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PIF’s Acquisition of Two Steel Companies Boosts Saudi Economic Growth

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund acquires full ownership of “Hadeed,” owned by SABIC (SABIC’s website)
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund acquires full ownership of “Hadeed,” owned by SABIC (SABIC’s website)
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PIF’s Acquisition of Two Steel Companies Boosts Saudi Economic Growth

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund acquires full ownership of “Hadeed,” owned by SABIC (SABIC’s website)
Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund acquires full ownership of “Hadeed,” owned by SABIC (SABIC’s website)

Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) has announced the signing of a share purchase agreement worth around $3.3 billion to acquire a 100% shareholding in the Saudi Iron & Steel Company (Hadeed) from the Saudi Basic Industries Corporation (SABIC).

Simultaneously, Hadeed will acquire a 100% shareholding in AlRajhi Steel Industries Company (Rajhi Steel) from Mohammed Abdulaziz AlRajhi & Sons Investment Company (Rajhi Invest). This exchange involves newly issued shares in Hadeed.

The announcement of these two deals came in a statement released by PIF on Sunday.

In the statement, PIF indicated that the acquisitions will support its efforts in contributing to the development of the local industry and meeting the increasing domestic demand for products in the construction, automotive, utilities, renewable energy, transportation, logistics, and other sectors, aligning with the goals of Saudi Vision 2030.

“These transactions will bring together PIF’s financial capabilities and industry experience with Hadeed and Rajhi Steel’s leading technical and commercial expertise, to create a national champion in Saudi Arabia’s steel sector,” said Yazeed Al-Humied, the PIF’s deputy governor and head of Middle East and North Africa investments.

Financial analysts have described these deals as significant contributors to the growth of the Saudi economy in globally critical economic sectors.

They emphasize the diversification of income sources and achieving financial sustainability for the Saudi economy.

Furthermore, these acquisitions will bolster the investment portfolio of PIF and establish a new Saudi powerhouse capable of global competition in the iron and steel sector, with the potential to engage in numerous large-scale projects both within and outside the Kingdom.

Financial analyst Abdullah Al-Jubaili, in his conversation with Asharq Al-Awsat, sees the acquisitions as part of the government’s efforts to bolster the growth of the Saudi economy in globally significant economic sectors.

Infrastructure and iron sectors are considered key pillars of this endeavor.

Al-Jubaili further elaborates that PIF’s purchase of both SABIC's Hadeed and Al Rajhi Iron and their merger into a single entity will contribute to the emergence of a new Saudi powerhouse capable of global competition in this market.

This entity will be positioned to engage in numerous large-scale projects, both domestically and internationally.

Al-Jubaili explains that the timing of the acquisition coincides with the sharp decline in financial results for petrochemical companies. This move will assist SABIC soon to focus on enhancing its profitability in the petrochemical sector, given the global pressure on product prices and sector sales.

Additionally, the company will concentrate on its targeted sector and utilize its sales proceeds to expand in the petrochemical industry. This expansion may involve increasing the capacity of its factories or introducing new products to the markets.

 

 

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Business

Internet Shutdown Squeezes Iran’s Ailing Businesses Already Hurt by Crashing Currency

Iranians walk in street in Tehran, Iran, 20 January 2026. (EPA)
Iranians walk in street in Tehran, Iran, 20 January 2026. (EPA)
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Internet Shutdown Squeezes Iran’s Ailing Businesses Already Hurt by Crashing Currency

Iranians walk in street in Tehran, Iran, 20 January 2026. (EPA)
Iranians walk in street in Tehran, Iran, 20 January 2026. (EPA)

Iranians have been struggling for nearly two weeks with the longest, most comprehensive internet shutdown in the history of the country — one that has not only restricted their access to information and the outside world, but is also throttling many businesses that rely on online advertising.

Authorities shut down internet access on Jan. 8 as nationwide protests led to a brutal crackdown that activists say has killed over 4,500 people, with more feared dead. Since then, there has been minimal access to the outside world, with connectivity in recent days restored only for some domestic websites. Google also began partially functioning as a search engine, with most search results inaccessible.

Officials have offered no firm timeline for the internet to return, leading to fears by businesses across the country about their future.

