How Saudi Arabia shaped Silicon Valley

Throughline

NPR

Society & Culture, Documentary, History

4.6 • 16.4K Ratings

🗓️ 26 March 2026

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Elon Musk. Donald Trump. Bill Gates. Sam Altman. Larry Ellison. Alex Karp. Jared Kushner. Mr. Beast. Jeffrey Epstein… Those are just a few of the people who have been friendly with, and often done business with, Saudi Arabia over the last decade. Today on the show: how one of the world’s most authoritarian regimes became one of Silicon Valley’s biggest investors – and what that’s meant for the rest of us.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	November 4th, 2017.
0:03.9	The phone rings at around 4 in the morning.
0:07.3	A Saudi prince named El-Walid bin Talal answers.
0:11.4	Come right away.
0:12.7	A voice commands.
0:14.7	El-Walid bin Talal is a billionaire, a business partner of Bill Gates,
0:19.0	a stakeholder in Apple and Twitter, a guy not used to taking orders.
0:24.1	But his uncle is the king of Saudi Arabia, and he's told he wants to see him right away.
0:30.5	So he gets in his car and drives to the royal court, where another car pulls up.
0:36.9	Prince Adwalid is told to get in.
0:39.9	His driver, his guards, and his assistant are put in a different car.
0:44.1	There's no time to grab his phone.
0:46.5	And Prince El Walid finds himself completely alone.
0:51.6	It's a long drive up, almost like an official kind of road.
0:55.3	Heavy security on the outside and walls around it.
0:58.4	Perfectly manicured palm trees line the road.
1:01.5	As the sun begins to rise, Prince Al-Walid sees an extravagant mansion with towering columns
1:07.4	and rows of countless windows in the distance.
1:11.0	This is the Ritz-ton, Riyadh.
1:14.4	It's a huge fancy hotel, like visiting a French palace or something like that.
1:19.2	The car comes to a stop outside the grand entrance of the Ritz,
1:23.1	and Prince Al-Walid is ushered into the lobby.
	...

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