Trump-Saudi lunch with business leaders includes some critics of the president
A lunch at the Saudi royal court in Riyadh gave President Donald Trump, Saudi leaders and numerous business executives an opportunity to rub shoulders Tuesday.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman hosted the lunch.
The lunch was part of Trump's high-stakes tour of the Persian Gulf region, targeting business deals and strategic partnerships with three oil-rich nations — Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
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A list obtained by FOX Business and media reports Tuesday indicated the lunch in Riyadh had quite a few business executives present, including the following people, some of whom have been critical of Trump in the past.
Altman, once a critic of Trump and a contributor to Joe Biden's presidential campaign, was photographed at the Saudi royal court. In January, the OpenAI CEO wrote on X that "watching @potus more carefully recently has really changed my perspective on him," adding Trump "will be incredible for the country in many ways," though Altman's "not going to agree with him on everything."
"Good discussion on AI leadership with President Trump and my colleagues from across the AI industry. Thanks for our Saudi hosts as well," Wang wrote Tuesday in an X post, sharing a screenshot of a news broadcast showing him shaking hands with the president.
Musk was a major supporter of Trump during the 2024 campaign cycle. When the president took office in January, Musk became the head of the administration’s Department of Government Efficiency.
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Jassy, an attendee at the lunch, was also a speaker at the Saudi-U.S. Investment Forum in the capital of Saudi Arabia Tuesday.
Karp’s Palantir is a major software company. He co-founded it in the early 2000s.
Kalanick previously led ride-share company Uber from 2010 to 2017. He was also one of its cofounders.
In January, Sweeney lambasted some "Big Tech leaders" as "now pretending to be Republicans, in hopes of currying favor with the new administration." He said to "beware of the scummy monopoly campaign to vilify competition law as they rip off consumers and crush competitors."
The Hill reported, citing the White House, that Oplinger was one of the business people who attended the lunch. He has spoken critically of the Trump administration’s tariffs, saying in late February that tariffs "will destroy about 20,000 direct U.S. aluminum industry jobs and could result in 80,000 indirect jobs being eliminated in the U.S."
The lunch included over 30 business leaders from a wide range of industries, The Hill reported.
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Democratic supporter and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman reportedly received an invitation for the lunch, but he was "not in Riyadh," according to an X post from his chief of staff.
Regarding his visit to Saudi Arabia Tuesday, Trump said on TruthSocial it was a "great day."
Greg Norman contributed to this report.