7 October 2021
Yasir bin Othman Al-Rumayyan (Arabic : ياسر الرميان; born 18 February 1970) is a Saudi businessman who is governor of the Public Investment Fund (PIF), the sovereign wealth fund of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He also chairs the state-owned petroleum company Saudi Aramco and Saudi Arabia's largest mining company Maaden. [1]
He is chairman of the English football club Newcastle United and manages LIV Golf. [1] He is chairman of Riyadh Air. [1] He is also involved in the construction of Neom, a controversial megaproject. [1]
Al-Rumayyan is a close ally of Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman. His early career was spent in finance. [1] When King Abdullah died in 2015 and power consolidated around Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Al-Rumayyan was elevated to positions of power, including chairman of PIF and placed on the board of Saudi Aramco. [1] After Bin Salman's 2017 purge of competing Saudi political elites, Al-Rumayyan and his associates filled the void and helped Bin Salman consolidate power. [1] Al-Rumayyan was involved in transferring assets seized from other Saudi elites into the PIF. [1]
Yasir Al-Rumayyan was born in Buraidah, Al-Qassim Province, [1] in 1970. His father was Saudi and his mother was Syrian. [1] He moved to Riyadh as a child where he attended Al-Abna'a. [1]
He graduated from King Faisal University in Alahsa in 1993 with a degree in accounting. [1] He did a three-month course at Harvard Business School in 2007. [1]
He began his career at Saudi Hollandi Bank, becoming head of international brokerage before joining the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), where he was head of securities listings. [2] [3] Between 2011 and 2015, Al-Rumayyan was CEO of Saudi Fransi Capital (SFC), the investment banking arm of Banque Saudi Fransi. [4] [5] From 2014 to 2015 he was on the board of directors of the Saudi Stock Exchange. [5]
Al-Rumayyan sits on the boards of SoftBank Group and Reliance Industries Ltd. [6]
Al-Rumayyan was made chairman of the Saudi Aramco board in September 2019 after Crown Prince Bin Salman stripped Khalid Al-Falih, the energy minister, of his duties when he questioned Bin Salman's directives. [1]
In September 2015, Al-Rumayyan was appointed managing director of the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia (PIF). [7] [8]
In 2016, PIF invested $3.5 billion in the US-based Uber [9] He joined Uber's board of directors as part of the agreement. [10]
In August 2016, Al-Rumayyan joined the board of the state oil company Saudi Aramco as part of a move toward closer cooperation between Aramco and PIF in restructuring the Saudi economy. [11] In October that year, PIF invested $45 billion in the newly established SoftBank Vision Fund. [12] In May 2017, PIF invested $20 billion to a joint US infrastructure fund with Blackstone. [13]
Al-Rumayyan was involved in the transfer of assets to PIF in the wake of the Saudi Arabian government's 2017 purge. [14] Al-Rumayyan transferred 20 companies that had been seized by the government into the PIF, [14] including one later alleged to be used by Saudi operatives in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. [14] [15]
In October 2021, PIF announced that the acquisition of Newcastle United by the consortium consisting of the Public Investment Fund and that Al-Rumayyan would be elected as chairman of the club after PIF acquired it. [16]
He has at least one son. [1]
Mohammed Bin Salman gave Al-Rumayyan a house worth 250 million Saudi riyals (over $60m) near the presidential palace. [1]
He has been described as passionate about golfing. [1] After Mohammed Bin Salman's purge of other Saudi political elites, Al-Rumayyan's brother-in-law, Mazin bin Ibrahim Al-Kahmous, was made president of Saudi Arabia’s Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority. [1]
He is close with Donald Trump and has been photographed wearing a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat. [1]
After Trump's win in the 2024 election, he was spotted at a UFC event in Madison Square Garden with the president-elect. [17]
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