He is chairman of the English football club Newcastle United and manages LIV Golf.[1] He is chairman of Riyadh Air.[1] He is also involved in the construction of Neom, a controversial megaproject.[1]
Al-Rumayyan is a close ally of Saudi ruler Mohammed bin Salman. His early career was spent in finance.[1] When King Abdullah died in 2015 and power consolidated around Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Al-Rumayyan was elevated to positions of power, including chairman of PIF and placed on the board of Saudi Aramco.[1] After Bin Salman's 2017 purge of competing Saudi political elites, Al-Rumayyan and his associates filled the void and helped Bin Salman consolidate power.[1] Al-Rumayyan was involved in transferring assets seized from other Saudi elites into the PIF.[1]
Early life and education
Yasir Al-Rumayyan was born in Buraidah, Al-Qassim Province,[1] in 1970. His father was Saudi and his mother was Syrian.[1] He moved to Riyadh as a child where he attended Al-Abna'a.[1]
He began his career at Saudi Hollandi Bank, becoming head of international brokerage before joining the Capital Markets Authority (CMA), where he was head of securities listings.[2][3] Between 2011 and 2015, Al-Rumayyan was CEO of Saudi Fransi Capital (SFC), the investment banking arm of Banque Saudi Fransi.[4][5] From 2014 to 2015 he was on the board of directors of the Saudi Stock Exchange.[5]
Al-Rumayyan was made chairman of the Saudi Aramco board in September 2019 after Crown Prince Bin Salman stripped Khalid Al-Falih, the energy minister, of his duties when he questioned Bin Salman's directives.[1]
In 2016, PIF invested $3.5 billion in the US-based Uber[9] He joined Uber's board of directors as part of the agreement.[10]
In August 2016, Al-Rumayyan joined the board of the state oil company Saudi Aramco as part of a move toward closer cooperation between Aramco and PIF in restructuring the Saudi economy.[11] In October that year, PIF invested $45 billion in the newly established SoftBank Vision Fund.[12] In May 2017, PIF invested $20 billion to a joint US infrastructure fund with Blackstone.[13]
Al-Rumayyan was involved in the transfer of assets to PIF in the wake of the Saudi Arabian government's 2017 purge.[14] Al-Rumayyan transferred 20 companies that had been seized by the government into the PIF,[14] including one later alleged to be used by Saudi operatives in the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.[14][15]
In October 2021, PIF announced that the acquisition of Newcastle United by the consortium consisting of the Public Investment Fund and that Al-Rumayyan would be elected as chairman of the club after PIF acquired it.[16]
Mohammed Bin Salman gave Al-Rumayyan a house worth 250 million Saudi riyals (over $60m) near the presidential palace.[1]
He has been described as passionate about golfing.[1] After Mohammed Bin Salman's purge of other Saudi political elites, Al-Rumayyan's brother-in-law, Mazin bin Ibrahim Al-Kahmous, was made president of Saudi Arabia’s Oversight and Anti-Corruption Authority.[1]
He is close with Donald Trump and has been photographed wearing a ‘Make America Great Again’ hat.[1]
