Indonesia-based e-commerce firm Tokopedia is the latest startup to enter the Vision Fund after it raised $1.1 billion Series G round led by the SoftBank megafund and Alibaba. SoftBank and Alibaba are existing investors in the business — the Chinese e-commerce giant led a $1.1 billion round last year, while SoftBank recently transitioned its shareholding […]
View More Indonesia e-commerce leader Tokopedia raises $1.1B from Alibaba and SoftBank’s Vision FundCategory: Saudi Arabia
SoftBank’s Vision Fund inches closer to $100B
Much has been said about the SoftBank Vision Fund, mostly in awe of the size of the investment vehicle. Today, however, the Vision Fund inched yet closer to that twelve-figure goal.
View More SoftBank’s Vision Fund inches closer to $100BPutin and Saudi Crown Prince got real bro-y at G20 and it’s weirding people out
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It’s G20 Summit season again, folks, which means it’s time for a whole lot of handshakes.
On Friday, leaders from around the world gathered in Buenos Aires, Argentina, to discuss global issues, and two close pals — who also happen to be some of the world’s most controversial leaders — shared a very memorable handshake.
Right before the Russian president Vladimir Putin and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman took their seats next to each other, cameras captured them saying hello, grinning widely, and engaging in quite the shake. Seriously… it looks like the stuff of exclusive BFFs.
Both Putin and the Crown Prince have been accused of having journalists killed, and both leaders have made negative headlines in the United States recently. Read more…
More about Politics, Saudi Arabia, Vladimir Putin, Web Culture, and Handshakes
Stephen Colbert rips into Trump’s lacklustre action on Saudi Arabia
Stephen Colbert has slammed Trump’s “pardons,” and they’re not all the Thanksgiving kind.
After lightly roasting the president’s antics during the annual turkey pardon, The Late Show host turned his attention to the bigger “pardon” on everyone’s …
Bots Distorted the 2016 Election. Will the Midterms Be a Sequel?
Tiffany Olson Kleemann Contributor Tiffany Olson Kleemann is the chief executive officer of Distil Networks. She formerly served in executive roles at Symantec and FireEye and was deputy chief of staff for cybersecurity operations under President George W. Bush. The fact that Russian-linked bots penetrated social media to influence the 2016 U.S. presidential election has […]
View More Bots Distorted the 2016 Election. Will the Midterms Be a Sequel?Silicon Valley’s sovereign wealth problem
John Vrionis Contributor Share on Twitter John Vrionis is the founder of Unusual Ventures. It’s time to bring the conversation about where Silicon Valley gets its money from out into the open. Following recent revelations into Saudi Arabia’s extensive reach and influence in the US technology sector, the willful ignorance that has defined the relationship […]
View More Silicon Valley’s sovereign wealth problemSoftBank CEO pulls out of speaking at Saudi investment conference
SoftBank Group has become the latest high profile technology business to drop out of an investment conference in Saudi Arabia following the snowballing global outcry over the killing of journalist, Jamal Khashoggi. The Wall Street Journal reports the last minute cancelation by CEO Masayoshi Son of a speaking engagement at the Future Investment Initiative conference which opens in […]
View More SoftBank CEO pulls out of speaking at Saudi investment conferenceRichard Branson steps down as chairman of Virgin Hyperloop One
Richard Branson has reportedly stepped down from the chairman role of Virgin Hyperloop One. In a statement, cited by Reuters, Branson said that the company would require a more time than he could devote to the company. “At this stage in the company’s evolution, I feel it needs a more hands-on Chair, who can focus on […]
View More Richard Branson steps down as chairman of Virgin Hyperloop OneSaudi Arabia’s ‘Davos in the Desert’ website was hacked and defaced
The website of the Saudi government’s upcoming Future Investment Initiative conference was hacked and defaced with images of the murdered Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Several reporters tweeted screenshots of the site after its defacement, purporting to show Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman — the kingdom’s de facto ruler — brandishing a sword. A portion of […]
View More Saudi Arabia’s ‘Davos in the Desert’ website was hacked and defacedKhashoggi’s fate shows the flip side of the surveillance state
It’s been over five years since NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden lifted the lid on government mass surveillance programs, revealing, in unprecedented detail, quite how deep the rabbit hole goes thanks to the spread of commercial software and connectivity enabling a bottomless intelligence-gathering philosophy of ‘bag it all’. Yet technology’s onward march has hardly broken its stride. […]
View More Khashoggi’s fate shows the flip side of the surveillance stateSilicon Valley hoped the Khashoggi story would go away; instead, it may end an era
It’s amazing how quickly things can change. Exactly a week ago, we wondered if Saudi Arabia’s money might finally become radioactive in light of the disappearance of Saudi journalist and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. Almost no one we reached for comment wanted to participate in the story, though behind the scenes, we heard the same […]
View More Silicon Valley hoped the Khashoggi story would go away; instead, it may end an eraSaudi ally calls for Uber boycott over response to Khashoggi’s vanishing
Uber is facing calls for a boycott of its app in the Persian Gulf, a region that has poured billions of dollars of investment into the company’s ride-hailing business in recent years: Directly via Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) and indirectly because the Saudis are major investors in Softbank’s Vision Fund vehicle, which is another big Uber […]
View More Saudi ally calls for Uber boycott over response to Khashoggi’s vanishing