Riyadh: Saudi Crown Prince, Deputy Premier and Defence Minister Prince Mohammed bin Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud ranked third on Bloomberg Businessweek's 50 Most Influential People list who defined global business in 2017.
The list is topped by US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, followed by Robert A. Kotic, an American businessman who serves as CEO of Activision Blizzard, reported Sabq.
“The prince’s most powerful tool for reshaping the Saudi economy remains his plan—set for next year—to sell a stake in state oil giant Saudi Arabian Oil Co, which could be the biggest initial public offering in history”, said Bloomberg Businessweek.
The magazine says that the prince was pushing to allow women to drive, a decision that is forecast to add $90 billion to the economy by 2030.
It highlighted the efforts of the prince to ensure that the Saudi sovereign fund is the world’s largest, agreeing to commit $20 billion to an infrastructure investment pool with Blackstone Group LP for projects mainly in the U.S. and $45 billion over five years to SoftBank’s Masayoshi Son’s $93 billion Vision Fund.
A total of 2,700 journalists, experts and analysts surveyed the top 50 most influential personalities in the sectors of economy, culture, technology, culture, political science and entertainment.