The Public Investment Fund (PIF; ) is the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia. It is among the largest sovereign wealth funds in the world with total estimated assets of billion. It was created in 1971 for the purpose of investing funds on behalf of the government of Saudi Arabia. The wealth fund has Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler since 2015, as its chairman.
More than 60% of the fund's activities are within Saudi Arabia. Within Saudi Arabia, the fund's investments primarily go to private conglomerates owned by prominent Saudi business families who have close ties to the Saudi ruling family. Outside of Saudi Arabia, the fund's investments into prominent foreign assets, such as Premier League football club Newcastle United, the boxing promotion Zuffa Boxing, and video game company Electronic Arts, have generated controversy due to the fund's lack of transparency and close control by the Saudi government, which has itself faced significant criticism around the lack of human rights in the country.
History
The Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) was established by King Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in 1971 by Royal Decree M/24 with the stated intent to provide financing support for projects of strategic significance to the national economy. For much of its history, the PIF was a passive entity that oversaw the Saudi state's equity in listed firms. When neighboring petrostates began using their sovereign wealth funds for influence, Saudi Arabia followed them. The PIF expanded its staff from 50 in 2015 to nearly 500 in 2018.
In July 2014, the Council of Ministers granted the PIF authority to fund new companies inside and outside the Kingdom, independently or in cooperation with the public and private sectors, without the council's prior approval. In March 2015, oversight of PIF was moved from the Ministry of Finance to the Council of Economic and Development Affairs (CEDA). As part of this process, a new PIF was appointed, chaired by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The board says PIF is aligned with the government's Vision 2030 with the aim to diversify the economy. To bolster the resources of the PIF and help in the financing of investments into foreign companies such as Uber and Tesla, the PIF received cash from the Saudi Central Bank, issued debt, and benefitted from the proceeds of the privatisation of Saudi state assets.
In 2022, a 4% stake in ownership of Saudi Aramco was transferred to the PIF, which was repeated in 2023 as part of the fund's plan to increase assets under management to over $1 trillion by 2025. The shares for the second 4% stake in 2023 were valued at around $78 billion. The move was intended to take advantage of higher hydrocarbon prices to fund the expansion of the PIF in its overarching goal to diversify investments.
A 2021 report by Global SWF found that PIF's Governance, Sustainability, and Resilience (GSR) score had risen by 12% to an overall score of 40% (out of 100%) that year. This was partially attributed to the fact that PIF had started to build a dedicated ESG (Environmental, Social, and Sustainability) team. The fund achieved an annual return of around 8% between 2018 and 2022.
Investment projects 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,His Royal Highness the Crown Prince Announces the Launch of ‘The Red Sea’ project as an international tourist destination as part of the Kingdom's 2030 Vision, Pif.gov.sa, 31 July 2017, Rob Hodgetts, Saudi Arabia launches luxury Red Sea beach resorts plan , CNN, 3 August 2017 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 an $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. He also said PIF would borrow conservatively to finance specific assets and would seek further partnerships such as those with Blackstone, Inc. and SoftBank.
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 and would 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.
In 2021, it purchased stakes in the American video game companies Electronic Arts, Take-Two Interactive, and Activision Blizzard. In May 2022, it purchased a 5% stake in the Japanese video game company Nintendo, and the following month, an 8% stake in Embracer Group with a investment.
PIF held an indirect stake in Twitter before its acquisition by Elon Musk.
In November 2023, PIF acquired a 10% stake in Heathrow Airport after Ferrovial sold its 25% share. The remaining 15% was acquired by Ardian. Subsequently, on 15 December 2024, it was reported that Ardian and PIF had successfully acquired 22.6% and 15%, respectively, of stakes in Heathrow Airport for a combined US$4.12 billion from Ferrovial and some shareholders in FGP TopCo.
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 world's 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. Even a year later, in April 2022, Affinity Partners primarily depended on Saudi money: it had some $2.5 billion under its management by that stage. Within the Trump administration, Kushner worked extensively on Arab–Israeli diplomatic issues, and had been a staunch defender of Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman. According to ethics experts, the $2bn investment, which would boost the fund's yield and generate substantial management fees for Affinity and, consequently, for Kushner personally, created the appearance of potential payback for Kushner.
In 2021, PIF invested $1 billion in the investment fund established by former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin just after he left that position.
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 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.
Takeover of Newcastle United
On 14 April 2020, a £300 million agreement was reached for the sale of Newcastle United F.C. from owner Mike Ashley to a consortium comprising the PIF, PCP Capital Partners, and the Reuben Brothers. 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.