 2022, it was reported that Affinity Partners was planning to direct its investments—and thus Saudi Arabia's PIF money—to Israel. Kushner conducted various pitch meetings with a range of Israeli startups before selecting two of them in which Affinity would invest. The Kingdom did not have formal diplomatic relations with Israel and was not a part of the public
Abraham Accords process at that stage. Kushner warned Saudi Arabian officials that it could lose opportunities in Israel to its neighbors who signed the Accords, including the
United Arab Emirates and
Bahrain. Saudi officials agreed to Affinity Partners' investment in Israeli startups, which was also believed to have been approved by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Many saw it as a groundwork for the potential normalization of
Israel–Saudi Arabia relations. It was the first known occasion in which money from the Saudi PIF would go to Israel. The
Premier League did not approve the deal, leading Ashley to pursue legal action in an attempt to finalize the sale. On 7 October 2021, the consortium, led by the PIF, completed the acquisition after the Premier League received “legally binding assurances” that the Saudi government would not control the club. The Premier League faced criticism from human rights organizations following the club's sale.
Amnesty International condemned the decision, citing Saudi Arabia's human rights record and calling for ownership rules that would prevent human rights violators from owning Premier League clubs. The organization described the takeover as “an extremely bitter blow for human rights defenders.” Hatice Cengiz, fiancée of murdered journalist
Jamal Khashoggi, also urged the Premier League to block the deal. The UK government declined to release details of its discussions with the Premier League, citing potential harm to diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia. The other 19 Premier League clubs criticized the takeover, arguing it harmed the league's reputation.
Establishment of LIV Golf In October 2021, a division of the PIF, Golf Saudi, funded the establishment of LIV Golf Investments, with
Greg Norman declared its CEO. The private company introduced a professional tour, LIV Golf, known beforehand as the Super Golf League. It came as a new challenge against the
PGA Tour, after the World Golf Tour and the Premier Golf League. LIV Golf's strategy differed from other leagues as it offered the richest golf tournaments in history and was able to convince star players to take part. In June 2022, the
LIV Golf Invitational Series commenced its eight-event season, with total prize money of $255 million. The Saudi PIF backed the event with $2 billion in funds. LIV Golf offered the winners prize of each regular event $4 million in prize money, in comparison to the
PGA Championship’s $2.7 million. Some of the most prominent professional golf players participated in the event, including
Phil Mickelson,
Dustin Johnson,
Graeme McDowell,
Sergio García,
Martin Kaymer,
Louis Oosthuizen,
Charl Schwartzel, and
Lee Westwood. Dustin Johnson was allegedly paid $150 million to join the Saudi-backed series. Phil Mickelson also committed to the series after signing a $200 million contract. However, some other renowned players also rejected the new league, with
Tiger Woods turning down an offer worth nearly $1 billion. A vocal critic of the tournament,
Rory McIlroy also stood with PGA Tour and criticized players who joined LIV, stating they were "taking the easy way out". LIV Golf was also condemned as another
sportswashing tool of Saudi Arabia, which is accused of several human rights violations, including the
assassination of Jamal Khashoggi. The CEO Greg Norman and star players had to face questions about their association with LIV Golf, despite the Kingdom's abysmal human rights records. Norman dismissed the questions, saying, "We've all made mistakes" and that Saudi wanted "to move forward". Phil Mickelson gave a controversial statement before the establishment of the circuit, saying that the Saudis were "scary motherf–kers to be involved with". He said, "We know they killed Khashoggi and have a horrible record on human rights". Despite that, Mickelson joined LIV Golf, calling it "a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity" to reshape the PGA Tour. Graeme McDowell also gave similar answers and said, "We're not politicians, we're professional golfers. If Saudi Arabia wants to use the game of golf as a way for them to get to where they want to be, I think we're proud to help them on that journey." On June 6, 2023, it was announced that LIV Golf and the PGA Tour would merge their commercial businesses into a new for-profit company, with the Public Investment Fund reportedly investing billions into the new company. Critics of the deal accused the PGA of hypocrisy and lamented what they saw as Saudi "
sportswashing." Saudi exiles and human rights activists said that the PGA were accepting "Saudi blood money." In April 2026, PIF announced in their new five year strategy that it is reevaluating its priorities. This is against mounting pressures and financial commitments to host World Expo 2030 and the
football world cup in 2034.
Exposure to Credit Suisse crisis In 2022, PIF made a $1.5 billion investment in
Credit Suisse as part of a broader goal of diversifying its portfolio into global banking. The PIF connected Credit Suisse to the
Saudi National Bank, and made the Saudi National Bank the largest shareholder with less than 10% ownership (which, according to the Saudi National Bank, prevented them from having to deal with regulatory requirements for 10%+ shareholder ownership). After the
March 2023 United States bank failures had gripped the global banking sector, Saudi National Bank chairman Ammar al-Khudair publicly stated on 15 March 2023 that they would "absolutely not" supply Credit Suisse with more capital (referencing the regulatory requirements for 10%+ shareholders as the reason why), which then promptly caused the share price of Credit Suisse to drop 25% more. On 19 March 2023,
UBS confirmed their planned
acquisition of Credit Suisse.
ATP and WTA tour partnerships In 2024, the Public Investment Fund announced partnerships with the ATP and WTA tours. In March 2024, PIF announced a $2 billion offer to buy both professional tennis tours, the
ATP Tour and the
WTA Tour which wouldn't have involved grand slam events and would have involved the two tours being merged into a single PIF lead tour It is unclear if the offer was later rejected or accepted. ==List of investments==