JP Morgan & Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon and Ford Motor Chairman Bill Ford dropped plans to attend a Saudi investor conference, the companies stated on Sunday, the recent such high-profile announcements following the disappearance of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
The cancellations could increase pressure on other U.S. companies such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Mastercard Inc and Bank of America to think about their plans to attend the investor event.
Neither JP Morgan nor Ford would describe their reasons for the decision not to attend the Future Investment Initiative conference in Riyadh later this month, and did not discuss whether concerns about the disappearance of Khashoggi were a factor.
Khashoggi, a U.S. resident and Washington Post columnist critical of Riyadh’s policies, disappeared on October 2 after going into the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Turkey thinks he was murdered and his body removed. Saudi Arabia has denied that.
The investment summit in Riyadh generally attracts executives from some of the world’s largest companies and media organizations. But it has progressively become a vehicle for those firms to express their concerns regarding Khashoggi’s disappearance.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened “severe punishment” if it turns out Khashoggi was killed in the consulate, although he stated Washington would be “punishing” itself if it stopped military sales to Riyadh.
Mainstream news organizations including CNN, the Financial Times, the New York Times, CNBC and Bloomberg have pulled out of the conference. The Fox Business Network, the lone Western news outlet still heading to the conference.
