Powerful leaders have moved away from the Saudis. No SoftBank.

"At present, like most companies that have relations with Saudi Arabia, we are following developments closely," said Mr. Claure to a group of journalists at a news conference. technology sector in San Jose, California. There are developments almost every hour these days. "

Mr. Son pointed out to the partners that the SoftBank Vision Fund had a responsibility to Saudi citizens who had entrusted his company with $ 45 billion from the sovereign wealth fund of his kingdom, according to SoftBank officials who requested anonymity because they were not allowed to speak in public. At the same time, they said, he told Vision Fund's corporate executives that they should not feel compelled to follow his example and that they should do what was best for them.

This is a delicate balance for Mr. Son who, on the one hand, receives investment capital from a conservative country that has built its immense wealth with oil and on the other hand uses this same wealth to finance young progressive companies with different values. .

Since Turkish officials have accused the Saudis of having ordered the assassination of Mr. Khashoggi, a series of foreign leaders including Mr. Dimon, Mr. Khosrowshahi, Stephen Schwarzman of the Blackstone Group and Laurence D. Fink from BlackRock, is removed from the conference. All their businesses have financial interests in the kingdom.

Mr. Dimon's company has an office in Riyadh with about 70 employees. Mr. Schwarzman's company has launched an infrastructure fund financed by Saudi Arabia up to $ 20 billion. Mr. Fink's company manages billions of dollars for the Saudi central bank. And Khosrowshahi's company received a $ 3.5 billion investment from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, known as the Public Investment Fund, in 2016. The fund's managing director is on the board of Uber.

But these leaders are not as deeply tied to the Saudis as Mr. Son.

Mr. Son is "certainly in an awkward position," said Colin C. Blaydon, honorary director of the Center for Private Equity and Entrepreneurship at the Tuck School of Business in Dartmouth. "Everyone is sort of back to wait and see how all this is going on," he added, and the immediate question for someone like Mr. Son is to know if he There will be a short-term solution around this conference. does that give you some leeway to try to understand what will follow?

Some leaders have made more drastic efforts to stand out from the Saudis. Richard Branson, founder of the Virgin Group, ended discussions on planned Saudi investments in two Virgin space tourism companies. Ariel Emanuel, general manager of entertainment agency Endeavor, is using his company to clear a $ 400 million investment recently received from the Public Investment Fund, said one person. familiar with the situation.