Pics or it didn’t happen.
The Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman met with a host of Silicon Valley executives this week, including Google co-founder Sergey Brin, Magic Leap CEO Rony Abovitz, and Virgin founder Richard Branson, photos show.
Widely known as “MBS,” the Prince stopped by Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California. to rub elbows with a handful of company leaders.
Here he is shaking hands with Hiroshi Lockheimer, the Google SVP who runs Android, Chrome, and other platforms, while CEO Sundar Pichai, Google’s SVP of technical infrastructure, Urs Hölzle, and leader of Google’s cloud business, Diane Greene, appear in the background.
He and Sergey Brin, Google’s cofounder and current president of parent company Alphabet, also met. They discussed cloud computing and the establishment of a research and development center for Saudi youth, according to an Arabian news publication.
The chief executive of the world’s largest energy company, Saudi Aramco, told CNBC last month that the company wanted to partner with the likes of Amazon and Google to build a tech hub in the kingdom.
No word on whether Google’s other cofounder, Larry Page, showed up.
The Prince also met with Rony Abovitz, CEO of augmented reality company Magic Leap.
He apparently got his own demo of the extremely secretive product.
MBS also stopped by to chat with Virgin Group’s Richard Branson and was also slated to meet with Apple CEO Tim Cook.
While he may have received a warm reception from these tech leaders, not everyone was happy about bin Salman’s visit.
Earlier this week people protested outside the Four Seasons Hotel where he was staying, arguing that Silicon Valley should not establish any kind of partnership with the Prince until Saudi Arabia ends its military intervention in Yemen.
Although MBS is known for being progressive, Saudi Arabia’s government is still also known for being generally repressive, with laws punishing homosexuality and preventing women from traveling without male permission.
