City big hitters join in Saudi summit boycott

SEARCH-ENGINE behemoth Google today joined the clutch of corporate titans boycotting Saudi Arabia’s “Desert Davos” investment conference following the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Google Cloud chief executive Diane Greene will no longer speak at the Future Investment Initiative Summit scheduled to start in Riyadh on October 23. HSBC chief John Flint, Credit Suisse boss Tidjane Thiam and Standard Chartered’s Bill Winters will not attend, it isunderstood.

Pressure has mounted on the Saudis since Khashoggi, a critic of S a u d i p o l i c i e s , we n t mi s s i n g this month. He was last seen entering the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.

Turkish officials say they fear Khashoggi was killed. Saudi officials have called the allegations “baseless”, but reports in US media have suggested the kingdom may acknowledge the journalist was killed there.

Google did not offer a reason for Greene not attending, but she joins a raft of bosses who have dropped out of the event, including Uber’s Dara Khosrowshahi, Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson. Yesterday it emerged that the top exe c u t ive s o f three American privateequity firms, Blackstone, BlackRock, and Bain Capital were pulling out of the

event.

ATTRACTIONS operator Merlin Entertainment had less than awesome news for investors today as sales growth at its Legoland parks slipped into reverse.The update for the first 40 weeks of the year, including the crucial July and August summer months, saw likefor-like revenues slip 0.3%.The lack of a Lego movie this year meant no tailwind for visitor numbers, although a film will be released early next year.Chief executive Nick Varney said he had been braced for a weaker performance after several years of very strong growth, driven by investment in the parks and popular films.Problems at one park in Shanghai, which was closed, meant profits were short of previous expectations.Although Merlin held its profit outlook, the City took a dim view of the figures, marking down the shares