Newcastle United Latest Owners

The takeover of Newcastle United in a £300m deal has been nearly universally welcomed by the club's supporters. But some football fans are concerned over the involvement of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman - because of Saudi Arabia's record on human rights. What some people might not realize is that they probably use products backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) all the time. Disney, Uber, Facebook, and Starbucks are just some of...
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The takeover of Newcastle United in a £300m deal has been nearly universally welcomed by the club's supporters.
But some football fans are concerned over the involvement of Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman - because of Saudi Arabia's record on human rights.

What some people might not realize is that they probably use products backed by Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund (PIF) all the time.
Disney, Uber, Facebook, and Starbucks are just some of the companies to have received hundreds of millions of pounds from PIF, which owns 80% of Newcastle.

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How did PIF get so much cash?
PIF is essentially a state saving account for the Saudi Arabian government.
It makes the bulk of its money from oil, which Saudi Arabia has sold all over the world.

But oil doesn't last forever, and the fund has to find new ways to make money in the long term.
"They are trying to diversify their economy away from oil and gas revenues," says football finance expert Professor Simon Chadwick, who is director of Eurasian Sport at Emlyon Business School.

"What they are looking towards is generating a revenue stream that means Saudi Arabia is less dependent on oil".