Yasir Othman al-Rumayyan

Spear’s Review

Yasir Othman al-Rumayyan is not a man who enjoys the limelight, but sport has thrust him into the harsh glare of publicity. He came to broad public attention two years ago when Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which he heads, clinched a controversial deal to buy Premier League club Newcastle United, owning 80 per cent of the $407 million takeover.

More recently it is golf that has put Al-Rumayyan on the front and back pages of global newspapers. The Saudi Arabia-backed and PIF-funded LIV Golf tour initially clashed with the PGA Tour amid claims of anti-competitive behaviour and violation of anti-trust laws. In a reversal, both parties have agreed to merge, but negotiations are ongoing. In the meantime, PIF has refocused on football, announcing a partnership with CONCACAF to develop the sport across North America, Central America, and the Caribbean.

PIF saw its assets under management grow by almost a third in 2023 to $766 billion, according to its annual report. PIF is targeting assets under management of around $1 trillion by the end of 2025, with plans to escalate its annual capital deployment from 2025.

Before his sporting travails, Al-Rumayyan was best known as chairman of Saudi Aramco, the world’s biggest oil company.

He is also a board member at Uber and Japanese investor SoftBank. He became an adviser to the Royal Court in Saudi Arabia in 2015 and a year later became an adviser to the Saudi cabinet, then a board member of the Saudi Industrial Development Fund. Al-Rumayyan was the CEO of Saudi Fransi Capital LLC between 2011 and 2015 and is a former member of the board of directors of the Saudi Stock Exchange (Tadawul).

He began his career at Saudi Hollandi Bank as head of international brokerage between 1999 and 2004, before joining the Capital Markets Authority (CMA) as the head of securities listings. Al-Rumayyan studied accounting at King Faisal University, graduating in 1993, and completed his general management programme at Harvard Business School in 2007.