One pet shop owner in Tehran, who spoke on the condition of anonymity like others for fear of reprisals, said his business had fallen by 90% since the protests. “Before that, I mainly worked on Instagram and Telegram, which I don’t have access to anymore. The government has proposed two domestic alternatives. The point is our customers are not there — they don’t use it.”

Internet outages are the latest squeeze on businesses

The internet outage compounds economic pain already suffered by Iranians. The protests, which appear to have halted under a bloody suppression by authorities, began Dec. 28 over Iran’s rial currency falling to over 1.4 million to $1. Ten years ago, the rial traded at 32,000 to $1. Before the 1979 revolution, it traded at 70 to $1.

The currency’s downward spiral pushed up inflation, increasing the cost of food and other daily necessities. The pressure on Iranians’ pockets was compounded by changes to gasoline prices that were also introduced in December, further fueling anger.

Iran’s state-run news agency IRNA quoted a deputy minister of communications and information technology, Ehsan Chitsaz, as saying the cut to the internet cost Iran between $2.8 to $4.3 million each day.

But the true cost for the Iranian economy could be far higher. The internet monitoring organization NetBlocks estimates each day of an internet shutdown in Iran costs the country over $37 million.

The site says it estimates the economic impact of internet outages based on indicators from multiple sources including the World Bank and the International Telecommunication Union, which is the United Nations’ specialized agency for digital technology.

In 2021 alone, a government estimate suggested Iranian businesses made as much as $833 million a year in sales from social media sites, wrote Dara Conduit, a lecturer at the University of Melbourne in Australia, in an article published by the journal Democratization in June.

She cited a separate estimate suggesting internet disruptions around the 2022 Mahsa Amini protests cost the Iranian economy $1.6 billion.

The 2022 internet disruptions' "far-reaching and blanket economic consequences risked further heightening tensions in Iran and spurring the mobilization of new anti-regime cohorts onto the streets at a time when the regime was already facing one of the most serious existential threats of its lifetime," Conduit wrote.

More than 500 people were reportedly killed during that crackdown and over 22,000 detained.

Prosecutors target some businesses over protest support

Meanwhile, prosecutors have also begun targeting some businesses in the crackdown.

The judiciary's Mizan news agency reported Tuesday that prosecutors in Tehran filed paperwork to seize the assets of 60 cafes it alleged had a role in the protests.

It also announced plans to seek the assets of athletes, cinema figures and others as well. Some cafes in Tehran and Shiraz have been shut down by authorities, other reports say.

Internet cuts drive more outrage

The financial damage also has some people openly discussing the internet blackout.

In the comments section of a story on the internet blackout carried by the semiofficial Fars news agency, believed to be close to the country’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, one reader wrote: “For heaven’s sake, please do not let this internet cut become a regular thing. We need the net. Our business life is vanishing. Our business is being destroyed.”

Another commentator questioned why the internet remained blocked after days with no reports of street protests.

It’s not just the internet blackout that is hurting businesses. The violent crackdown on the protests, and the wave of a reported 26,000 arrests that followed, also have dampened the mood of consumers.

In Iran's capital, many shops and restaurants are open, but many look empty as customers focus primarily on groceries and little else.

“Those who pass by our shops don’t show any appetite for shopping,” said the owner of an upscale tailor shop in Tehran. “We are just paying our regular expenses, electricity and staff ... but in return, we don't have anything.”

Business

Larry Fink from Davos: In Age of Artificial Intelligence, Trust Is Hardest Currency

Chairman and CEO of BlackRock, Larry Fink, attends the 56th annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 21, 2026. (Reuters)
Chairman and CEO of BlackRock, Larry Fink, attends the 56th annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 21, 2026. (Reuters)
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Larry Fink from Davos: In Age of Artificial Intelligence, Trust Is Hardest Currency

Chairman and CEO of BlackRock, Larry Fink, attends the 56th annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 21, 2026. (Reuters)
Chairman and CEO of BlackRock, Larry Fink, attends the 56th annual World Economic Forum (WEF) meeting in Davos, Switzerland, January 21, 2026. (Reuters)

CEO of BlackRock Larry Fink kicked off the World Economic Forum on Tuesday with a stark message, acknowledging a significant erosion of trust in global institutions and elites.

