Google's Diane Greene latest to withdraw from Saudi conference

Matthew Field
Updated
Diane Greene, Google's head of cloud, will no longer attend the Future Investment Initiative Conference in Riyadh
Diane Greene, Google's head of cloud, will no longer attend the Future Investment Initiative Conference in Riyadh

Google has become the latest tech company to withdraw from a major conference in Saudi Arabia following conflicting accounts of the death of exiled journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Diane Greene, Google's head of cloud, will no longer attend the Future Investment Initiative Conference in Riyadh, nicknamed "Davos in the Desert".

The event is due to begin on October 23 and is being co-hosted by the country's massive sovereign wealth fund, the Public Investment Fund (PIF). It is intended to showcase the nation's future modernisation plans in a bid to attract foreign investment.

Google's withdrawal is significant because the firm has sealed deals to build up its cloud internet infrastructure in Saudi Arabia. Earlier this year, it also announced that it would work with a Saudi agency to open five innovation hubs to train aspiring technologists. 

Those deals, however, may be in jeopardy after prominent Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of Saudi policies, went missing.  

He was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on October 2.

Reports emerged last night the Kingdom was planning to confirm it had accidentally caused his death, although until now it has denied any knowledge of the disappearance. 

Pressure has been mounting for tech companies to take a stand against Saudi Arabia over the incident.

Several other senior tech and finance leaders have pulled out of the conference, including Uber chief executive Dara Khosrowshahi and JP Morgan chief executive Jamie Dimon.

Venture capitalist Steve Case and and HP executive Joanna Popper have also dropped out, and Sir Richard Branson has put on hold his directorships of two tourism projects around the Red Sea and halted talks with the the PIF over its proposed investment in Virgin Galactic and Virgin Orbit.

Meanwhile, HSBC Holdings Plc Chief Executive Officer John Flint and CEO Tidjane Thiam said they would not attend on Tuesday, according to a person familiar with the matter speaking to Bloomberg. 

Executives from Japanese tech giant Softbank are still due to attend.