[3] The wealth fund is controlled by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler since 2015.

[6] Outside Saudi Arabia the fund's investments into prominent foreign assets such as Premier League football club Newcastle United 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.

[7][8] The Saudi Arabian Public Investment Fund (PIF) was established by the King Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud in 1971[9] by Royal Decree M/24[10] with the stated intent to provide financing support for projects of strategic significance to the national economy.

[9] In 2022 a 4% stake in ownership of Saudi Aramco was transferred to the PIF, which was repeated in 2023 as part of the funds plan to increase assets under management to over $1 trillion by 2025.

The move was intended to take advantage of higher hydrocarbon prices towards funding the expansion of the PIF in its overarching goal to diversify investments.

[34] 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, 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.

[42] 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.

[43][44] He also said the fund would invest in renewable energy projects in Saudi Arabia, including the local manufacture of solar panels.

[47] PIF owned a major indirect stake in Twitter prior to its acquisition by Elon Musk although many Saudis who use the platform for political dissent and activism are arbitrarily arrested and imprisoned.

[49] Subsequently on 15 December 2024, it was reported that Ardian and PIF have 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.

In 2021 PIF invested $2 billion into a private equity firm that had been newly formed by Jared Kushner, Donald Trump's son-in-law, shortly after he left the White House.

Saudi Arabia was warned by Kushner that it could lose the opportunities in Israel to its neighbors who signed the accords, including the UAE and Bahrain.

Affinity Partner's investment in Israeli startups was agreed to by Saudi officials and was also believed to have been approved by Crown Prince Mohammed.

for £300m had been agreed between incumbent owner Mike Ashley and a prospective buying consortium consisting of the Public Investment Fund, PCP Capital Partners and Reuben Brothers.

[61] In April 2021 Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly asked British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to intervene so that the Premier League would approve PIF's takeover of Newcastle.

[71] Some of the most prominent professional golf players participated in the event, including Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Graeme McDowell, Sergio García, Martin Kaymer, Louis Oosthuizen, Charl Schwartzel and Lee Westwood.

[76] LIV Golf was also condemned as another sportswashing tool of Saudi Arabia, which is accused of several human rights violations, including the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi.

[77] The CEO Greg Norman and star players had to face questions about their association with LIV Golf, despite the Kingdom's abysmal human rights records.

[83] In 2022 PIF made a $1.5 billion investment in Credit Suisse as part of a broader goal of diversifying its portfolio into global banking.

"[9] As the PIF is a ministry-operated company with an overwhelming focus on domestic investments, some scholars characterize it as a "quasi-sovereign wealth fund.

"[91][92][93] The funds investments within the kingdom include dates, camels, and coffee,[94] but also amusement, sports, tourism and renewable energy.

In October 2022, Yasir Al-Rumayyan (the governor of PIF) gave an interview where he spoke about resisting the ambitious international stock buying activities being promulgated by Mohammad bin Salman at the beginning of 2020 as the world was grappling with COVID-19.

The concern was that giving the PIF tens of billions of dollars from the Saudi central bank to fund this stock buying was risky and might devalue the local currency.

[96] The fund's domestic investments tend to go to firms owned by elites with long-standing personal connections to the Saudi state.

[98] Saudi Arabia’s latest news Public Investment Fund reduces stake in Japan’s Nintendo to 4.19% World portal