Speaking at the 56th Annual Meeting of the WEF in Davos, which gathered around 65 heads of state and government and nearly 850 of the world's top CEOs and chairpersons, he acknowledged that the gathering has lost trust and “feels out of step with the moment.”

“But now for the harder question: Will anyone outside this room care? Because if we’re being honest, for many people this meeting feels out of step with the moment: elites in an age of populism, an established institution in an era of deep institutional distrust,” he admitted.

Fink, who was appointed interim co-chair of the World Economic Forum in August 2025, said it is also obvious that the world now places far less trust in the forum to help shape what comes next.

“If WEF is going to be useful going forward, it has to regain that trust,” he said.

The billionaire boss of the world’s largest asset manager said that prosperity is not just growth in the aggregate. “It can’t be measured by GDP or the market caps of the world’s largest companies alone. It has to be judged by how many people can see it, touch it, and build a future on it.”

Fink said that since the fall of the Berlin Wall, more wealth has been created than in any time prior in human history, but in advanced economies, that wealth has accrued to a far narrower share of people than any healthy society can ultimately sustain.

He noted that now AI threatens to replay the same pattern.

Fink said early gains are flowing to the owners of models, data, and infrastructure, questioning what AI does to white-collar work what globalization did to blue-collar.

He urged those gathered at Davos to create a “credible plan” for broad participation in the gains AI can deliver.

“Not with abstractions about the jobs of tomorrow, but with a credible plan for broad participation in the gains.”

In another dimension of change, Fink said the forum shouldn’t want panels where everyone agrees 95% of the time.

“The objective isn’t agreement. It’s understanding. It’s sitting with people we disagree with, taking their arguments seriously, and being willing to admit that they might see something we don’t,” he said.

Fink also noted that the central tension of the forum is that many of the people most affected by what participants talk about will never come to the conference. “Davos is an elite gathering trying to shape a world that belongs to everyone.”

He added, “That’s why this year’s theme is the Spirit of Dialogue. Because dialogue is the only way a room like this earns the legitimacy to shape ideas for people who aren’t in it.”

Fink called for WEF to start doing something new: showing up and listening in the places where the modern world is actually built. “Davos, yes. But also places like Detroit and Dublin and cities like Jakarta and Buenos Aires. The mountain will come down to earth.”

Business

China’s Vice Premier Tells Davos World Cannot Revert to 'Law of the Jungle'

20 January 2026, Switzerland, Davos: Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China He Lifeng speaks during "Special Address by He Lifeng, Vice-Premier of the People's Republic of China session" at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos. (Boris Baldinger/World Ecomonic Forum/dpa)
20 January 2026, Switzerland, Davos: Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China He Lifeng speaks during "Special Address by He Lifeng, Vice-Premier of the People's Republic of China session" at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos. (Boris Baldinger/World Ecomonic Forum/dpa)
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China’s Vice Premier Tells Davos World Cannot Revert to 'Law of the Jungle'

20 January 2026, Switzerland, Davos: Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China He Lifeng speaks during "Special Address by He Lifeng, Vice-Premier of the People's Republic of China session" at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos. (Boris Baldinger/World Ecomonic Forum/dpa)
20 January 2026, Switzerland, Davos: Vice Premier of the People's Republic of China He Lifeng speaks during "Special Address by He Lifeng, Vice-Premier of the People's Republic of China session" at the World Economic Forum annual meeting in Davos. (Boris Baldinger/World Ecomonic Forum/dpa)

Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng warned Tuesday the world must not revert to the "law of the jungle", speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos as Washington steps up its bid to take Greenland.

"A select few countries should not have privileges based on self-interest, and the world cannot revert to the law of the jungle where the strong prey on the weak," He said in a speech which came as US President Donald Trump pushes his increasingly assertive America First agenda, and demands NATO ally Denmark to cede Greenland to him.

"All countries have the right to protect their legitimate interests," He added.

In a veiled reference to Trump's mercurial trade policies, He slammed the "unilateral" actions and trade agreements of "some countries" which he said violates the rules of the World Trade Organization.

Beijing and Washington last year were locked in a blistering trade war that saw both countries impose tit-for-tat tariffs on each others' products.

"The current multilateral trading system is facing unprecedented and severe challenges," He said.

"We must firmly uphold multilateralism and promote the improvement of a more just and equitable international economic and trade order."