Saudi’s King Of Golf Yasir Al-Rumayyan: The Chairman Of New Merger PGA-LIV Golf

The PGA Tour and LIV Golf’s “rivalry” is ended following the two organizations’ unexpected U-turn on Tuesday, when it appeared that their disagreements would be impossible to resolve. PIF Governor Yasir Al-Rumayyan revealed that he personally informed LIV Golf Tour CEO Greg Norman of the announcement.

Saudi’s King Of Golf Yasir Al-Rumayyan: The Chairman Of New Merger PGA-LIV Golf

Only one thing is certain: The repercussions of this stone won’t be felt for a very long time. The golf community is still working out precisely what this means for the PGA Tour and LIV Golf.

Yasir Al-Rumayyan was immediately hailed as the new golf king when the shocking news of the Saudi-led merger emerged on Tuesday afternoon.

Zoomed out, that title seems like an understatement for the chairman of the new sporting empire, but it is now unavoidable. Considering that the 53-year-old is one of the most dominant athletes.

Several months ago, according to Golfweek, Norman said the following on the subject:

“One hundred percent I do [think LIV and PGA Tour can come together]. Jay Monahan, if he had the decency to take our meetings right from the get-go, none of this stuff would be in place today. The game of golf would be in a much better place.”

Yasir Al-Rumayyan, governor of the Saudi PIF (Public Investment Fund), is a prominent participant in this enormous agreement.

Al-Rumayyan was born in Buraidah, a city in the north, in February 1970 to a Saudi father and a Syrian mother.

In 1993, he earned an accounting degree from King Faisal University after deciding against studying overseas like so many well-off Saudis.

He took a postgraduate general management course at Harvard Business School for a semester before starting to work for Saudi Hollandi Bank, where he finally rose to the position of head of international brokerage.

Then, in 2008, Al-Rumayyan “joined the Capital Market Authority as a member of the founding team.” He was Chief Executive Officer and a board member of Saudi Fransi Capital from 2010 to 2015, and from 2014 to 2015, he was on the board of Tadawul, the Saudi Stock Exchange.

Al-Rumayyan’s achievements in those positions caught the attention of Mohammed Bin Salman, the Saudi crown prince, who nominated him as managing director of PIF in September 2015 after giving the organization additional authority to make investments overseas and installing a new board.

The PIF has been a significant player in business for the past several years, investing in minorities in companies like Boeing, META, Citigroup, Disney, and Bank of America. The PIF has been financing LIV Golf up to this point.

The fund, which has a market value of over $650 billion, was established in 1971 with the primary objective of investing money on behalf of Saudi Arabia.

Before yesterday’s astounding announcement, a civil war that was sparked by the introduction of LIV Golf was raging in the courts. Al-Rumayyan, who has a handicap of 12 and considers himself to be a competent golfer, was cozying up to Donald Trump at a LIV tournament last year. He prefers this sport above football, and since he has taken charge of the entire league, he is anticipated to play a more active role.

The PIF Governor said the following to CNBC:

“We are committed to unifying, promoting and growing the game of golf around the world and offering the highest-quality product to the many millions of long-time fans globally, while cultivating new fans.”

“We look forward to collaborating with Jay [Monahan] and Keith [Pelley, chief executive of the DP World Tour] to bring the best version of the game to communities around the world.”

Al-Rumayyan’s net worth is not transparent, and that is an understatement.

According to MarketCap, with a $2.1 trillion market cap, Saudi Aramco is the third most valuable business in the world, behind Apple and Microsoft. There are $620 billion in the PIF.

 

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